“Play is the child’s way of exploring the world”
Are you playing all day everyday? How do you do it? Where do you get the energy from? I’m just not that kind of mum….
Do you find yourself making the same sort of self talk while scrolling through your Instagram feed of what looks like another perfectly colour co-ordinated playroom. Or an arts and crafts activity where the googley eyes are both glued in exactly the right place on the face and not one on the ear… or the bum?
Well I wanted to come here, in this very space of what may seem like perfection and let you know the truth about play.
The truth is… that sometimes thinking about what to play is harder than the actual play itself. The pressure of having all of the things you need, or stress of it being too messy or too much work can often stand in the way of the simplest form of entertainment. Play.
Play can be a complicated set-up that you’ve thought of investigated and prepared for. Or it can be as simple as grabbing an ice bucket, an egg beater and a wooden spoon and letting them bang away.
The truth is… that play can last for 3 to 30 minutes and anywhere in between (or even more). If you’re scrolling through your feed envisioning days of play where kids are enveloped in sensory stimulation and an abundance of cognitive development that will ensure their presidential future, it doesn’t really work like that. That doesn’t mean it wasn’t effective. Even just a few minutes of exploration together can have a lasting effect. It can spark curiosity. It can develop imagination. It can work on co-ordination. There is no time set for how long you have to ‘play’. Quality, not quantity.
There is no time set for how long you have to ‘play’. Quality, not quantity.
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The truth is… It isn’t always pretty. Boy do I wish it was. Yes, I am the type of mum that will go over the edges of the unfinished painting so it looks presentable. I am the kind of mum that ONLY buys pastel metallic paints so that even when they are all mixed together… they still make a pretty colour. I am the mum that twitches on the side while one googley eye lands up on the ear and the other on the bum. That being said I am not an artist, I can not make paper plate models that look like they could appear at the MOMA. I also can not create a sensory multicoloured rice activity that looks like a watermelon or resembles a National Geographic bug episode. What I am good at is creating a mess. It’s not about the outcome, it’s about the experience. So all the toilet roll bees are fluro green and the tree is pink. So you don’t have a stash of colour coordinated washy tape to create a kinetic obstacle course with matching indoor basketball hoop. What you do have is a couch cushion, some beige tape and an old mop they can jump over. FANTASTIC. Make the extraordinary out of the ordinary. There’s no bonus points for making it pretty when the aim of the game is to explore and experience. Get dirty, be ugly & watch the magic happen.
So my PLAY TRUTHS are:
1. Use what you have, keep it simple so you don’t get overwhelmed.
2. Quality not quantity. There is no time structure when it comes to play.
3. Experience over outcome. It aint gotta be pretty.
So what do you say… are you going to play today?
For quick & easy play tips for fun and English language development visit @learn_play_speak
Drop a comment below on your favourite ways to play!
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