Play

Play is food for the brain!  I have worked with young children and I can attest to how important play is to the developing mind.  Perhaps one of the most beneficial things about child care is nobody mandates your academic program or expects you to meet standards (don’t get me wrong, child care has stringent rules that we must function within in but academic programming is not one of them) For the last eighteen years we have tried to “educate” our preschool children in a variety of ways.  For the first fifteen years we ran a very structured program. First circle time, large motor, table time, free play and story time, then lunch, down for nap and then some free play in the afternoon. And oh, the behavior problems we had!! Johnny wouldn’t sit for circle time, Susie wouldn’t come to the table to do craft, large motor was large motor with kids just running a muck (well maybe it wasn’t that bad). Then we had caregivers that were control freaks and felt the children should function within these perimeters. Perhaps then I also had some blinders on, not exactly educated but not without education I stood with my caregivers in the battle for control. After all we were just trying to do it like the “public school” system does it.

In 2003, I began classes for a human services degree, that degree evolved into human development degree with a concentration in children and families. Then began my awakening, oh I knew it all along, I felt within my being what was right, I just couldn’t pull it out or put it into words.  My complete turning point however was Eleanor Duckworth’s, The Having of Wonderful Ideas. Duckworth believes that children stop having wonderful ideas because their ideas are not valued in the classroom (p. 6). After reading Duckworth, I began some critical thinking of my own, and our preschool program began its continuing evolution. If someone ask me if we play all day, I respond “absolutely“, and “no” it shouldn’t be any other way. And oh are these are children smart, the discovery that we make while we are playing are incredible. Play allows us to move each child along developmental at their own pace and at their own comfort level. They are not afraid to ask questions and they know that we will always help them find the answers. Behavior problems are at a minimum, the basic fight over a doll, or she wrote on my paper kind of thing, but no control wars between teacher and student. Any fights that do occur are turned into a teaching moment and the practice of social skills. It is no surprise to me when one student says to the other don’t interrupt you have to wait until she is finished talking, there concern for each other is huge. They understand the necessity of taking turns, and have learned to watch the clock for their time on the computer, the purple car or coolest dress.
Some days are just goofy days, and they want to do goofy things but even goofy things have many teaching moments. Yesterday they were dogs that kept pooping in the house, so silly. What did we get from that? Well we talked about pets and how animals should be taken care of. Animals need to be let outside on regular basis, that they need food and water, and that they also need love. Since we are now trying to incorporate a project into our play we tied pets, to our families and who else lives at our houses. Our project is “creating our family tree” and we are just in the discovery stage.

Our goal is to send these little children to school, feeling good about themselves, having a solid self assurance and a desire for knowledge. We hope that the desire for knowledge will sustain them even when their creativity has been suppressed.