We will be finishing our Let's Play summer camp this week at Delightful Sounds. My goal with this class was to encourage parents and make them more aware of the learning that occurs during their play-time with their children. Too often I think we get bogged down with guilt that our time spent with our children is somehow not educational enough, and we forget that children learn by playing. It's how they explore and learn about their world.
"Play may be as old as the existence of humankind. Playthings have been discovered in the artifacts of ancient civilizations and many believe that the earliest chess pieces date back to 6,000 B.C. Though the link between play and learning was more fully investigated in the 20th century by theorists such as Jean Piaget, the connection was made as early as the first century B.C. by Plato, “You can discover more about a person in an hour of play than in a year of conversation.”
What is now undeniably clear in the 21st century is that play is essential, vital, critical, and fundamental to a child’s social, emotional, physical, and intellectual development. Without adequate, healthy play, children run the risk of entering school unprepared, growing into teens and adults without needed skills, and failing to meet their potential. Experts at the Institute for Play believe that healthy play in childhood can even prevent violence.
Through joyful, healthy play, children begin a love of learning and prepare for life itself." (excerpt from Learning Through Play by Shelley Butler)
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