Play Activities

Play Activities

Child’s Play That Rocks Now and In the Future

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Does your child like rocks? Putting rocks in pockets also puts lots of learning, fun, and even kindergarten readiness into brains. Here’s another example of childhood play that grows along with the child and into adulthood.

Children all over the world collect rocks, and so does my friend and colleague Colin Martin. Just like the other adults featured so far: the mathematician that enjoyed numbers, the artist that drew on the wall about the age of 2, the designer that always liked to draw, the singer who dreamed of performing also about the age of 2, the nurse that played with Dr. Barbie, and others, as a child Colin had a play favorite–rocks.

children's play with rocksBefore Colin started school, he learned the names of the different kinds he found. At the age of 4, using ordinary glue, he attached his rocks on to a big piece of plywood. With a dial-up label maker, he painstakingly found each letter and created labels for his rocks. His treasures were not always greeted positively at home; nevertheless, his love of rocks endured and he now creates stunning jewelry designs with rocks and gems. Earlier this year, he packed a backpack and trekked off to some isolated corners to find more, leaving his electronics at home, so he’d have more room in his pockets and packs for rocks.

Rocks can help kids with attention and focusing. When gathering them, kids learn to pay attention to rocks and leave out other treasures. There’s vocabulary and talking about rocks, organizing skills, and problem solving. Through rocks, children also connect to nature. There’s all kinds of thinking that comes into play when collecting. Play, of course, is the significant word. As kids play, they also pick up information about colors, sizes, and shapes. Rocks can help with math and science. Just like Colin, kids will build and create, making forts, dens, and other constructions. Or they may bake rock cakes.

Colors on walls, rocks in pockets, and frogs in drawers (as my mother reminds me), are certainly challenges to parents’ patience but adults need to remember that play is important to a child. How children play can echo into the future. For some play fun today, can your child play with rocks?

Play Activities

From Child’s Play to A Play World for All: Disney

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Play is more than fun; it can extend far beyond early learning and kindergarten readiness to a magical kingdom that has entertained millions for almost 60 years. Any discussion about child’s play and how it can influence an adult’s world would have to include one of the great creators of the world’s biggest playground, Walt Disney. When he was only 4 years old, Walt’s family moved to Missouri, and this is when he developed his love of drawing. He also became interested in trains and would watch for his uncle, who was an engineer and conducted the train. When his family moved again, 10 year old Walt was introduced to vaudeville, theatre, and motion pictures. Disney’s early interests are unquestionably reflected in his achievements.

what children learn as they play with trainsIn this series of posts, the adult careers of an astronaut, singer, chef, artist, nurse, scientist, crafter, designer, and mathematician all grew from the passions of children and how they played.  What children choose to play can be quite different from others, but ensuring that all children have time to play is crucial.

For some play fun today, your child might like to play with trains. Trains are just as much fun on the floor as they are on a train table. Not all children will need the tracks to hook up. Kids will play with trains in their own way. Some of the fun and learning will include problem solving, organizing, using space, and imagining. All languages have special words for directions, such as in, out, around, under, over, through, etc. and these can be tricky to learn. It’s much easier to learn these words when there’s a context. Is the train going over the bridge or under it? Not only are there words for shapes, sizes and colors, but there are shapes, sizes, and colors to figure out too. These can all be part of train play.

Walt Disney said “Our greatest national resource is the minds of our children.” Play is how children ‘train’ their minds. Would your child enjoy some train play today?

Play Activities

Child’s Play Reaches To Outer Space

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Children all over the world dream of flying and adventuring to space, and for some kids that play can be a dream come true. Play is important for learning, fun, and readiness for school in kindergarten, but more significantly, for life!

importance of imaginative playAstronaut Chris Hadfield adventured far beyond Earth to the International Space Station Endeavour. He played the guitar and sang the first song ever recorded in space. He was inspired at the age of nine as he watched Apollo landing on the Moon, but his interest in flying began much earlier than that. Along with others written about in this series, an artist that drew on the wall about the age of 2, a nurse that played with Dr. Barbie, a mathematician that enjoyed numbers, a designer that always liked to draw, a scientist that took apart her toys and dolls, a crafter who created and sold products to her childhood friends, and a chef who wanted an Easy-Bake oven as a young boy, Chris Hadfield extended his play to a career. How can we so trivialize children’s play when time and time again, we hear stories like these?

children's imaginative playA big empty box is an invitation to play. Children can let their imaginations take flight and transform the box into a space ship, boat, airplane, house, store, library, or wherever they want to go. Some like to leave the box plain, while others will color, glue, decorate, cut (with adult help, of course), paint, and furnish to their heart’s and imagination’s content. They will play by themselves or with others, either real or imaginary. Their thinking will be both outside and inside the box. The play will form brain connections and pathways as they problem solve, talk, move, and create.

Mankind did not reach Outer Space only because some scientists had questions. First, some children dreamed and played about it. They wondered and imagined. From play comes careers and exploration into Space. What kind of play adventure will your child have today?

Play Activities

Children’s Experiences Can Influence Career Choices

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When we think of young children’s play, it’s not a big leap to see how that can be part of kindergarten readiness, but it is stretch to seeing how that can influence career choices. From doing this series, I’ll confess that I’ve been surprised. So far, posts have been on a mathematician who played with … Continue reading Children’s Experiences Can Influence Career Choices →

Play Activities

Kindergarten Readiness, Imaginative Play, and Future Choices

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Children’s imaginative play is more than fun, learning, and kindergarten readiness, and might be giving us glimpses of what kids will choose as adults. Last week, blog posts were inspired by some famous adults and what they played with as children. A mathematician played with numbers, a design engineer liked drawing, a crafter loved to … Continue reading Kindergarten Readiness, Imaginative Play, and Future Choices →

Play Activities

Play is Serious Business: Here’s Another Example!

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I’m sure having fun with this series of posts on adult jobs that grew from children’s play. Play contains all kinds of learning, as well as fun, that has influence far beyond kindergarten readiness all the way to adulthood. Besides The Human Computer, Shakuntala Devi, who played with numbers, and Raymond Loewy, the industrial designer, … Continue reading Play is Serious Business: Here’s Another Example! →

Play Activities

All We Really Need To Know We Learn From Play

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Sometimes, ideas for fun, learning, and kindergarten readiness find me. Two days in a row the Goggle Doodle has inspired an idea for kids and play. Yesterday’s post was about the incredible Human Computer, Shakuntala Devi. From her book, Mathability and message that math ability depends on attitude, came some activities about counting, numbers and … Continue reading All We Really Need To Know We Learn From Play →

Play Activities

Kindergarten Readiness Fall Fun & Learning Activity #5

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Since this play-of-the-day for fall is #5 and we have 5 senses, how about a fall sensory bin? All of us use information from the senses for interacting with the world around us. Children also use sensory information for learning about the world. This wonderful bin was created by my friend Cheryl Weatherhead at Sunhill … Continue reading Kindergarten Readiness Fall Fun & Learning Activity #5 →