Adults Learn Through Play, Too

11/09/2006

Adults Learn Through Play, Too

Every child is an artist. The problem is how to remain an artist once he grows up.
Pablo Picasso

In the best selling Exchange book, The Art of Leadership: Managing Early Childhood Organizations, Elizabeth Jones contributes the article, "Creating Environments Where Teachers, Like Children, Learn Through Play." Here she observes...

"Administrators really need to think of the needs of adults in much the same terms in which they, as teachers, thought of the needs of children. Adults need to be safe, they need to have enough resources to work with, and they need to be encouraged to play.

"When a child is learning through play she gets to explore — there isn't a predetermined end product. She has an idea or notion of a direction she would like to pursue and she is free within broad limits to do so. Her motivation comes from within herself as she interacts with the possibilities in the environment.

"Administrators responsible for training staff often find themselves trying to motivate the staff members to learn what has been predetermined that they must learn. But if you want people to stay excited about their jobs, there has to be some opportunity for them to explore, to be decision makers, to say, 'This is what I want to do next.' That's playful in the very best sense. Children become active learners through play; and so do adults."

The week, The Art of Leadership is on sale at a 20% discount

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