Prescription for Play
Prescription for Play
Children today aren’t spending enough time playing, a study from the American Academy of Pediatrics says. Play is a word that means so much more to kids than we can imagine. Their worlds of castles and forts, dragons and robots, princesses and puzzles are actually crucial for their development later in life. Play helps kids learn how to take turns, sole problems, use their fine motor skills, and use creative and critical thinking skills. These are things that develop through play while kids are having fun.
At Bright Beginnings we focus on screen-free play based learning because we know how important it is for kids to have the opportunity to be kids. We encourage playing as a key element in our school and it is part of our core values. Tons of different opportunities exist for our students to be playful at our schools including:
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Outdoor Classroom: The founder of Bright Beginnings, Kathe Petchel, is a level 2 certified outdoor classroom specialist because she believes so deeply in the power of kids playing and learning outside.
- Risk vs. Hazard: Children are encouraged to take risks at Bright Beginnings. During free play children continually push their boundaries and strengthen their abilities. This means taking risks, which they do, by assessing their own capabilities and matching them to the conditions of their environment. Learn more about Risk vs. Hazard at our preschool here. You can also read up on how schools internationally are incorporating Risk vs. Hazard into their preschools here.
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Art: We use art lessons as a time for kids to express their thoughts and emotions in playful way while they also learn about mixing colors and textures through hands on experiences.
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Reading: Creative storytelling is playful at its very core. We get lost in adventures during story time letting our minds wander and our creativity flow free in playful ways.
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Brain Breaks: Dancing around is a creative outlet that we promote at Bright Beginnings through brain breaks with Go Noodle but also having a weekly music specialist to encourage movement with music play.
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Tinkering: Your little one could be a future engineer or architect. Tinkering is a way to get kids to practice fine motor skills and critical thinking while they move parts of an object and try to solve puzzles or build something amazing.
Because it is typical for parents to spend much of their day telling our kids what to do, “wash your hands” “eat your breakfast,” take play as an opportunity to step back and engage with your children and enjoy the time to not have to tell them what to do. Ask them questions. If you’re playing with blocks ask them who they think would like to live in the tower they are building or in what way they are going to use the biggest piece. Our little ones have amazing ideas that with a few prompts can be shared with you. This kind of creative discussion will not just open a dialogue between parent and child but will also help kids to work out their thought process, a skill that is focused on greatly in elementary school.
One of the many benefits of play as a means of learning for our children is that they won’t even realize that they are doing something that is good for their brains. We spend a lot of time monitoring our kids milestones, and as parents we can get really anxious if something seems to be different. But play is an aspect of our kids lives that we don’t have to worry about. Allow your children to explore their imagination while you take a step back and just enjoy watching them do so.
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