Making Sense of the World Through Play

When we think of play, we usually picture dolls and balls. However, we are taking it to a deeper level as we look at subtle stories about play. Playing with words, ideas, concepts and problem solving can be as much fun as playing with dolls and balls, especially as we get older.

I am fortunate to have belonged to one of the last generations able to grow and develop through free play. Our imaginations were immense and enabled us to gain the capacity to learn how to solve social problems with our friends.

There are many different approaches to play. This article will look at approaches that are developmentally appropriate for Toddlers through TK. It will discuss what is developmentally appropriate and what is the educator’s role to facilitate that play.

Not a Box by Antoinette Portis is about a rabbit with imagination. A cardboard box is not a box – it’s a spaceship, a race car, a robot or anything else the rabbit can playfully dream up! Another box story, Roxaboxen by Alice McLerran is about some imaginative children who lived in the desert.

I found this book last year. I was so engaged in every page that I brought it to my colleagues at Educators for Peaceful Classrooms and Communities. What spoke to me the most (and there were lots more), was that the focus on lesson plans, weekly themes, meeting standards, etc. was replacing a joyful frame of mind and really  BEING WITH the children and how important that is.