Reflect on your own childhood play experiences. Where did you play? Who did you play with? What kinds of materials did you use? What kinds of themes or roles did you draw on in your play? What was the role of adults in your play? Now review the characteristics of play provided in the textbook (pp.---). How do your own play experiences fit with those characteristics?
In your own school experiences, do you recall playing at school in the classroom context? What was the nature of this play and of your own learning? What was the role of the teacher?
If children are raised to become competent members of their communities, then the relationship between play and learning correspondingly shifts according to socialization goals. In conversation 1, Luka recalled that in his childhood play occurred outdoors and not in the classroom. In many cultural contexts, children’s play is free and largely unsupervised by adults and may involve natural or re-purposed materials rather than commercial toys and materials. Children might go outdoors with their peers and siblings and play freely with little or no adult supervision. In contrast, learning may be viewed as adult-directed and taking place within the classroom. Think about the theories you have been learning about in this chapter. Imagine that you are teaching a child whose parents were raised in a cultural context where play and learning are seen as being separated in this way. How might you address their concern that their child isn’t learning during play experiences in the classroom?
Review Table XX: UN Convention on the Rights of the Child on page ----. Discuss or think about what this might mean. For example, what tensions or possibilities do these rights raise for children and for teachers in majority World contexts?
Think about the children’s conceptions of play versus the teacher’s view.Your text discusses two views of play---play as a right and play as an instrument of future learning (see pages ---). How might the teacher reconcile these two views in the following scenario?
Scenario E: Noah and Zander are playing with plastic jungle animals. They have created a ‘jungle’ in the sand table, using small branches, rocks, and pinecones to create a habitat and have carefully situated the animals throughout the area. Noah clutches a lion in his hand and says “Grrr”, while Zander manipulates a zebra, ‘galloping’ it away from the lion. The boys engage in a chase and Noah’s lion pounce on the zebra with a mighty roar. Zander pretend to neigh and cries “ouch, ouch”.The teacher comes to check on the noise level and says “Wow! I see you have six different animals. One, two, three, four, five, six.I have an encyclopedia about animals. Should we look these up and find out more about where they live and what they eat?” Noah and Zander follow the teacher to the reading area where they are joined by Sahra and Danika.For the next ten minutes, they look up animals one-by-one in the encyclopedia with the help of their teacher who reads aloud about the animal. Noah points at a picture “look at what a big mouth the lion has”. The children pretend to put their fingers in the lion’s mouth and shriek as if the picture is biting them. They begin to laugh. As their teacher moves to the next animal, the children seem to lose interest and Noah says, “Can we go play now?”
