Today's Play Landscape

08/23/2004

"Honor is like a steep island without a shore: one cannot return once one is outside." - Nicolas Boileau in Satires

Today's Play Landscape

The web site for the advocacy group Playing for Keeps (www.playingforkeeps.org) offers this description of contemporary play:

"Children have more playtime choices today than ever before. There are classic toys, "high-tech interactive" toys, board games, organized sports and activities, video games, computer games, the internet and cable TV remotes that encourage channel surfing as a playtime activity.

"Unfortunately, in some cases these toys and media expose children to violent themes and content. And in some cases, they tend to encourage children to spend a considerable amount of time playing indoors, often by themselves -- and often without the benefit of parental supervision as more parents work full-time today.

"With a more violent society in general today, playing outdoors unsupervised has nearly fallen by the wayside, especially for young children. In addition to missing out on valuable playtime experiences, limited outdoor play affects children's physical well being. Experts believe that children do not get enough exercise today and this is cited as a leading factor in the rise of childhood obesity.

"To prepare children to succeed in our rapidly changing and complex world, today schools are placing greater emphasis and focusing their budget dollars on traditional academics. Consequently, recess, physical education, music and art classes are disappearing from school schedules nationwide. To many, it seems as if the education system has all but expunged "constructive playfulness" from the learning process."

Play CD on Sale
This week all Exchange Articles on CD collections are on sale at for $20 -- a 20% discount. Included is our newest collection on Play which includes many articles by Playing for Keeps founder Ed Klugman and Susan Oliver. To check out these collections, go to http://mail.ccie.com/go/eed/0380

For more information about Exchange's magazine, books, and other products pertaining to ECE, go to www.ccie.com.