My Connections To Play
“You can discover more about a person in an hour of play than in a year of conversation.” Plato“Play keeps us vital and alive. It gives us an enthusiasm for life that is irreplaceable. Without it, life just doesn’t taste good” Lucia Capocchione
Play was a very important part of my life especially when I was young. I was always excited to play with my siblings and create new things and plots everyday. Play made my siblings and I closer together, we got to see who each one was through our interactions and I will not exchange it for the world.
When younger, I would often play with my four younger siblings and our favorite activity is socio-dramatic play. Being the oldest it was my task to look for items to use for our play and my favorite item to use was boxes! How I loved creating our house for old big boxes. I would cut out windows and even make curtains using old cloths. I would paint and decorate the boxes. Sometimes we made schools, offices or ghost buster headquarters using boxes. These simple and inexpensive "toys" helped use experience hours of fun each day.
 |
| boxes, a great economical source of fun! |
 |
| Like my Raggedy Ann |
 |
| we had puppies, rabbits, hamsters and mice |
Play was very much encouraged and supported by our family. We were given hours of freeplay at home after school. Our parents would also bring us to parks and fields where we could run, bike around or catch insects and collect nature treasures. We were not provided with expensive toys for we did not need them especially since there were 6 children in the family, we had lots of play opportunities to choose from. I hardly had any experience playing with video games too as we didn't have any at home. We were content with playing with each other and playing in our yard or the parks. I believe that our play experiences made us closer to each other and know ourselves more. It was through playing school that I started enjoying teaching. In fact, I still practiced reading stories to my stuffed toys when I prepared from teaching practicum during my college years.
What I experienced its truly very different from what children now experience. The proliferation of technological gadgets take time away from interactive play with peers. I also think that there are less natural and safe areas like parks for children to play in especially in our very small and highly dense country. Families also have less children nowadays as compared to during our time that there were 4-6 children in each family.
Old fashioned play is very important. Thus, I try real hard to make my son experience the same type of play I did when I was young. It was through play that I learned how to determination and perseverance. I also got to learn social skills and problem solving. I also believe that if I did not experience that kind of play when I was young, I would have a shorter attention span and lower degree of creativity. I would truly be a completely different person!
posted by Elizabeth King Santos @ 8:25 PM
6 Comments:
Elizabeth, I enjoyed reading your play reflection. I absolutely loved your box oriented play theme! You were very creative at such a young age! I also had a favorite doll. Her name was Mary, and I slept with her every night. On some occasions, she snuck in my backpack and overnight bag when I visited school or my playmates’ homes. I never left home without her! I also loved to play with my baby dolls as well. I would dress them up for hours, and when I was done; I was off to play dress up in my mother’s closet!
There is so much truth in your reflection. Growing up using our imaginations was fantastic and having those special toys that provided comfort like a special doll allowed so many of to feel safe and secure while away from home. Your reflection was wonderful thank you!!
I think your first quote is amazing. I also came across this one and it made me smile. There is much information to learn from just observation, it's eye opening. Great Quote
I also love your first quote--so true! Real play comes from deep inside and seems to bypass all the little hang-ups we have when communicating. Great post! I truly enjoyed it.
Elizabeth, yes you are very fortunate to have other siblings to have played with during your childhood. You really had your own private club members and the fact that you all really knew each other made it much easier to play with one another. Also I don't think play has to do with the amount of toys or parks that were avaliable to you, it has to do with the people that surrounded you and how much fun and imagination you used. I always had fun with my younger sibling no matter what we did.
I agree that electronic gadgets are changing the way that the children of today paly. I was out shopping the other day and I saw and interactive reader for toddlers. They touch the pin to the page and it reads the book to them. It featured a toddler with the device in hand smiling as ahe read the book alone. I was like "What happened to lap time? What happened to mommies and daddies reading books to their babies?"
Post a Comment
Subscribe to Post Comments [Atom]
<< Home