Why we love to play

​“Play is often talked about as if it were a relief from serious learning. But for children play is serious learning. Play is really the work of childhood.” —Fred Rogers

​“Play is often talked about as if it were a relief from serious learning. But for children play is serious learning. Play is really the work of childhood.” —Fred Rogers

Morna Harnden’s guest post below beautifully explains the importance of play to early childhood development and learning. Morna directs Austin Children’s Garden, which offers preschool programs as well as homeschool classes in South Austin.

 

This summer I had the absolute delight of volunteering in Teacher Tom's classroom at the Woodland Park Cooperative School in Seattle, Washington. Teacher Tom has long been one of my early childhood heroes (he even wears a cape!) through his insightful blog Teacher Tom and various trainings he has led with the Pedagogy of Play conference.

I wish the majority of parents and educators already understood the huge value of a play-based curriculum, but as the co-founder and co-teacher at Austin Children's Garden (an experiential and play-based learning community), I regularly find myself defending children's play to adults who are concerned about their child's education by explaining how and why we learn through play. As Teacher Tom says, “The idea that play is the opposite of learning is just too well embedded in our collective psyche.”

Questions that often come up are:

  • So, what does a “play-based curriculum” even mean?

  • Does that mean the children just play all day with no structure or learning? How will they transition to traditional school?

  • What is my child actually learning when they play?

After spending my childhood attending various Montessori, Steiner, and Democratic schools in the 1970s and 1980s (thanks Mom and Dad!), I have devoted my adult life to understanding early childhood growth and development (birth through age 8) from an integrated and holistic perspective. I am fascinated with how children learn and feel grateful for the calling to co-create the most healthy and joyful learning environment I can with the local community around me, as well as the global community of inspiring educators around the world.

“We can best help children learn, not by deciding what we think they should learn and thinking of ingenious ways to teach it to them, but by making the world, as far as we can, accessible to them, paying serious attention to what they do, answering …

“We can best help children learn, not by deciding what we think they should learn and thinking of ingenious ways to teach it to them, but by making the world, as far as we can, accessible to them, paying serious attention to what they do, answering their questions—if they have any—and helping them to explore the things they are most interested in.” —John Holt

Having been an educator in many types of schools, there are a few principles that I have seen as integral in supporting young children's growth and learning across the board:

  • Longer stretches of time with the freedom to play, explore, and discover in a natural yet stimulating learning environment that engages all the senses, alternated with an offering of shorter segments of meaningful hands-on, experiential projects that foster new skills and encourage mastery.

  • A small group size of mixed-age children, more like an extended family than a large classroom, to play with and learn together.

  • Fun, inspired, and loving adults who focus on empowering the child with inquiry-based learning, modeling self-regulation tools, and creating a physically and emotionally safe environment.

  • Ample outdoor play and exploration that allows nature to be a powerful learning experience filled with wonder and reverence.

  • Open-ended and natural play materials that encourage creative imagination and the discovery of innovative solutions.

  • Open-ended, process-based art and creative activities that are set up as an invitation to explore and express.

  • Predictable rhythms through the day, week, and year that create a natural structure and provide security with a sense of the interrelationships and wholeness of life.

All of these principles can be woven together to create a strong foundation and love of learning in a healthy, balanced, and experiential play-based environment. There is argument among some educators that to be truly play-based there would be no adult-guided projects. However, in my experience, as long as they are offered as a creative invitation with freedom of choice rather than a demand for every child to sit down and perform an activity only in the way the teacher dictates, and when these guided activities are sandwiched with longer times of free play, then meaningful hands-on projects are a wonderful inclusion in a play-based curriculum!

“Play is the highest form of research.” —Albert Einstein

“Play is the highest form of research.” —Albert Einstein

One of the most fascinating aspects of children's play I have observed is how much they are naturally learning about language, reading, math, science, culture, social skills, and more. I encourage parents to read the research about all the educational benefits and the foundation for healthy learning that play provides, from Harvard University to the high academic performance of play-based schools in Finland, to the most current studies by the NAEYC. All of this is important information, but as an educator and parent myself, what I am most inspired by is the growth and development of the whole child, not the ability to regurgitate information and perform on current academic testing methods.

Children are born to learn. The human experience is designed to learn about life in a natural unfolding rather than a rote exposure to dry activities that lack a sense of meaning or connection to them. Children love to play because it’s fun and it feels natural to them! Play is their true state of flow. When children are allowed ample time to play, they intrinsically make the connection that learning is fun, they discover what truly makes their hearts sing, and they develop the power and inspiration to follow their bliss.

“Creative people are curious, flexible, and independent with a tremendous spirit of adventure and a love of play.” —Henri Matisse

“Creative people are curious, flexible, and independent with a tremendous spirit of adventure and a love of play.” —Henri Matisse

It’s an exciting time for education! Old paradigms are shifting. To be a part of this positive shift for whole-child education, here are a few ideas for parents of young children to consider:

  • Ask your child’s school how much time your child spends in free play a day. Many schools claim to be play-based but often only provide 30 minutes of outside play and/or 30 minutes of guided indoor play. Children thrive with hours of play! Advocate for more free play and more outside play. Create parent alliances in your schools and make your preferences clear to the teachers and administration as well as the local and national government.

  • Do the research and trust that you are giving your child the best opportunity possible by allowing them the opportunity to spend hours every day in play.

  • Support children’s outside play—host backyard play dates, spend the day in the woods, get friends together and go camping, check out so many of our awesome local programs like the Free Forest School and Earth Native Wilderness School to supplement more play in nature.

  • Limit or eliminate screen time and observe the quality of play that arises when ample time and space allow for it.

  • Provide open-ended toys like blocks, silk scarves, magna-tiles, simple figures, and natural objects like sand, shells, and pinecones that allow children to use their creative imagination.

“Almost all creativity involves purposeful play.” —Abraham Maslow

“Almost all creativity involves purposeful play.” —Abraham Maslow

Teacher Tom says it beautifully; “I invite you to imagine for a moment” schools “in which children are free to discover and pursue their passions while marinated in community. Imagine that transformation, then imagine how all those free and motivated minds will transform their world.”

In the alternative education community of Austin, this transformation is a reality, with a growing number of holistic and experiential play-based learning environments. It is a profound honor to be a part of that transformation and the lives of the thriving children in our community.


To learn more about the benefits of play and how parents can play with their children to help develop their brains, bodies, and hearts, please come to our free talk by play therapist and parent educator Chelsea Vail before our Open House at Austin Children’s Garden on November 16th at 1pm.


Morna Harnden

Learning with our senses

LearningWithOurSenses.jpg

I recently happened upon a beautiful photo essay by Morna Harnden on some of the ways experiential learning takes place at Austin Children’s Garden. She has kindly granted Alt Ed Austin permission to publish excerpts here. Morna is a co-founder and co-teacher there, along with her husband, Ben Harnden, where they offer a variety of preschool programs as well as elementary-level homeschool science classes in South Austin.


Children use their senses to explore and try to make sense of the world around them. They do this by touching, tasting, smelling, seeing, hearing, and moving.
 
We love to provide opportunities for children to actively use their senses as they explore their world. “Sensory play” is crucial to brain development—it helps build nerve connections in the brain’s pathways. This leads to a child’s ability to complete more complex learning tasks and supports cognitive growth, language development, gross motor skills, social interaction, and problem-solving skills.
 

Sit Spots

To start off our unit on the senses, we searched out our first Sit Spots. (We first learned about Sit Spots from Earth Native Wilderness School. If you haven’t had a chance yet to check out Earth Native, you must! They have amazing camps, preschool programs, workshops, and more!) In our Sit Spots we focused on our senses and discussed all the different sensations we experienced.
 

Sit Spots 1.jpg

We listened to all the sounds around us and heard:

"crickets"
"squirrels"
"church bells"
"my breath"
 

Sit Spots 2.jpg

With our eyes closed, we touched our surroundings and felt:

"leaves"
"something tickly"
"sticky grass"
 

Sit Spots 3.jpg

With our eyes closed, we smelled our surroundings and smelled:

"popcorn"
"leaves"
"air"
 

Sit Spots 4.jpg

With our eyes open, we focused on what we could see:

"my friends"
"clouds"
"magic tree"
 

Sit Spots 5.jpg

We focused on what we could taste in the air and had some surprising responses:

"ice cream"
"popcorn"
"just air"
 

Our Sensory Garden

We planted a garden for each of the five basic senses!
 

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The kids dug their own holes with a spoon and learned how to gently loosen the roots of the baby plants before planting.
 

Scent Garden.jpg

In our Scent Garden, as it is pretty shady, we planted many varieties of mint:

Chocolate mint
Orange mint
Pineapple mint
Grapefruit mint
Spearmint
Peppermint
 

Taste Garden.jpg

In our Taste Garden, we planted many different seasonal herbs:

Dill
Fennel (fun taste test to do with the dill, as they look so similar)
Parsley
Cilantro
Rosemary
Thyme
Oregano
Sage
Lemon Balm
Chervil
 

Listening Garden.jpg

In our Listening Garden, we planted grasses and plants with crispy leaves that make interesting sounds. Adding wind chimes and windmills enhances the listening quality of the garden.
 

Touch Garden.jpg

In our Touch Garden, we planted a variety of plants with soft leaves and interesting textures, including rubbery succulents.
 

Sight Garden.jpg

In our Sight Garden, we planted edible flowers with all the colors of the rainbow!


For an extended version of this articleincluding recipes for salt-preserved herbs and spice-scented play dough, instructions for “Easy Peasy Tie-Dyed Socks,” a scientific explanation of why mud pies make you happy, and much morevisit Morna’s original post on the Austin Children’s Garden blog. And don’t miss ACG’s upcoming events on Saturday, December 9: an Open House, including a free children’s yoga class, from 2pm to 6pm (RSVP to austinchildrensgarden@gmail.com); and a Kids’ Night Out from 3pm to 7pm, where children aged 3 to 10 will create their own candles with crayons and beeswax (tickets and more info available through Eventbrite).


Morna Harnden