Who Wants to Play? Crisis in Kindergarten

Making Room for all types of play

By Zelda Sheldon

Climbing a tree
building a house of boxes
dressing up for make believe play
Singing songs and making music

These are all different types of play but they often overlap in rich play scenarios. The well-developed player has a repertoire with many forms of play. "The playful kindergarten or early childhood program supports them all" according to the report 'Crisis in the Kindergarten - Why children need play in School' (Chapter 7: 'Creating the Playful Kindergarten' p 54).

"A major task of educating teachers for playful early childhood programs is to help parents and educators recapture the spirit of play" according to Bonnie Neugebauer of the Child Care Information Exchange.

Neugebauer has written about adults who live with the spirit of play and the vital role they play for children. She describes them this way:

"They play with words and ideas. They use toys, invent props, appropriate resources for new purposes. They play with children and other adults. They play because it is natural and because it makes them feel good. Children need these [playful] adults in their lives, people who will model the importance of play to living. But in so many early childhood programs, people have forgotten how to be playful. They are focused on order and routines, appearances and paperwork, agendas and lesson plans. There is no serendipity, no wonder, no surprise".

The report argued that children need active imaginations to play well . Imaginations can be fueled with stories and storytelling suited to the child's age. Imagination and creativity are also inspired by puppetry and plays, nursery rhymes, poems, songs, instrumental music, painting, modeling and other art activities.

The great thing about play is that it also contributes to higher scores in problem solving, numeracy and literacy - according to this report.

AUTHOR'S NOTE
This report has inspired Ukulele Baby Music. We're carefully considering the latest early childhood research and building age appropriate music-play activities into our early childhood music programs. By designing plenty of child-initiated play opportunities into each Ukulele Baby Music-play session we can better support childrens holistic development, which is our intention.

For more articles, info and awesome music for children 0-5yrs www.ukulelebabymusic.com

REFERENCES

Crisis In The Kindergarten http://www.allianceforchildhood.org/publications

The Spirit of Adult Play http://www.ccie.com/resources/free_articles.php