3-3-2010

3-3-2010

"The Nature of Play" Reaction

I was really fascinated by the film "The Nature of Play" that we watched in class. I really thought it was interesting how they looked at play from the perspective of children in different communities. During the segment on the children on Beaver Island I was really struck by the comments made about how nature today is more of an abstraction. Kids know a lot about nature but they don't have a lot of actual experience with it. Putting some thought into it I realized how true it really is. Children aren't playing outside as much as they used to for a variety of reasons including that they are spending more time on electronic games, tv, and the internet, as well as the fact that many kids are in communities without access to more natural environments. Another segment in the movie that stood out to me was when they talked about crime rates. According to the film, crime has declined in the years between '93 and '03, including kidnapping and sex offenses. Of the crimes of this nature, most of the perpetrators are parents or the crimes are committed in the child's own home. I think that this is not the perception that many people have. With the news and now the easy access to news information on the internet, people are getting the impression that crime has skyrocketed and parents aren't letting their kids have the freedom to explore outside their own home and yard like they used to be able to. Overall, I agreed with a lot of the information given in the film. After watching it, I think what needs to happen is that parents need to start acknowledging that play is important and not allowing their own children to fall victim of this trend of declining play. I think as a future teacher I want to make sure I am an advocate for play and educate parents on the benefits.

Weekly Observations

Times: Thursday 10-11, Friday 10-11 and 2-3, Monday 2-3pm, Tuesday 1-3pm, Wednesday 2-3 pm at the SNC Children's Center & Tuesday 9:15-10:45 at Aldo Leopold School

This week in addition to observing at the Children's Center, I was able to go to Aldo Leopold School. At Aldo I was able to observe the kindergartener's literature centers. Melisa does a lot with trying to incorporate different things at the literature centers this week. She asked me to sit at the writing center, where the kids were making maps. There was a large variety in the children's work. Some of the students focused on making sure their map had the right things on it such as a compass, a map key, etc. where as others just focused on drawing the path on their map with the things they would see along the path. The kids really liked to tell stories while working on their maps, which I felt was more playful in nature. That sort of story-telling reminded me of the type of dramatic play that the children do. They were talking about experiences that they had had and then recreating them in a way on their paper. For example, some of the kids were talking about riding their bikes or walking to their friend's house, school, a family member's house, or another place. They talked about ponds they saw or the types of houses. Like in dramatic play, the kids were taking control of the experiences they had had by recreating them and talking about them. I will also be going to Aldo this Friday so I am excited to get the chance to see more of other centers.

This week at the Children's Center I have been listening for kid's humor as well as just observing the types of play they choose. I have noticed that a time when the kids really participate in humor is during lunch time. They really socialize a lot through humor. They will joke about having milk that is a silly color or maybe make jokes about the food before they eat it up. Once one child starts to make a certain kind of joke, the others try to do the same to be part of the joke. Starting last week as well, there is an ongoing joke at the sensory table about mixing up gross food for them to eat. They will ask a helper to make them "yucky foods" and then they pretend to gobble it all up. They still get a laugh out of this game after its been almost a week. I was able to make a lot of connections between the humor with those children and this week's readings.