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Play Is Deep Learning

Watch children at play and you might suddenly realize that they are not just frivolously wasting time or mucking about,” notes Paul Bailey in his book, Think of an Elephant (London: Watkins Publishing, 2007).  “Child’s play is deep learning: a self-directed state of deep connectedness and personal engagement.  It is also an enthusiastic and absorbing state of relaxed attention — healthy qualities often missing from adult life.  Play is a creative learning exchange between mind, body, and circumstance into one integrated and healthy whole.  Awash with symbols and mental imagery, children at play are learning in a way that can be wildly creative, insightful, and visionary….
”Research shows that the more animals play, the bigger their brains grow.  Moreover, brain imaging techniques show that social play seems to rewire our brain, increasing the activity of connections between our brain cells.  Play also helps develop our logical reasoning, our ability to learn, and our behavioral flexibility.”

A Word on Play

From Nancy Carlsson-Paige Ed.D., Lesley University: “When we watch children play, we understand how central play is to healthy development — to children’s emotional, social, and cognitive health and learning. Through play and hands-on activity, children build ideas and relationships that become the foundation for success in school and life. Today’s overemphasis in schools across the country on standards and testing is pushing down to younger children and resulting in more and more direct instruction at the expense of play and active learning.”

Play is the Way

“Historically, play has been viewed as a frivolous break from important endeavors like working and learning when, in fact, a child’s ability to fully and freely engage in play is essential to their learning, productivity, and overall development,” observe Steve Gross and Rebecca Cornelli Sanderson in their article, “Play is the Way,” in the Beginnings section of the September/October 2012 Exchange magazine. They continue:

”A natural drive to play is universal across all young mammals. Children from every society on earth spend time playing. Why? Because play is a crucial vehicle for exploring and learning, developing new skills, and connecting with others. From an infant’s first smile to a preschooler’s careful construction of a tower, children use play to engage with and learn about their world. Play has key neurological, cognitive, socio-emotional, and physiological benefits for children’s health. Most importantly, play is the way in which children form loving, trusting relationships.

The Importance of Playing

“The importance of playing in appropriate environments is ever more significant in a society where children are pressured by expectations into assuming the roles of adults at an increasingly young age.  We can see this happening when children prefer clothes and electronic objects to simple and collective toys and games. …  Nowadays children generally play less than in the past;  they don’t play as many street games, and they are no longer capable of producing their own toys.  “We also see this phenomenon in the increasing amount of restrictions to children’s playing environments, and the lack of spaces where children can be without having to share the space with an infinity of other things.

“For these reasons it is important to develop activities and spaces that promote spontaneous fun and games, offering the natural joy of freedom, involving children and helping them to grow.”  —from Early Learning Matters 2010