At this time of the year, many parents, grandparents, aunts, uncles, and teachers are thinking of the “perfect gift” for their beloved children. If you want to give your special little person the gift of a lifetime, please continue reading. The following ideas, facts, and conclusions have been taken from a report from the Alliance for Childhood by Edward Miller and Joan Almon, titled, “Why Children Need to Play in School” .
The authors report that although undocumented, many policy makers have convinced educators and parents that in order for kids to be successful in school, instruction in phonics and letter recognition must begin at an early age. Miller and Almon counter this suggestion by stating that “didactic teaching of discrete skills in phonics, decoding, and word recognition may yield short-term gains in test scores,…..where as deeper experiential learning benefits last into fourth grade and beyond.” You may be asking yourself, “What are deeper learning experiences?” Well friends, those happenings involve “active play”. Play that is initiated by children, “fueled by their own ideas and rich use of language.” The authors report that this sort of play motivates children to” invent, problem solve and pursue ideas.” They report that children who engage in complex forms of play have “ greater language skills, better social skills, more empathy, more imagination, less aggression, show more self-control and display higher levels of thinking than the non-players.” Miller and Almon say that, “Play is the foremost way that children use the language that they are hearing.” I keep asking myself, “If we know the benefits of play, why are our children engaging in less of it?”
The authors are not suggesting that an “anything goes” attitude should exist in early childhood classrooms, but rather, that a healthy balance should be in place. A balance based on the premise that teachers should provide children with varied experiences that encourage experiential learning and where child-initiated play is reinforced. Early childhood and kindergarten classrooms should have teachers that gently guide rather than dictate children’s development. Teachers should be nurturing and teaching without worrying about test scores and inappropriate standards.
The gift that you give your child may be in the form of a letter to a policy maker. With manners intact, we must politely, yet forcefully, demand that effective changes takes place in local, state, and national early childhood and kindergarten classrooms. Your letter will be strengthened if it includes ideas that Miller and Almon advocate. In order for our children to reach their fullest potential, early childhood and kindergarten classrooms should:
- Restore child-initiated play & experiential learning
- Provide children time &space, both indoors and out, for kids to play
- Encourage make believe, sensory, language, construction, large &small motor, & mastery play
- Change developmentally inappropriate practices that label children
- End the use of inappropriate standardized tests for kindergartners
- Give teachers instruction on emphasizing the development of the whole child
- Nurture children’s innate love of learning
In order to give our children the opportunity to develop into emotionally stable, empathetic, competent and capable adults, we must try to sway the current educational trends that dismiss the importance of play in our children’s lives. “In order for our children to become avid learners, teachers need to understand the ways in which child-initiated play, when combined with playful, experiential learning, leads to lifelong benefits in ways that didactic drills, standardized tests, and scripted teaching do not.”Please give your child the gift of a lifetime, the opportunity to “play”. Please write to your policymakers today.
Happy Holidays!
Magical Educating!
Donna Mavrides
Magical Moments
www.magicalms.com
Tags: children and play, children need play in school, Donna Mavrides, Edward Miller, Joan Almon, magicalms.com, Why Children Need to Play in School, www.magicalms.com
