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Dorothy... I do agree with the value of play...very important (for at least all of the reasons you've said...and more).....but I feel that if I put my child into a public institution (school), where traditional lessons "such as history, science, math etc" are a mandatory "curriculum"...then THAT'S what I would want them doing......the type of learning that my child learns "in play"..is something I would want to oversee...not some volunteer lunch-time monitor, that changes everyday....and that I'll never know.....maybe schools should just be for 3-4 hours instead of 6-7.....since they supposedly can teach our children the basics, and have so much extra time left over for "play".
I hear you and I actually agree with a lot of what you say here. If a school day is 6-7 hours long, I think a good 2 hours of that should be reserved for free play but if they cut the day to 3-4 hours then there would be plenty of time for play afterschool. As of now there is very little time set aside for free play in a 6-7 hour day.
I'm sure a lot of parents out there have noticed their kids don't seem to be outside playing as much as we did when we were kids......What the heck....I think I'll just start another thread on this.....
I remember participating in many threads beating it; my suggestions that such a phenomenon/trend is actually happening were usually met with enervated guts daring me to show them the studies that say so, 'cause in their neck'o'da'woods it ain't so and it's probably all about my unhappiness of being in the US, how about a shrink?
We currently live in a neighborhood that actually has children stopping by each other's houses and inviting each other outside to play. We desperately looked for a neighborhood that seemed promising in this department. You can never have any guarantee before making the renting/buying decision but we got lucky.
However, this doesn't prevent me from noticing what's out there, outside of my neck o'da'woods; that ours is quite the exception and not the rule, and the actual amount of time children spend outside playing is still small compared to what past generations of children had. I also systematically studied their interaction with one another when they play and it is clearly way more superficial, more fleeting and less cohesive than what my generation had growing up.
But hey, after ZOMBIE NEIGHBORHOOD in Massachusetts, I'll take whatever I can get.
When George Thomas was eight he walked everywhere.
It was 1926 and his parents were unable to afford the fare for a tram, let alone the cost of a bike and he regularly walked six miles to his favourite fishing haunt without adult supervision.
Fast forward to 2007 and Mr Thomas's eight-year-old great-grandson Edward enjoys none of that freedom.
He is driven the few minutes to school, is taken by car to a safe place to ride his bike and can roam no more than 300 yards from home.
I hear you and I actually agree with a lot of what you say here. If a school day is 6-7 hours long, I think a good 2 hours of that should be reserved for free play but if they cut the day to 3-4 hours then there would be plenty of time for play afterschool. As of now there is very little time set aside for free play in a 6-7 hour day.
Kids do not do "school" 6-7 hours a day. The actual daily academic learning is done in 4 hours at the very most, probably much less.
The rest is baby-sitting. Mothers are at work, we are all running in place just to keep up - hence schools have taken over PART of the job of supervising children so they won't "break their necks".
Kids do not do "school" 6-7 hours a day. The actual daily academic learning is done in 4 hours at the very most, probably much less.
The rest is baby-sitting. Mothers are at work, we are all running in place just to keep up - hence schools have taken over PART of the job of supervising children so they won't "break their necks".
If the schools can "do school" in 4 hours then they can afford to allow for 2 to 3 hours of recess, no?
Dorothy... I do agree with the value of play...very important (for at least all of the reasons you've said...and more).....but I feel that if I put my child into a public institution (school), where traditional lessons "such as history, science, math etc" are a mandatory "curriculum"...then THAT'S what I would want them doing......the type of learning that my child learns "in play"..is something I would want to oversee...not some volunteer lunch-time monitor, that changes everyday....and that I'll never know.....maybe schools should just be for 3-4 hours instead of 6-7.....since they supposedly can teach our children the basics, and have so much extra time left over for "play".
The youngest children learn history, math, science, language, reading, etc. all through play.
Examples of this kind of curriculum in the k-3 grades abound.
Play empowers children to solve problems, make decisions, explore and negotiate, etc.
Teachers need to set up the environment so that children learn the concepts, but the children need to play in order to learn. Math, for example, is much better when learned in a hands on way. Playing with unit blocks allows children to make comparisons of length, area, volume, height, width, etc. The teacher may need to ask probing questions while the children play, but it is the play which creates the actual learning about math.
Math is patterns, so making patterns with tangrams or cuisenaire rods or other manipulatives gives children the ability to eventually make patterns with numbers.
For reading, acting out a story is often more productive than simply reading the book (though we read it as well). Also, using many versions of the same story can lead to a lot of learning. Another play based reading activity might involve trying to make up your own ending for a story that is well known or telling the story from a different point of view. Teachers facilitate, but the child plays the story out.
Pretend play helps children express feelings in the following four ways (Piaget, 1962):
Simplifying events by creating an imaginary character, plot, or setting to match their emotional state. A child afraid of the dark, for example, might eliminate darkness or night from the play episode.
Compensating for situations by adding forbidden acts to pretend play. A child may, for example, eat cookies and ice cream for breakfast in play, whereas in reality this would not be permitted.
Controlling emotional expression by repeatedly reenacting unpleasant or frightening experiences. For example, a child might pretend to have an accident after seeing a real traffic accident on the highway.
Avoiding adverse consequences by pretending that another character, real or imaginary, commits inappropriate acts and suffers the consequences. Children whose television viewing is monitored at home, for instance, can pretend to allow the doll to watch indiscriminately and then reprimand the “bad child” for unacceptable TV viewing habits.
Many of our problems in schools stem from inadequate social learning because children are not allowed to be kids and play anymore.
I will say that while playing they are learning at the same time, this is going hand in hand. We cannot separate it. In fact play is a very crucial activity to the development of a child because it stimulate his brain and help him to develop his skill and his confident in himself. I thing we must encourage our kids to play outside when of course the weather allows it, we must make them move which is good for their health and let them discover new things outside. I think that they must play at home and even at school.
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