If I was five, outside by a stream, with a few of my friends and nothing to do, it would be pretty close to my childhood I had. We had a stream and a little bridge right in front of our house. We would pretend the bridge was our house and hang a sheet off one side to make the rooms. We would spend hours and hours out there. We normally had a picnic basket with snacks, our baby dolls, and our pretend pets to complete the house scene. Sometimes my mawmaw would come out and sit with us. She would help us come up with new fun ideas by offering suggestions we could do if we wanted. It was easily some of the best times of my entire childhood.
“Play is our brain’s favorite way of learning.” -Diane Ackerman
“Play gives children a chance to practice what they are learning.” – Fred Rogers
My VERY favorite toy growing up! My friends and I would spend HOURS ‘taking care’ of our babies! They were full of water and rubbery, so they felt more realistic. They were our ‘go-to’ toy of choice!
My parents strongly supported play all throughout my childhood. My grandmother was a 1st grade teacher, who really understood the benefits and that children learned best that way. They always encouraged us to play and do experiments and be creative with what we had. Play had a huge role in my childhood. My best memories of childhood are of playing with friends, mostly playing outside and mostly it was playing some version o house!
Play is extremely different now, then when I was a child. When I was growing up kids did not have computers and all these video game systems. We didn’t have cell phones and FaceTime and text. If you wanted to talk to your friends, then you had to ride your bike over or walk over and see if they wanted to come play. We would go outside around 10am and not come back in until the street lights came on. We had to use our imagination to have fun and we did! I hope that now, even though kids have all the electronics, that they also spend time learning how to play without them too. I know at my center we don’t allow the children to bring electronics and we do not have them in the classroom either. It is amazing how many of the children don’t know how to play simple games and don’t know what to do without the computer screen imagining for them. It makes it extremely rewarding to watch though, as they start to get used to no electronics.
The role of play throughout my life still very strong. Some of the happiest times of my day are when I go in a classroom and just sit and play with kids! It is so stress relieving and, just fun, to sit and play with no goals or intentions, just to play. Even hobbies I have, I would consider that play, without those I have no way to unwind and relax. Play will always play a huge role in my life and be of extreme importance.
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