why play? considering your childhood

I first became interested in the importance of play about 5 ½ years ago. I was at a child care conference in Tahlequah and the keynote speaker talked about play and especially how children are not getting enough outside time. Then I attended a breakout session given by Dr. Barbara Sorrels and she shared about a book called Play: How it shapes the brain, opens the imagination, and invigorates the soul by Dr. Stuart Brown. At the time, I was looking for a topic to do my capstone paper for my last semester at the University of Oklahoma and that day it hit me, I could study play! What I learned from my research is astounding! Play helps children learn problem-solving and social skills, encourage creativity, and develops them both physically and mentally. What more reasons could we need to make sure that we allow children the ability to play?

Think back for a moment to your own childhood. Bring to mind your most prominent play memory. For me, that memory is a day that my brother and sister and I spent the entire day playing wagon train. We used the porch swing on our porch as our wagon and we literally spent the entire day outside playing out various scenarios. Now think about that.  We spent the entire day outside, how many children are able to do that today? We used our imaginations, turning the porch swing into our wagon. And did I mention, we played this all day long? We had time. Lots of open-ended time.

Today, spend a little time thinking about your play experiences as a child. Now write it down. Consider it. Ponder it. What do you discover?