ExchangeEveryDay Past Issues

I found this article to be true of what I have seen, observed and been part of during my 18 years teaching and now directing in a preschool that emphasizes and supports the value of play. From the first time I meet a family considering our school, I explain to them that we consider play invaluable for their child's participation in the world and in becoming a global citizen. Often, parents concentrate on the skills that will be taught and assessed in the primary grades, forgetting that, later on, students will be required to take the facts and skills they have learned and create something completely new and original with that knowledge. They will need to think outside the box with confidence and having had the practice that unstructured, self-regulated play provides. One of my greatest joys as a director is walking into the classrooms in my school and observing the wonderful things that are going on when the children are allowed to think and play on their own. The planning, thinking, cooperation and creativity evident in each activity is amazing.

Thank you for this article! I will be passing it out to my families next week!

I appreciated this article. On the very important issue of play for young children, please go to the www.allianceforchildhood.org website. They are mounting a national campaign to restore play in pre-shcools and kindergartens and in our society in general.

Being an early care educator, I found this article to be astounding in terms of self-regulation and understanding adults better. I am sure if this study has this much effect on young children can we imagine the effect of adults today. I have experienced adults that shows so much emotion during positive critiquing that they have lost the ability to move forward and improve their skills to learn affectively.

As an early chilhood educator in Malaysia, we constantly argued with other teachers and parents about the importance of play, especially outdoor play. Early childhood program is very academic centered , parents do not want their children to spend time playing because it is ' A waste of time'. Self regulation is very low here. My collegue and I are delighted when we read this article. We will be distrbuting this article to all our parents this week.

This article from Exchange and the NPR segment were so validating it a world where Play gets a "bad reputation". It was reassuring to again hear the reasons for deepening our sense of commitment for allowing and defending the value of play especially in our child care facilities.
I'm in the process of figuring how to get this information in to the hands and heats of all my parents at my center.

In an age of heightened demand that every minute is used for academic education, articles such as this one and "Where do the Children Play" give programs such as ours the words and evidence to defend the "childhood" in Early Childhood Education.

From our present P.R.
… state-of-the-art academics co-exist with some of the aspects of education that are ignored in most curriculums: those that do not “look like school” but develop the ability to focus, to practice the ability to "go inside", to develop the ability to create mental imagery in response to hearing information or recalled information, to allow mental space for original thoughts to arise: to support the "create" in "creative", to spend time in unfettered play and social interaction, to observe nature firsthand through the seasons.

I just wanted to make you aware of a DVD distributed by Alliance for Childhood and I believe PBS, I could be wrong so don't quote me. But, it is wonderful and it is called, "Where do the children Play?"
Below is information I have if you wanted to explore the issue.

We appreciate your interest in organizing a screening of the PBS documentary “Where Do the Children Play?,” produced by Michigan Television. It shows children at play in a variety of settings and examines the many reasons why play is endangered. It will be aired on public television stations later this year, but local screenings can lead to fruitful conversations and plant the seeds for community play coalitions.

This month we will send copies of the film to those who want to screen it at conferences or meetings or in schools, universities, libraries, or other public venues. There is no charge, but donations to help with the Alliance’s campaign to restore play to children’s lives are greatly appreciated. We are a 501(c)(3) nonprofit organization and all donations are tax-deductible.

The film is in DVD format, so if you are showing it in a space larger than a living room (where a TV screen will work) you will need a DVD player or DVD-compatible computer plus a projector, speakers, and screen. Universities and other large institutions usually have this equipment, but smaller schools and libraries may want you to provide it. Be sure to look into this in advance, for renting the equipment can cost a few hundred dollars. Unfortunately we are not able to help with these costs.

We can help in other ways, however. With the DVD of the film we will send you a comprehensive fact sheet about play with relevant web sites and other resources related to the film, which you can copy and give to those attending. We will also send a sample press release that you can adapt for use with local news media. If your screening is open to the public, we will list it on the Alliance web site and send an announcement to everyone in your vicinity who is on our e-mail list.

For the moment, please let us know if you are still interested in screening the film, and, if so, in what type of venue, the date (or approximate date) of the showing, and about how many attendees you expect.

The film’s companion Study Guide is available through Wayne State University Press (see http://wsupress.wayne.edu/childrens/goodenough_wdtcp.html ). It is a beautiful book that takes a diverse look at different aspects of play. It is edited by Elizabeth Goodenough of the University of Michigan, who was the originator of the entire film project.

We look forward to hearing from you. Please direct your e-mail correspondence to [email protected] .

We send all best wishes for the New Year. May it be a playful and peaceful one for us all.

Joan Almon
Chair

Alliance for Childhood
P.O. Box 444
College Park, MD 20741
301-779-1033
[email protected]

thanks,
Beth Engelhardt

I was thrilled to hear this story yesterday on NPR and forwarded it to many colleagues and to my students. I am just as pleased to see how quickly you have included it in ExchangeEveryDay! Thanks so much for your good work.