What’s the Point in Playing?
It might seem like a dumb question, “Why should kids play?” You probably have the answer already. Come on now, say it with me, “Because it’s fun!”*
However, play is losing footing in American schools. We know that playtime is being cut in elementary and preschool classrooms across the country in order to make room for academics. We are being made to believe that academic skills should be the ultimate goal. And if we, the adults, let kids "just play", we are doing our children a disservice. The most terrible of all fates await these children. They will...fall behind. GASP!
Nooooooooooooooooooo!!!! Calm Down. They’re in elementary school.
But check this out! Children are capable of naturally developing skills through play. Now, of course we can’t become fluent readers without some amount of direct instruction. But we can learn so many other things. Play allows children to explore different cultural practices, support socio-emotional growth, develop gross and fine motor skills, AND improve academic skills.
An example from my own classroom:
A couple of years back, I had decided to spend an entire week on cooking with my PreK class. Like many early childhood classrooms, our class has a kitchen area, which I stocked with toy food & utensils. I had also gone to the library and checked out a number of kid's cookbooks to give the opportunity to see ingredients and dishes from around the world.
On the very first day, one child brought a cookbook from the book center to the kitchen. The kids began pretending to create the food they saw in the pictures until, after about 15 minutes, one little boy, “Steven”, noticed that there were numbers next to each picture.
"Why does this one have a 1?"
"That is Step 1 for cooking."
And with that Steven began following the directions and looking for the utensil and ingredients for each step. And he was doing it in numerical order. Steven showed his friends and they all began cooking that way.
The kids were developing numeracy skills and learning sequencing as well as learning early literacy skills by following a page from left to right as they played. I did not instruct them to do this, nor was it my goal when giving them cookbooks. But they discovered this almost entirely on their own! Of course, numbers were taught in the months prior, but most of this lesson was facilitated by me, and developed by them. Learning through play is the best kind of learning!
And if my diatribe doesn’t convince you, check out the United Nations’ Rights of the Child.***
Play is more than fun. Play Is A Right. Literally.
*Know that if I could, I would be giving you all Paw Patrol stickers.
**Not his real name.
***Fun fact: It was ratified by every country in the U.N., except the United States. WHY?!?
By Chrysta Naron