Let 'Em Play!

Teacher Tom posted this week about play. It's a great post, full of great quotes. If you haven't read it, go and do it now.

His post made me think again about play and preschoolers. I just don't understand why some people have a hang-up about play. More times than I care to remember, I've heard "You just play" about my classroom. And they say it like it's a bad thing.

A few years ago, I read Einstein Never Used Flash Cards. These quotes are pulled from that book:

• Play is to early childhood what gas is to a car.
  
  
• Play is a carefree space in which they can learn about their world and their place within it.
   
• Play is a safe haven in which our children can conquer their fears and work out emotional problems.
   
• Learning is always more powerful and lasting when it occurs in context.
  [[And I would add that the context is created through play.]]

To echo Teacher Tom, play is the work of childhood. Let's get out of their way and let them do their work. We can be along for the ride and help guide them to make sense of what they are experiencing. We can never have a more teachable moment than when a child is fully engaged in something.

Let 'em play!