When is Playing Not Playing?
(No, It’s Not a Trick Question)
By Dana Johnson
“There is a tremendous hunger
in our culture for true play,” says Dr. Stuart L. Brown,
an M.D. who has spent years studying play in children. He is among
a growing number of doctors, psychologists, child development
specialists and other professionals who are speaking out on the
apparent lack of true play in children today.
Are they right? Are our children
starving for play?
What exactly is play?
To be defined as play, most researchers agree that children’s
activities must meet five criteria:
Play must be pleasurable and
enjoyable.
It must be spontaneous and voluntary.
A play activity contains an aspect of make-believe.
The player must be actively engaged in play.
Play must have no extrinsic goals.
While most children probably engage
in play activities that meet some of these criteria, an activity
has to meet all five to be considered “true” play.
Activities for children today seem to be lacking in two primary
areas: “The player must be actively engaged in play,”
and “Play must have no extrinsic goals.”
Today’s passive entertainment
Many toys on the market today encourage passive rather than active
play. In this age of high-tech toys, children frequently push
a button and are entertained by watching play happen. The construction
of the toy sets up the play activity and determines how it will
be played with. The same can be said for many other typical activities
for children today -- television, movies, computer and video games.
The problem with these activities is that the child is not creating
anything using his own imagination. The child is not an active
participant in creation of the play experience.
Our criteria above state that play must happen for the sake of
play, with any outside goals. Much of what we “play”
with children today has the covert agenda of teaching them a skill.
Many of today’s toys are “educational,” and
clever marketing has told parents that they need to stimulate
their baby’s brain, use flash cards with their toddler,
teach reading to their preschooler. Some of today’s most
popular toys carry names such as Einstein, Genius, Mozart and
Scholar.
While there is nothing wrong with
children learning through play, the point is that learning happens
naturally in the course of true play. All children are born with
a desire to explore, discover and learn. The most effective means
of accomplishing this is through their play. When playing with
water, children learn about weight. In selling food in a pretend
store, they learn about numbers. By using toys symbolically, they
are thinking abstractly -- a requirement for reading. All of these
activities lay the groundwork for learning naturally.
The pressure is on
It is interesting to note that although children appear to be
lacking in true play experiences, most parents agree that play
is important to their children’s development. In fact, research
has shown that parents even know the types of play that are most
beneficial to children!
If parents acknowledge that play
is important and know what types of play are beneficial, then
why are children not playing in this type unstructured free play?
Developmental psychologists Roberta Michnick Golinkoff, Ph.D.,
and Kathy Hirsh-Pasek, Ph.D., say that as parents, “we know
what to do, but we just can’t bring ourselves to do it.
We are afraid that if we trust our instincts, our children will
be missing out on learning some critical skills.” Their
book Einstein Never Used Flash Cards proves otherwise.
Taking back the right to
play
It is my hope that those of us who consider ourselves to be natural
parents will take the lead in bringing back true play to childhood.
Just as many of us take back the process of childbirth, just as
we trust our instincts regarding attachment, let us also value
our children’s need to play creatively and show respect
for the importance of play in their lives.
Ways we can each begin to do this:
Make play a part of
your child’s daily life. Set a time for free
play -- play that is undirected and uninterrupted by adults
-- each day.
Allow your child to play for the sake of play. Have
no hidden agenda for “teaching” or “learning”
during play.
Provide unstructured, multi-purpose toys. Toys
that are not detailed encourage active participation on the
part of the child. The child has to use her imagination to “complete”
the toy. This also encourages creativity and gives the child
an opportunity to make believe endless possibilities. In addition,
there is some evidence these types of play materials develop
out-of-the-box thinking and problem solving skills.
Eliminate or limit television viewing. Television
is a passive activity. It can also invite a host of other challenges
to true play: children re-enacting television programs instead
of playing out of their own imaginations, exposure to violence
and commercial marketing and contributing to the need to be
entertained.
Be conscious of the images and sensations your children
take in. Young children are just beginning to know
the world around them. Try to give them a beautiful image of
their world. Toys that are made of natural materials such as
wood and cotton are particularly nice, as they have a warmth
and quality that synthetic counterparts cannot match. Images
that are reflective of the beauty of nature are preferable to
characterizations and cartoon-like reproductions.
Offer your child a life worth imitating. Young
children learn through imitation. Watching you engaged in worthwhile
daily tasks will give them lots of things to pretend and roleplay.
Choose a play-based preschool. Children learn
best through play. Research shows that children who attend academically
oriented preschools do not enter school with better skills or
attitudes toward learning.
Educate yourself. Do some reading on child
development and the importance of play and play materials. Question
marketing of toys claiming to be based on brain research. For
example, would it surprise you to know that The Mozart Effect
was a study done on college kids, not babies?
Get involved. There are many play advocacy
organizations that are free to join, and many encourage parents
to do so. The Alliance
for Childhood is a great one, providing information for
parents and a free e-mail newsletter.
Play fosters the growth of healthy
children in every aspect of development – physically, cognitively,
socially and emotionally. It really is food for children’s
bodies, minds and spirits. Let us nourish them with wonderful
“true” play experiences.
References:
Kathy Hirsh-Pasek, Ph.D. and Roberta Michnick Golinkoff, Ph.D.,
with Diane Eyer, Ph.D.: Einstein Never Used Flash Cards
(Rodale, 2003)
© Dana Johnson
Dana Johnson is a former children's
play therapist and holds a master's degree in social work. She
is the owner of Three
Sisters Toys, specializing in natural play materials for children.
