Playing, That’s What I Do! The Importance of Play in Early Childhood

As I walked into one of the preschool classrooms in the childcare facility I run, I asked Susie,

“What are you up to today?”

She looked up at me and replied very matter of factly, “Playing. That’s what I do.” Then returned to her play.

She is absolutely right! That is her work. As she plays, her brain is in a constant state of directing synapses that will help her develop the skills she will utilize for the rest of her life. Of course little Susie is unaware of the endorphins and enkephalins that are being released and how her brain is flooded with serotonin which is a substance that is responsible for balancing and regulating her mood.

As I watched her play I was fascinated by her expressions. From my vantage point it was as though I could almost see the proverbial wheels turning in her mind.

She was in the block center. She had chosen specific blocks and began to arrange them in a square. As I observed, she began stacking one on top of the other as a brick layer would if building a wall. She built one wall then another until she had four walls built. Then picking up her doll that had been laying beside her as she worked, she gently placed it in the middle. She sat back and looked at her creation satisfactorily.

Then she clearly had another thought. She looked around the room, got up and quickly ran to the dress up drawers and pulled out a scarf that she subsequently used to cover her baby with. With pride she commented. “My baby has a new crib. I made it just for her!”

For so long the understanding of the importance of play has not been understood. I have been an Early Childhood Educator for 40+ years. I am so delighted that our society is finally beginning to understand how valuable play is. Not only for children but for adults as well. But I will leave that for another article at a later date.

The most valuable play is child directed and open ended play. In my early years as an ECE I was inspired by the findings of Maria Montessori. She had discovered the importance of allowing children the opportunity to decide for themselves what materials they were interested in exploring, giving them the opportunity to examine and manipulate them and the freedom of movement and time to explore without the adult setting unrealistic expectations on them.

Fast forward a few decades and a man named Lois Malaguzzi creates what today we know as the Reggio Emilia Approach. What is wonderful about this approach is how diverse and open ended materials are used. Open ended materials allow the child’s imagination to soar. Let me explain what I mean.

When I was in the classroom I had a class of 3 and four year olds. Everyday was “an adventure”. Behind the center was a wooded area where we would venture off into. We had a special spot in the woods that was our favorite place to “play”.

On one particular “adventure” we came to our favorite spot. The children went right “to work” creating what they had decided was a hockey arena and behind a huge rock was the “locker room”. I had a class of mostly boys and they were major hockey fans.

They cleared a space using fallen bows from trees as brooms as the “rink”.

They played a game of hockey using large sticks for hockey sticks and a round stone as a puck.

They built the “locker room” with fallen branches and large stones they dug out of the ground and carried over to the huge rock that was already there. It was amazing how they worked together, solved problems and cooperated with each other to accomplish this.

Open ended materials include anything. A cardboard box becomes a table. Flip it upside down, though a piece of material over it and voila, a beautiful table. Or create a tunnel with an old box. It does not have to be fancy or expensive, only functional.

When we purchased a new washer and dryer for the center the children were fascinated to watch the men lugging the machines from the trucks and pulling the washer out of the box it was delivered in. One of the boys called out “can we have the boxes when you are done?” The driver looked to me for approval, which of course I gave, and for months those boxes became houses, locker rooms, tunnels, a store, tents, bedrooms, trains and anything else you can imagine. They were drawn on, painted and taped.

Today we affectionately refer to such material for open ended play as loose parts. Loose parts are found everywhere. Children will play and create for hours with these materials because they are so versatile.

What is a loose part? Simply put, they are materials that can be easily transported from one place to another such as boxes, sheets, ropes, rocks, sticks, tree cookies, shells, bottle caps etc.. The ways in which a child will use these items is limitless. Sally from Fairy Dust Teaching now called Wunderled, has created a loose part guide to help you get started.

The True Value of Open Ended Play:

What happens when a child plays with loose parts materials?

So much! Here is a list that will help you understand the importance of this type of play as opposed to specific toys purchased from a store.

• Creativity

  • Pebbles become coins

  • Leaves become dollar bills

• Problem solving

  • Team work

  • Discovering what works and what does not

• Eye-hand coordination

  • A simple task of an infant placing a ball in and out of a bowl

  • Judging if the skinny stick can hold the fatter stick

• Story telling

  • Creating character portraits

  • Creating settings for story telling

  • Using loose parts as props

• Early math skills

  • Sorting

  • Counting

  • Patterns

  • Measuring

• Art and design

  • Using mirrors and gems for example they can create a design

  • Trace the shape of a star using a template and small rocks

• Scientific thinking

  • Asking how, what, when, why, where while using the materials

  • Using the 5 senses to discover

• Early literacy/language development

  • Using alphabet manipulatives

  • Create your own alphabet loose parts such as rocks, glass, bottle caps etc by writing uppercase and lowercase letters on them.

• Collaboration

  • Using loose parts in team environment

• Gross motor skills

  • Larger items such as milk crates, logs, big boxes lend to creativity especially outside

• Attention Focussing

  • Smaller loose parts in any of the above suggestions help children improve their focus and attention as they create and experiment

These are only a very few benefits. If you search google, you will find so much more.

What is the role of the adult leader?

Your role is to step back and observe, lend a helping hand when asked and help them with developing the language around what they are working on. You can do this by asking questions. But not too many. Let them explain and tell you and only if they are struggling for words, give assistance.

In a classroom setting take pictures and document what you see and hear. Post this so that parents and other educators can share in the excitement of what the children are learning.

Ask yourself, what else can I bring in that will encourage the children to expand their knowledge of what they are interested in?

It is absolutely fascinating to watch the creativity, excitement and learning that is happening in your classroom.

In my role as an educator with two and half to 4 year olds my coworker and I developed a system that allowed us to observe but also have at our disposal a fairly large variety of loose parts which we stored in our classroom and could tap into when we saw a specific interest that the children were interested in.

We used apple sauce jars filled with shells, buttons, yarn scraps, beads, gems, rocks, pom poms, and so much more. We also had purchased storage drawers from Ikea for bigger loose parts, animals, puppets, puzzles etc. Some were covered with material which the children understood were only for the leaders to open and we used the tops to provide invitations and provocations. Other drawers the children had free access to.

What are Invitations and Provocations?

Simply put, an invitation is when the leader invites or presents a situation that is inviting. For instance; when the children first arrived in the morning they would see on one of the tables, purposely set up to inspire the children to discover, some loose parts that were available that day (perhaps items they had not seen before), which invited them to explore. One day around the edge of the table there may be a variety of frames of various sizes and shapes and in the middle was a compartmentalized tray with gems, rocks, small sticks and small dinosaurs in which the children could create their own picture.

Another day there may be a variety of paper loose parts such as paper towel rolls, corrugated cardboard pieces, styrofoam pieces and masking tape.

A provocation on the other hand is an invitation that is to be expounded upon. It provokes further exploration. For instance, with the second invitation mentioned above, the children wanted to create something that became a full classroom project. Larger boxes were brought into the classroom, then out came paint, glue, pompoms material scraps and other crafty materials to make more elaborate items.

Children, when given the opportunity, have a natural inclination to explore, manipulate and create in their environment. They do this through play. They are naturally curious about their environment. They will imitate or try to recreate things they see in their environment.

Have you ever watched a tiny infant observe the intricacies of his own hand movement? He is putting together the fact that he can move his fingers, wiggle them and even taste and feel in his mouth. It is so amazing to watch his expressions as he makes this discovery.

Child directed play inspires confidence in the child as it allows the opportunity to explore, create and discover.

They are able to see how capable they are and develop so many of the necessary skills they need to be successful as they enter grade school.

If you are an Early Childhood educator reading this, I want to commend you for all that you do. Our role in society is often thankless and misunderstood. But to the children in your world you are so valued! It is for these little ones that we do what we do. Well done!

References:

1. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Maria_Montessori

2. https://www.reggiochildren.it/en/reggio-emilia-approach/loris-malaguzzi/

3. https://fairydustteaching.com/2016/10/loose-parts/

4. https://fairydustteaching.com/wp-content/uploads/2016/10/Loose-Parts-Guide-1.pdf

5. https://earlyimpactlearning.com/40-fantastic-loose-parts-play-ideas/

6. http://www.truceteachers.org/uploads/1/5/5/7/15571834/stem_play_guide_loose_parts_play_and_tinkering.pdf

7. https://www.communityplaythings.com/resources/articles/invitations-and-provocations