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"Flow State" and "True Play"
June 26, 2023
If we miss the moment, we miss the clues. In the present, when we allow ourselves to fully live there, we are restored, made wiser, made deeper and happier.
-Marianne Williamson, author and political candidate
-Marianne Williamson, author and political candidate
Recently, I came across an article on flow state, by Kendra Cherry:
If you have ever felt completely absorbed in something, you might have been experiencing a mental state that psychologists refer to as flow. Achieving this state can help people feel greater enjoyment, energy, and involvement... Positive psychologist Mihály Csíkszentmihályi describes flow as a state of complete immersion in an activity.
Some of the factors Csíkszentmihályi has found associated with an experience of flow include:
- The activity is intrinsically rewarding.
- There is a complete focus on the activity itself.
- People experience feelings of personal control over the situation and the outcome.
- People have feelings of serenity and a loss of self-consciousness.
- People know that the task is doable and there is a balance between skill level and the challenge presented.
- There is strong concentration and focused attention.
These characteristics and benefits are strikingly similar to what we see in open-ended play, or what Cheng Xueqin of Anji Play calls ‘true play:’
- True Play is deep and uninterrupted engagement in the activity of one’s own choice.
- True Play is most frequently characterized by observable experiences of risk, joy and deep engagement. This is the deepest manifestation of learning, growth and development.
- True Play flourishes in places of love where the materials, environments and decision-making attend to the needs and differences of the individual and the group.
All of this got me thinking about Lisa Porter Kuh and Iris Chin Ponte's thoughts about scheduling time for children to ‘dig into their endeavors’ and ways we can support uninterrupted play and perhaps flow states for both children and adults. What are your ideas? Please share!
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Comments (4)
Displaying All 4 CommentsEugene, OR, United States
Thank you for the wonderful insights. Yes, time is often an overlooked part of children's environments and 'behavior.' Francis, you have the seed of a new article in thinking about organic schedules. Whirled Peas, thanks for reminding us of the connection to normalization! Of course! Kathy, thanks for pointing out that 'flow' often comes from us thoughtfully setting the stage and then 'getting out of the way.'
Woodroe Woods School
San Leandro, Ca, United States
The last warm day we observed many children in this state. We created a “car wash”. The outdoor teacher supplied a designated area, wash buckets with water and dawn detergent. That’s it. They took over from there. They were completely engaged in the moment.
The children who typically will jump from one activity to the next stayed in this play from the beginning of outside play until we finished. It was a complete joy to watch.
University of Phoenix/ Red Rocks Community College
Denver, Colorado, United States
The largest impediment to flow in an ECE program is the rigid, time-specific schedule so many programs follow; the second biggest impediment is the widely held view in our field that young children - especially low-income children - need a predicable daily schedule for a sense of mental health and security. I would also like to see this idea of flow combined with some things we are learning from outdoor programs, particularly the organic schedule of nature - i.e., rain showers, snow, too hot in the middle of the day, etc., and seasonal timeframes for planting, growing, and harvesting.
TLS
Altamonte Springs, FL, United States
Maria Montessori called this a state of "normalization.". As a medical doctor, she was thinking along the lines of "homeostasis" - or balanced well-being (when all internal and external systems are working in harmony). All living things seek out the experiences they need to accomplish this state (eating in response to hunger, etc.).
In the early years, the child is driven to accomplish specific activities that are required for optimal development (much like a seedling seeks out the sunlight). They repeat activities until their movements are more coordinated, they experiment with it/then relationships and explore properties of matter so they can create a framework of understanding for how their world works, and so on.
The more we create environments in which the child is able to satisfy these physiological drives, the more time they are able to spend in “flow” (normalizing) states. Play allows the child to create boundaries around practicing specific skill sets. Flow requires a match between challenge and ability that provides for growth. An example is volleying a balloon or tennis ball. If we play with a tennis champion, it is likely the game will be over very quickly. The same would be true if we played with a young child, but for opposite reasons. If we play with a person who’s abilities are similar to our own, we feel exhilaration as long as we are able to keep the balloon up in the air or the ball in play. For those few minutes, we are singularly focused on the activity. The world falls away. That is flow.
The more time children spend in flow, the more their physiological needs for development are being met, the calmer and happier they are, and the less likely disciplinary actions are needed.
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