Why the playing has stopped!

One way to help children learn that is free, easy, and that requires no extra resources is often ignored, overlooked, even discouraged by educators and parents alike.  It is a way to learn that is as old as the hills and as fresh as the air we breathe.

I am talking about playing.  Learning through play is, I believe, a fundamental right of all children and even of adults.  And we ignore this wonderful learning resource at our peril.

Let us take a quick look at what happens when children play.

Playing allows children to explore, investigate, challenge themselves, question, research, develop social skills, learn new skills, and have fun while doing all these things.  How could it not be a useful learning tool?

So why isn’t it used as often as it should be? Why do we prevent our children from playing when it is natural, easy, free and fun?  Here is what I think.

We don’t trust the results.

We cannot control what children learn while they are playing. My mother used to warn me about playing with the ‘wrong’ kids because she didn’t want me to learn to be like them – it didn’t work!  They seemed to be having so much fun that I played with them anyway and guess what? I learned a lot more about what not to do from those kids than I ever did from my mother!

Another reason we worry about just letting kids play is because deep down, really deep down, we think it is a waste of time.  We believe that there is so much other stuff that children need to know that if we just let them play they will never have the time to learn it all.  We believe that we need to teach children ‘stuff’ rather than letting them learn in their own way.

How sad.

OK, I know that children need to learn ‘stuff’.  They need to know their times tables and history and social studies. But they also need to know how to learn, that learning is fun and that it is something that can help them have a good life.

When a child is playing he or she is developing the skills that are needed to be able to learn, is having fun learning and is using that learning to make the game go better.

Play – it’s free, it’s fun, it’s effective.  What’s not to like?

So why don’t we let our kids do more of it?