Every parent knows the scenario. Your child is presented with some outrageously priced automated gadget, hyped as the latest thing for educating baby geniuses, and what is the end result? After 20 minutes of oohs and aahs and quizzical promptings from grownups determined to show their child the way to discover the scientific workings of the world, Junior spends the rest of the day happily exploring the imaginative possibilities of the cardboard box it came in.
Well, it seems that Junior is on to something. This kind of spontaneous free play offers rich possibilities for learning. But it's the sort of unstructured play that's becoming increasingly harder for children to engage in because of today's over-scheduled lives; all too often it's been replaced by organized activities, academics, or passive pursuits such as watching television and playing video games.
Tufts Professor David Elkind, an expert in the cognitive and social development of children and author of The Hurried Child; Ties That Stress: The New Family Imbalance; and most recently The Power of Play, suggests that kids today have less time for self-initiated free play than they did 20 years ago. Not only that, it seems that an increasing number of elementary schools across the country are cutting out recess in favor of academic subjects.
"Play is a basic human drive," said Mr. Elkind, who advises parents and schools to create opportunities for discovery learning that engages the child. "We misunderstand play, thinking of it as a luxury instead of an element that is as essential to human development as food."
Play in Child Development
According to a report published recently by the American Academy of Pediatrics, weightily titled "The Importance of Play in Promoting Healthy Child Development and Maintaining Strong Parent-Child Bonds," schools as well as parents should promote opportunities for play of the sort that Mr. Elkind suggests. Defending unstructured "down time," Mr. Elkind says that creative spontaneous activity is the best way to set the stage for academic learning.
Kenneth Ginsburg and the Committee on Communications and Committee on Psychosocial Aspects of Child and Family Health finds that play is essential to development as it contributes to the cognitive, physical, social and emotional wellbeing of children and youth. The report finds that in spite of its benefits for both children and parents, time for free play has been markedly reduced for some children. Citing factors such as hurried lifestyle, changes in family structure, and increased attention to academics and enrichment activities at the expense of recess or free child-centered play, the report offers guidelines for pediatricians to advocate for children by helping families, school systems, and communities consider how best to ensure play is protected. The report can be downloaded from www.aap.org/pressroom/playFINAL.pdf.
Play Downplayed
According to Mr. Elkind, there are many reasons for the fact that play has been downplayed. As a result of having two working parents, children need supervised activities. An unfortunate side effect derived from its name, the Head Start Program gave middle class parents the idea that education is a race rather than a lifelong pursuit. Other causes include technology; global competition; and the fact that families now have fewer children and are therefore more invested in them, resulting in "helicopter" parents that constantly hover over their kids. "Under the guise of helping children, we are not helping them," he said.
In addition to these, he pointed out that playing in the neighborhood is now not such an option as it used to be. To counterbalance this loss, he suggested that young children should be taken to playgrounds and parks and offered traditional summer camps that foster free spontaneous play rather than those organized solely around particular activities.
According to Mr. Elkind, the fact that children, teens, and now tweens, are being targeted directly as consumers, means the commercialization of childhood for which the country will pay a price.
Local Educators
Educators in Princeton have long discussed the important role of imaginative play in teaching students to be creative and original thinkers who are good problem solvers.
"Education is a burning issue today. Are we testing our children too much? Not enough?" commented Mary Hirsch of the Waldorf School of Princeton — one of over 900 schools worldwide sharing an educational philosophy and curriculum that supports a child's natural development.
"Recent reports indicate that our children are suffering from a lack of imaginative play," said Ms. Hirsch, who described the Waldorf School as promoting play as a means to discovery for children in its early childhood program (where one day they might be a pirate or an animal in a safari inspired by simple props such as wooden boxes and silks). "We cherish a young child's sense of wonder and deep ability to use his or her imagination, and our program provides the rich soil in which a young child can blossom and grow." Through play, children are open to learning, she said. "Once children move into the grade school, our program becomes a blend of academics, artistic, and practical."
The Waldorf School will host an open house this Saturday, January 20, from 10 a.m. to 12 p.m. at 1062 Cherry Hill Road in Princeton. To register, call (609) 466-1970 ext. 15. For directions, visit www.princetonwaldorf.org.
Play is Work and Work is Play
Kindergarten teachers at Princeton Junior School have found a strong connection between classroom learning and spontaneous play. Concepts learned in the classroom are taken out to the playground where "the learning really begins."
With the tenet that "Play is work" and "work is play." Princeton Junior School promotes both individual and cooperative play in pre-school and beyond. Headmaster Peter Y. Rapelye has written of the process of "fine tuning the delicate balance between work and play" that goes on at the school and stands in contrast to the perception of schools as "havens of too much homework and unhealthy competition."
Situated on six acres of land that includes meadows, woods and wetlands, the school is ideally situated for the best kind of play for preschoolers, which, according to Mr. Elkind, involves the natural world. The school blends with the surrounding landscape and neighboring farms and has a central Commons, a large and open space designed as a village square, where children, teachers, and parents can gather and interact.
Like several of Princeton's public schools, which have introduced gardens for growing herbs, flowers, and vegetables and to offer opportunities for science learning, Princeton Junior School has an organic garden with vegetable and flower beds and a small orchard among the outdoor facilities. The garden is designed to support the exploration of nature for which the school has also introduced a Learning Through Landscapes program, developing areas of the grounds to serve as places for study and play.
Princeton Junior School will hold an Admissions Open House Thursday, January 18, from 9:30 a.m. to 11:30 a.m. For individual tours by appointment, call (609) 924-8126, ext. 103.
Parents and Play
Bringing parents and children together in the pursuit of a shared activity underlies the activities offered, for example, at Princeton's Music Together, the internationally recognized early childhood music program for infants, toddlers, preschoolers, kindergarteners, and adults.
"Play strengthens bonds," said Lili Levinowitz, director of research at the Center for Music & Young Children (CMYC), which conducted a study examining parent/child interaction style as the antecedent to a child's development of self esteem. The study found that parents use the interactive style that Music Together fosters in its parent education and in parental "coaching;" a style that allows for the child to lead and the parent to follow.
Founded in 1985, CMYC developed Music Together as a way to help families, caregivers, and early childhood professionals rediscover the pleasure and educational value of informal musical experiences. Rather than emphasizing traditional music performances, the center encourages family participation in spontaneous musical activity occurring within the context of daily life.
In addition to the more than 700 families from the greater Princeton area who enroll in CMYC's Music Together laboratory school each semester, the school administers preschool programs in several other locations, the largest of these is Music for the Very Young, sponsored by the Trenton Community Music School. Developed in partnership with CMYC, Music for the Very Young now serves 750 students and 100 teachers in Trenton public schools and community preschools. In Princeton, CMYC supports an outreach program at the Princeton Nursery School, where over 50 families are engaged in music and play. For more information, visit www.musictogether.com.
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But don't get the idea that play is just for the kindergarten set. Findings suggest that all ages can benefit from unstructured down time. "Our imagination, creativity, and fantasy are like muscles that we must exercise," said Mr. Elkind.
Adult play, whether it be tackling the Times crossword puzzle, learning a language, or taking up a new hobby, has been shown to be crucial to maintaining a healthy and stimulated mind. As Mr. Elkind puts it: the essential three are work, love, and play.