PLAY - Part 1 ...
The Play is The Thing: The Serious Work of Play
I just came back from a conference on play, sponsored by NECAP (New England Consortium of Artist-Educators and Professionals). It was a beautiful fall day in Brattleboro, VT. Lots of interesting people, inspiring workshops, great food. I had fun.
But having fun was not a foregone conclusion when my day began. Driving, I debated about whether to focus my attention on the on the first or second half of the conference title.
I was ready for The Serious Work of Play. My car was full of my books and CD’s and flyers. I could arrange a display, talk to people about developmental movement and music, make connections, drum up business.
Alternatively, I could focus on the The Play is the Thing. I had also brought a basket of percussion instruments, a bag of scarves, pool noodles, and other miscellaneous toys. I could just let go, hang out, do whatever I felt like doing.
What is Play?
One of the questions raised in the very beginning of the day by Sarah Boettrich, director of The Strong Museum of Play. was What exactly is play? We were all to hold that question throughout the day, and share our reflections at the end. (Serious work). And we were assured that there would be chocolate at the closing session. (Play?)
And then we got to watch Michael Moschen, who is technically a juggler... but honestly, his presentation was more like an animal act. Moschen simply coaxed a series of plain white balls out of a bag, and helped them do amazing tricks. They clearly loved him, and he loved them. And we loved it.
But was it play?
One Idea
I found an interesting definition of play in Carla Hannaford’s new book, Playing in the Unified Field. Psychiatrist Stuart L. Brown says that play is a spontaneous, non-stereotyped, pleasurable activity, free of anxiety or other overpowering emotion, without a visible, clear-cut goal other than its own activity.” (p. 171)
That certainly cuts out most of my life! But the sad thing is, it cuts out most of many children’s lives, in these no-child-left-behind heavily scheduled media-driven days. Let’s go down the list:
- Spontaneous. Play arises from the moment and the objects and the people at hand. Unscheduled down time is a good culture for spontaneity. Children have less and less of this.
- Non-stereotyped. Imaginary games are populated by archetypal characters: princesses and dragons, horses and dogs, racecars and trucks, mommies and daddies . . . When a Disney character enters, it tends to set up a specific plot that “has” to go a certain way. And as for video games - that “non-stereotyped” requirement cuts out every one that there is.
- Pleasurable. This means that you are having a good time. Really having a good time.
- Free of anxiety or other overpowering emotion. This is interesting. What about hide-and-go-seek, holding your breath as “IT” stalks by? What about screaming as the big wave flattens your sand castle? But as I remember these moments in my own childhood, I never really cared if I was found, or if the sand castle dissolved back into the beach. It was just an excuse to play some more. I think, when the line is crossed into real anxiety, that the activity stops being play and becomes an exercise in survival. But more about that in my next post.
- Without a visible, clear-cut goal other than it’s own activity. This is the part that says the most to me.
Play For No Other Reason?
So at the end of the day, after we’d picked out our chocolate and filed into the dark theatre, I answered the question What is play? with my version of #5. “Even when I'm just improvising for fun on the piano, thoughts tend to come in about my next CD . . . But real play is something that you do just for itself, just for the joy of it.”
Someone shared that the organization Music for People uses the quote "Return to Child" to guide people of all levels in improvisation together. The photographer for the event observed that he felt different when he was documenting the story than when he was just taking the pictures he liked – and that his favorites were actually the best shots!
Then the talk went another direction. People spoke about the ”rigor” of play. About the relationship of play to survival. And so on.
More thoughts on play next post. Meanwhile, you can end this talk about the conference the way we did - by watching Michael Moschen do amazing things with circles.
Comments
Thanks Wendy! As for creating “unscheduled down time” in our very scheduled lives . . . I’ve been trying to give myself a moment of it whenever I remember to - I call it “NOW” time. I listen to the silence behind the sounds, sink into my body, let my vision go abstract - it creates a moment of play inside all the busi-ness. Then when I go back to whatever I was doing, I feel refreshed.
Hi Eve,
Thank you for sharing your conference experience, the video of Micheal Moschen (beautiful) and your “NOW” experience. I love your explanation of listening to the silence behind the sounds and sinking into your body. What a reminder of how wonderful it feels to take time to be in that quiet rejuvenating place with oneself. I’m reminded of how what’s important and really matters has a habit of jumping out (play?) to be noticed when I am able and willing to be quiet. Thank you!
Thanks, Donna! Dialoguing about this stuff helps keep my awareness alive. The habits of the mechanical mind can be so entrenched! I started a NOW moment this morning - and immediately went into five minutes of worrying. I know because I was driving, and noticed the clock. So now I’ve started cleaning out the car - it’s a surrogate for my mind! It sort of feels like play; I’m finding all sorts of treasures.
Thank you for your thought-provoking ideas on play, Eve. One point that may be missing in the Hannaford definition of play is creativity. Spontaneity and engagement provide an experience of being totally in the moment, and through play we respond creatively to that moment. Even if we’ve played hide and seek a hundred times, it’s never the same twice, especially when we discover that hiding place we just never noticed before.
We live in a work-centered culture where “play” is thought to be frivolous. Working as a storyteller/teaching artist in many classrooms, I have discovered that when students have a good time doing something, it is considered “a treat,” not the real meal. You’re learning if you’re sweating and holding up under the whip of teacher/test expectation. Storytelling is just too much fun, and sometimes educators need to be convinced that children are learning literacy skills, listening skills, and social skills through stories. Learning with ease and enjoyment is exactly the point. Play.
I believe that children learn by playing, and the more play enters the classroom, the more they enjoy learning. Teachers always ask why the children remember for months the stories I tell them when they don’t remember the lesson from the day before. It’s simply fun to listen to stories; we enjoy them and they are easy to remember because our brains are wired for story. Then why don’t we use stories more frequently to teach? Possibly because it feels too much like play, and play doesn’t fit our ideas about working to the bone.
We learn by engaging deeply in process, through experience, through an interplay between our own creative thinking and the object at hand. We don’t learn well by sitting still all day and listening, by memorizing lists and dates and formulas, by filling in worksheets. If, as we grow up, our work can also be our play, we are very fortunate indeed.
Thanks, Susan! You’re writing a future post
for me! The idea that when we play we are not really
learning is completely, developmentally WRONG. We
learn everything (other than survival-oriented rote
behavior) through play - nurturing, proprioception and
balance, every gross and fine motor skill there is,
cognition, memory, empathy, self-regulation, social
behavior, etc. etc. etc. . . . It’s the way we
mammals are wired. But I’ll write about that more
later in the blog itself. Meanwhile, thanks so
much for pointing out the importance of creativity in
play.
Do you have a link to share about your storytelling
work? There are readers who may be
interested.
Thanks, Eve. I will certainly look forward to the post you write on play and education. My website is www.susandanoff.com.
I have never thought of growing, and taking care of my flowers, indoors and out, as play, but reading the five essentials of play, it’s clear that I am at play with my flowers for they speak to me with drooping leaves and I answer back with a nice fresh rush of water, and listen to the earth drinking it in with visceral pleasure. I am totally present with the flowers, noticing the orchid setting a new bud, a hibiscus about to open. And although I love that my flowers give some enjoyment, passing as it is, to family and friends, if no one looked at any of my flowers, regarding them as no more alive than a lamp or chair, it would make no difference in my pleasure in them.
Also I have thought that I’m at play with my husband as we make ourselves comfortable with our current read-aloud book, me molding into the contours of the futon, he in a chair next to me, his stockinged feet resting on the futon’s edge, our regulation piece of dark chocolate at the ready, the lights low except the one illuminating the book and his silver hair, his resonate voice articulating fine prose - oh happiness! And we are both in our early eighties. Given the blessing of good health, we will play until we drop!.
How inspiring! Thanks for modeling play for us into the elder years . . . and reminding us that play is not about content, but quality of experience!
Wendy Piret Sep 25, 2010
Beautifully written Eve and thought provoking. So much of what we do to “help” children play has an end goal in mind. Structured play so that the focus is learning something academic in nature, or intended to be therapeutic, or it’s about values like sharing, being kind or having a generous spirit. Aye, it was a reminder and a call to “unscheduled down time” which for my family really only happens on Saturday mornings and sometimes Saturday or Sunday afternoon. Oye. Where does the time go?
P.S. The museum link is slightly off, it has an extra word “was” in it that disables the link.