Article Link: http://exchangepress.com/article/a-home-of-their-own-observing-childrens-play-and-language/5027266/
*Photos can be found in the pdf version of this article.
This is the fourth and final in a series of articles by Ron Grady exploring the Languages of Encounter, through his experiences with the children in his forest classroom.
Play as World Connector
Languages of Encounter is a way of framing some of the key mechanisms through which children engage with, get to know, and make active meaning with the world—especially with the outdoors but, ultimately, in and across all of the spaces within which they live their lives. The Languages of Encounter framework is rooted in multimodality, inspired by and in conversation with Reggio-inspired and nature- or land-based pedagogies, and intentionally emphasizes physical, social, creative, and psychological processes—tangible/visible and embodied, and invisible. In its own way, play might be considered the quintessential language of encounter. Across years and decades, centuries even, play has been celebrated as a central component of what it means to be a child. Yes, play may have different aims according to your culture, and children across cultures may play for more or less time, but play, in some way, is most often always there. In play, children exist within and across spaces, places, times, cultures, conversations, ...