Exploring the Concept of Play

What is play?
It's a big question, something that theorists and philosophers have debated over for centuries. If we think about what we define as ‘play’, what images it brings to our minds, we often find ourselves drawing from our own childhood experiences of it. Perhaps memories of games with friends in the school playground, climbing trees, playing with favourite toys, or disappearing into imaginary worlds. I have memories of being around age 5 and spending whole afternoons mixing and bottling homemade perfumes that I made from the garden. One thing that ties such experiences together is just that – the ‘experience’ of them. Play in all its forms is a human experience, a very important process that children must be given time, space and the resources to fulfil. It is a journey of learning. But to try and define it is as one act is tricky, simply because play has so much possibility. It can be so many different things. In the Reggio Emilia approach, the focus is always on the potential of children and a strong belief in their natural capability to navigate this journey. Carla Rinaldi, Reggio Emilia Pedagogista and President, perfectly describes learning as “…not a free journey, but neither is it a journey with rigid timetables and schedules; rather, it is akin to a journey guided by a compass”.
I was so proud of those bottles of perfume. Each ingredient was so carefully added, and I felt so grown up tipping little drops onto my finger and patting it onto my neck. And I loved it even more when someone was happy to accept one as a gift, I remember my mum exclaiming how wonderful they smelled, “Delicious!”, she would say. I’d take a few to school and give them to my best friends. Thing is, the perfumes probably smelled like soil, leaves and rotten flower petals and looked like bog water. Because that’s pretty much what it was. But it didn’t matter, it was my creation.
When my brother was about 3 years old, my step mum would stand a chair by the kitchen counter and give him a large mixing bowl and a spoon, and a range of cupboard ingredients like flour and dried beans. As she got on with cooking, he would set about adding these ingredients to his bowl and mixing it up. Sometimes the mixture was wet and gloopy, sometimes it was dry and multi-coloured. He loved it, and he loved to offer people a pretend taste. The mixture was really a revolting brown mess, but it didn’t matter. It was his culinary masterpiece.
My point here is that play is a complex process that is just as important as what comes of it. The way that children play, the ‘how’, is just as vital as the end result of play and the content of what is learned. In other words, the way that you get there is just as valuable, if not more.
This includes making mistakes and going through a bit of ‘drama’, which is essential for children to develop life skills such as problem solving and self-awareness. Think about when you played as a child, did everything go absolutely perfectly? Probably not. You may have grazed a knee, broken a toy, or maybe things didn’t go your way. But therein lies the beauty; you learned to be cautious where needed, that possessions need looking after, and how to consider the intentions of others.
Children have a natural impulse to explore and learn through experience, which is why it’s important to provide opportunity for them to have as many first-hand experiences as possible, as opposed to a saturation of second-hand ones like those on a worksheet or on a screen. To learn about art, children need to see the intricate texture of the paint on the canvas with their own eyes, feel the clay in their hands, and be given the tools to experiment and play with different art forms to eventually develop their own style. And once it’s found, they should be encouraged to keep on playing at it. To learn how to read and write, children must be allowed to develop a genuine love of language. This is unlikely to come from an adult telling them to do so by reading a prescribed set of books or tracing letters all day long, but instead providing children with chances to play with words through rich imaginary play, stories, songs and rhymes from around the world, reading books about subjects they are interested in, or be inspired by a print rich environment so they can express ideas with a range of free mark making opportunities.
Encouraging these kind of ‘self-directed play’ experiences isn’t to say that children should not be supported in achieving goals or fulfilling intentions, for example a child may have a vision for a painting but require guidance to realise that vision and make it how they want it to be. This is the delicate role of adults who are joining children in their play. However, it’s where the child takes it that matters most. The act of creating, imagining and experimenting through play….following the ‘compass’ in whatever direction it takes you in and see what you can discover there…. whether it be successful or not, is the heart of true learning.
A while ago I made some home-made paints for Tian. I was trying out a new recipe and it didn’t go to plan and I ended up with a very oily, thick paste that didn’t dry on the canvas properly. But still, Tian had a wonderful time creating his art work. A friend innocently commented that it was a shame that the canvas had gone to waste. This reminded me what my priorities are as an educator and as a parent. I look at Tian’s painting now all flaking and with parts fallen off, I think it’s beautiful because the process he went through to create it was beautiful in itself: He was wide eyed and fascinated at the colours of the paint, he giggled and moved around with joy as he spread it on the canvas, he looked delighted when he squashed the paint through his fingers, we laughed together when he stepped in some and it squished between his toes. When I think of these moments, I remember that the canvas has not gone to waste at all.