Play and Learn

At the age of 29 I decided to make a major life change.  I re-enrolled into college.  I worked full time, had a 2-year old son, and was scared to death.  It is very intimidating going back to school when you are so out of practice.  But the advice of a very smart man (who I later made my husband) convinced me I could do it.

 

It was cool actually.  My major was in education, but my minor was early childhood.  Everything I learned I got to test on my own son!  Seriously, how cool is having your own guinee pig!?  In one of my first classes the professor asked each of us to make a book that we could use to introduce us to young children.  I worked on this book probably more than I needed to.  It had fun pictures in it of my son and I.  I made a cardboard cut out of my hand with Velcro spots on each finger.  I tied the hand to the bottom of the book with pretty ribbon and on each page a foam cutout piece would come off and stick to a finger.  At the end you could clearly see the foam items displayed and tell five things about me.  My son and I painted parts of the book and he ended up stripped down to his diaper on a large cardboard box dipping hands and feet in the paint and having a blast making prints.  By the end he was covered head to toe in paint and having the time if his life.  I took a picture and shared it with my college classmates while presenting my finished product.  

 

The reaction of my professor is why I remember this project.  “What a great mom to let him get all messy like that,” she said.  Well yeah, how could I not?

 

If you are a parent, or a teacher, or you are around kids at all in your lives I guarantee you have said at least one of these things:

•    Don’t get your shoes wet!
•    Go around the puddles.
•    Stay on the sidewalk and out of the mud.
•    Use your napkin!
•    Don’t splash!
•     Keep your clothes clean.
•    Food goes in your mouth, not on your face
•    And so on… 

As a teacher of 2^nd graders I had students that were very sensory curious by nature.  (Here is an interesting article on play and sensory) Lunch easily became an artistic experience.   Play dough became a necessary tool in my room.  Oobleck and pumpkin gutting were my beloved annual activities.  Shaving cream smeared on tables to write in was very popular.  All these activities were things I would have previously assigned as early elementary appropriate– Kindergarten or earlier.  They loved to get messy.  But I there were still times I heard myself saying all the bulletted phrases above to my own child.  Robbing him of messy experiences. 

 

Later, in my early childhood education, we made t-shirts and chose a quote for the back: “Play is the highest form of research,” Albert Einstein. 

 

I understand staying clean before an important event.  I get not coloring on the walls.  I even understand keeping your shoes dry.  But why isn’t taking your shoes off an option?  We need to make time for mess for and with our children.  Natural curiosity is healthy.

 

Intentionally making this opportunity is an option.  Laying cardboard down for painting, taping off an art area, creating puddles with swim suits on can be fun.  I have even let my kids write on my tile floor in the kitchen with washable markers.  Clean up is really easy and they learn several skills. (cleaning teaches responsibility, here is a short bullet pointed list of why, but there are many articles on it)  

 

But those aren’t the only opportunities to be had.  I often see students painting their fingers and arms instead of their papers in class because they, very simply, like the way it feels.  They toss oobleck in the air because… well curiosity, science even.  The things adults are so quick to say no or stop to are the things that kids need to experience.  Remember the things you did as a kid? 

 

My mother-in-law tells a story of my husband stuffing toy cars down the basement floor drain, because, well, again, who knows?  He was a kid.  Maybe he was hiding them from siblings.  Maybe it was a tunnel where no man survived.  Maybe he was feeding the beast below.  No matter the reason, it resulted in a lot of clean up and manual labor to get the drain working properly again.

 

When my brother and I were teenagers we visited a local beach with friends.  My brother was talked into diving off a cliff, swimming to the other side, and climbing a tree only to jump back in the water.  To me this was one of those things that just wasn’t going to turn out right.  The friend climbed the tree and jumped in flawlessly.  My brother cautiously climbed what I was sure was the tallest tree I had ever seen, limb by limb.  Each one was shakier than the last.  My stomach was in my throat as he ascended.  But he did it, he jumped in, and he swam back.  When he climbed the cliff and approached me he said, “That was pretty stupid.” 

 

In 2012 my brother died of cancer.  I wrote a poem entitled “I Watched You Climb a Tree One Day” based on this experience.  Basically I am glad he climbed that tree.  I am also very thankful it turned out alright.  Don’t get me wrong, I don’t recommend anyone doing what he did.  I do, however, suggest seizing the moment you are in. 

 

 

Say ‘yes’ a little more often.  Stop making excuses to NOT do things or NOT go places.  Experience life and allow your children to do the same by bringing them with you on the journey.   Learn through play.