Theh o w c h i l d Wisdom r e n l e a r n t o m a k e s e n s eof o f t hPlay e w o r l d Introduction by David Elkind

“Many of our greatest thinkers locate their capacity for original and profound thought in their imaginative abilities, first developed through creative play in early childhood.” – Sharna Olfman Psychology Professor Point Park University

Theh o w c h i l d reWisdom n l e a r n t o m a k e s e n s eof o f t hPlay e w o r l d

Contents

Introduction – David Elkind...... 2 History – David Elkind...... 4 Time – Sydney Gurewitz Clemens...... 6 Imagination – Richard Lewis...... 8 Brain Research – Stuart Brown...... 10 Research and Current Trends – Joan Almon & Edward Miller...... 12 Building Blocks for Learning – Katrina Ferrara...... 14 – Kathryn Hirsh-Pasek – Roberta M. Golinkoff Active Learning – Larry Schweinhart...... 16 Nature – Rachel Grob...... 18 Open-ended and Creative Play – Francis Wardle...... 20 Author Biographies...... 22 Bibliography...... 24 …a way to learn about self and the world through self-created experiences.

the brief articles in this booklet When children play games of Introduction present from a variety of their own invention, or even – David Elkind, PhD perspectives. For young children traditional games like hide and in particular, play is a fundamental seek, they often make up their lay, like love and work, is mode of learning. An infant’s own rules as to who is to be “it” an ambiguous term—with playful babbling teaches them to and what the limits of the game meaning that changes create all the sounds needed to are. In this way, children learn over the course of the speak their native tongue or any what Jean Piaget called “mutual Phuman life cycle. The play, love, language. A toddler learns that respect.” Mutual respect means and work of children are simply when you bang a metal spoon or that when one child makes a rule, different from those of adults. We a wooden spoon, you get two very the others follow. But the rule easily understand the new side of different sounds. A child learns maker must in turn follow the “love” that emerges in adolescence, through dramatic play that some rules made later by another child. and that the adult concept of work children are bossy, others timid. It is only when children engage in self-initiated play of this kind —earning one’s own living—does In playing board games like that they acquire a solid sense of not apply to children. Yet when it Checkers or Monopoly, a child mutual respect. comes to children’s play, we tend to learns not only strategy, but think of it in adult terms—as the also to read the body language Clearly, play serves a very opposite of work, engaged in for and vocal intonations of other different function for children its own sake. children. And, in seeing how than it does for adults. For However, child play is very other children respond to him or children, it is a way to learn different from adult play, as her during the game, the child about self and the world through learns about self. self-created experiences. That is one reason child-initiated play is so important and why it should not be replaced either by adult-organized sports or by academic activities disguised as games. When we appreciate the important role play serves in a child’s learning about self and world, we give children the time and opportunity to engage in the self-initiated play that is the surest way for them to fully realize all of their intellectual, emotional and social potential. 3 …it starts with the child and not with the subject matter.

The philosophical foundations education came to be seen as History of early childhood education an important first step on the – David Elkind, PhD were provided by John Amos educational ladder. Comenius, John Locke, and Jean In America, the Head Start Jacques Rousseau. Its curriculum arly childhood Program, launched in the 1960s and methodology were created education, the care for low-income children, had by the likes of Johann Heinrich and instruction of an unintended consequence. Pestalozzi, Friedrich Froebel, young children outside Although it was very effective, the Maria Montessori, and Rudolf Eof the home, over the last half title gave parents the impression Steiner. Most recently, it was century has become a downward that education was a race, and that scientifically grounded by extension of schooling. It the earlier you start, the earlier and the research and theories of is now the first rung on the better you finish. Middle-income Sigmund Freud, Jean Piaget, and educational ladder. In many parents wanted their preschoolers Erik Erikson. While there are respects, however, this most to have a head start as well. This differences in the approaches recent addition to the pedagogical gave added emphasis to the of these progenitors of early hierarchy is quite different from importance of early childhood childhood education, they are its elementary and secondary education as the answer to overshadowed by one common predecessors. improving the educational system. principle: that early childhood The early childhood curriculum curriculum and practice must be As a consequence, kindergarten, is the most holistic and least adapted to the maturing needs, once a half-day affair required by differentiated at any level abilities, and interests of the child. only 40 percent of US states, has of education. It is also the become largely a full-day affair This was the principle embodied most solidly grounded in required nationwide. Academics, in the first kindergarten program, philosophy, in clearly articulated including math and reading developed by Friedrich Froebel methodology, and in theory curricula, testing and grades, are (1782-1852) and the first early and research. Those who now the norm in many schools. childhood program to be contributed to the discipline of Programs for younger children widely adopted in both Europe early childhood education came have expanded as well. Today, and abroad. The kindergarten from occupations and professions some 80 percent of children movement was propelled by the outside the academic domain. under the age of six spend part industrial revolution and the What they had in common was or full time in non-parental introduction of women into the an understanding of children. child care settings. Having your factory labor force. Later, Maria And that is what makes early child cared for outside of the Montessori’s (1870-1952) early childhood education unique; it home, once looked down upon childhood program was also starts with the child and not with as an abrogation of a mother’s widely adopted both in Europe the subject matter. maternal instinct, is now a and abroad. But it was not until socially accepted practice. Indeed, after WWII that early childhood 4 those parents who choose not to of early childhood education, “the new first grade.” The articles put their children in out-of-home supported by an overwhelming presented in this booklet make settings are the ones perceived amount of contemporary research clear that a play-based curriculum as insufficiently concerned with and classroom experience, is is best suited to meet the emerging their child’s welfare. dismissed as irrelevant. Instead, needs, abilities and interests of we have had a politically and young children. We have come too With the rapid expansion and commercially driven effort to far from where early education acceptance of early childhood make early childhood education began: with the child. programs, the basic principle

5 …the hummy rhythm of the children’s attention to their work.

relaxes. To children, time is it’s “cleanup time.” Respecting Time measured in units of joy. this, some programs choose to let structures remain—out of – Sydney Gurewitz Clemens From the moment they greet the way of the cleaning staff—so the children in the morning, building can continue tomorrow. two-year-old on the adults at a child care center sandy beach with a pail or kindergarten convey their Waiting in line at the supermarket and a shovel lives in attitude about how time is to be feels wasteful unless you play with joy, outside of time. He used. Without pressure, there’s the other people in line. So it is hasA the attention span of a giant. time to say hello and ask how in the early childhood classroom. He will play, with or without your things are going. Courteous, If children have to wait, they company, as long as you’ll let him. relaxed interactions start a good will get impatient or angry—not A seven-year-old city child, at day. Where time is organized emotions you’re trying to develop. that same beach, lets himself rigidly and there’s never enough Wise teachers thus arrange a fluid, hang out, observes people, birds, of it, staff and children collide. responsive day with minimal and water. Suddenly, without an Children want to keep on waiting. In Reggio Emilia, Italy, external trigger, he gets up and building with blocks until they’ve children and staff work together sprints along the beach and into finished what they’re building, on a project for as long as eight the water up to just the right and they resent having to tear or ten weeks, returning to it most height, stops, rests, considers, down what they’ve built because days, as if they had all the time in the world. A great deal can be accomplished by children working on this kind of extended timeline, and these children’s ability to understand how the world works changes because mindful time was invested in important exploration. A good classroom will flow. Teachers will have a general idea of a schedule, but respond intuitively to the hummy rhythm of the children’s attention to their work. Like good parents and good friends, good teachers tune in to those they care for, and promote a flowing, peaceful use of time.

6 7 …bringing children into a space of their unique knowing and understanding.

In more solitary forms of that reflect who we are and how Imagination play—be it a child playing in a we interpret the wondrously – Richard Lewis sandbox, dressing up, or having complex world around us? a conversation with a doll—the For the child, both play and imagination is now, through lay is an act of imagining are instinctive its own resources, at play. It is imagining. When capacities. They are not only creating, pretending, performing, children go outside to crucial to a child’s sense of well- and bringing children into a play—running, skipping, being, but also, if encouraged and space of their unique knowing Pjumping—what is activated is supported, the path to envisioning and understanding. a different form of knowing. It possibilities, discovering new is a way of believing that allows Even our own adult imagining ideas, enlarging experience, and children, if they wish, to run as is a form of play. Haven’t we all questioning and expressing the fast as the wind or jump as high noticed that when we imagine, delicate boundaries of the known as the clouds, becoming, in an dream and reality, time and space, and the unknown. instant, a part of the exuberance feeling and thought begin to Perhaps it is part of the genius and playfulness of nature itself. intertwine, blending components of childhood to integrate play and imagining into one seamless activity. A way in which the life of our minds and our bodies are in dialogue with each other. Or, as one child, Maggi, said to me: “When I play it feels like you can’t fall down. And it feels like the stars are carrying me.”

8 9 …nothing lights up a child’s brain like play.

into higher centers, activating Brain Research interaction with the environment. – Stuart Brown, MD This flow is similar in humans and (founder of National Institute for Play) involves our hands, which are so richly connected with our brains, close look at and a primary way we interact young children with the world. As kids play with worldwide reveals the blocks, fashion mud pies, and spontaneous whole- throw balls, they are constantly selfA involvement of their bodies, fertilizing neural growth and minds and spirits in the joyful integrating complex areas that the pursuit of play. Something deep natural world offers. within prompts them to enjoy Immersion in the natural world the tug of gravity and urges is a central aspect of healthy them to move, chase each other, child’s play. High-tech industries wrestle and squeal with delight— such as NASA’s Jet Propulsion and to find pleasure through Laboratory have found that their exploration and tinkering with best overall problem solvers objects around them, making were master tinkerers in their toys or building fantasy forts youth. They have even altered and hiding places. their hiring policy to give high In studying what occurs in the priority to this play background brain during play, researchers information. into animal play have provided In childhood play, it is a safe evidence of play-brain assumption that kids need more relationships that also apply to than a two-dimensional screen humans. They have discovered to gain competency. Children that play arises from areas of the need free, hands-on play that is “ancient” brain (that all mammals kid-organized, to maximize their possess) that are organized for potential. Nothing lights up a survival, and they flow “upward” child’s brain like play.

10 11 …play works, but is seriously endangered in today’s schools.

their middle-class peers. But Research & those arguments are based on Current Trends assumptions not supported by well-designed research. The – Joan Almon & Edward Miller (Alliance for Childhood) federal government has invested heavily in research on early literacy, with disappointing he vital importance of results. The federal Reading play in young children’s First program, for example, development has been significantly increased didactic, shown in study after phonics-heavy reading instruction study going back more than T but had no effect on reading half a century. Nevertheless, comprehension scores. Intensive early childhood education test-driven programs may produce has in recent years become short-term gains in scores, but increasingly focused on teaching long-term research indicates that literacy and other academic students for or giving them these gains fade away. Studies skills, in part because of popular standardized tests. Play with of Germany’s experiment with misconceptions about play being blocks, sand, or water is rare. academic kindergartens showed a waste of time. Most kindergarteners get 30 that play-based early education Three recent university studies of minutes or less to play per day; produced better results in reading public kindergartens, sponsored many have no playtime at all. and math, social and emotional by the Alliance for Childhood, Policymakers and school adjustment, creativity, intelligence, provide evidence of how far this administrators push early oral expression, and “industry.” trend has gone. A survey of 254 academics as a way to give The research base on early teachers in New York and Los children a competitive edge in education is clear: play works, Angeles showed that their full- a global economy, and to help but is seriously endangered in day kindergartens devoted two children from low-income today’s schools. to three hours per day teaching backgrounds catch up with literacy and math and preparing

12 13 … balancing one block atop another, they are registering principles of physics and support.

features. And when they build Building Blocks towers by masterfully balancing for Learning one block atop another, they are registering principles of physics – Katrina Ferrara, BA and support. – Kathryn Hirsh-Pasek, PhD – Roberta M. Golinkoff, PhD Research suggests that four and five year-olds given 15 minutes of free play will spend a third “Creating environments of this time engaged in spatial, where children can learn mathematical, and architectural through play is not a simple activities! Studies also show that thing to do consistently this kind of play, especially with blocks, helps children discover and well...The role of the principles such as symmetry and adult is critical...The adult geometry and sets the stage for designs an environment Blocks. Seemingly simple, more advanced skills used later in mathematics and geography. with hands-on, concrete they actually offer children materials that encourage an entire classroom’s worth of Given their utility as a creative opportunities for mathematical medium, a foundation for exploration, discovery, and spatial learning. learning, and a basis for fun manipulation and active As children pick up and feel interaction between parents and engagement of children.” the rigid angles and smooth children, blocks are one of the most versatile and rewarding – J. Hewes curves of wooden squares, circles, and triangles, they are items in the toy box. No wonder learning the fundamentals of the American Academy of shape and proportion. When they Pediatrics recognized blocks distinguish the green block from as among the “true toys” that the red, they refine their ability should be valued in our homes to note patterns and compare and schools.

14 15 …we learn what we do.

direct instruction, traditional Active Learning nursery school, and HighScope’s – Larry Schweinhart, PhD active participatory curriculum. (HighScope) Direct instruction teachers taught children lessons and how to give the right answers. Traditional ctive learning is the nursery school teachers let way we all learn. children do what they wanted and From our beginnings, followed their lead. Teachers in our brains are the active participatory program constantly growing, connecting A had children plan, do, and review their synapses in new ways their own activities and supported and into increasingly complex them in these activities. All three structures. At birth, we first groups of children became better learn to make sense of booming, prepared for school, but the buzzing confusion. We learn two more child-led approaches from what we see, feel, touch, a plan, we are learning how seemed to better prepare children taste, smell, and do. We develop to follow through on what we for life—with fewer emotional the special human abilities of say. When we review the plan problems and fewer crimes language-speaking, listening, afterwards, we are learning how to committed as teens. reading, writing, and discovering take responsibility. When children meaning. These new abilities do what we tell them, they are Children engaged in active enrich our lives with whole new learning how to do what we say. learning learned not just from realms of knowledge, but they When we ask them what they the lesson content, but also never replace our immediate want to do and they do it, they are from the educational activities world of senses and activities. learning how to take initiative. themselves. We learn what we do. The HighScope Educational When we make a plan, we are Research Foundation conducted a learning how to work toward long-term follow-up study of three objectives. When we carry out types of preschool education:

16 17 …outside—all they need is time, playmates, and permission.

of discovery, are directly opportunities to climb, uneven Nature proportional to the number and terrain to be negotiated. Most – Rachel Grob, MA, PhD kind of variables in it.” children need no coaxing (Sarah Lawrence College) or coaching to burn calories The number and kinds of outside—all they need is time, “variables” outdoors are endless: playmates, and permission from hink back to when plants, animals, insects, water, adults to explore what their you were a child. sand, dirt, dust, hills, holes— bodies can do. As landscape Did you crave the all of these are fascinating, architect Robin Moore writes, outdoors? Did you and many change over time, “The indeterminacy of rough have a favorite spot to play—a constantly revitalized as material T ground allows it to become tree, a stream, a rocky crevice for children’s play. Nature is a play-partner, like other or vacant lot? Did you have a the very best place for children forms of creative partnership: special place to hide, where you to find “loose parts”—that is, actress-audience, potter-clay, could watch without being seen material for play that can be photographer-subject, painter- and let your imagination run moved around and used in many canvas. The exploring/creating free? Did you resist being called ways. Pieces of wood can make child is…using the landscape as back inside, wanting to swing a fort or a miniature world; a medium for understanding the one more minute with your face rocks can serve equally well as world by continually destructing/ tilted up to the darkening sky pretend people or pretend food reconstructing it.” or to finish a last exhilarating in an imaginary game; dirt can game on the street? be sculpted into a palace for Nature offers children not Because of our own experiences, ants or dug to create a hole for just physical room to play, but many of us already know and buried treasure. The open-ended mental and emotional room as feel the benefits of play in natural characteristics of the natural well. The “secret spaces” young settings. Research corroborating world excite play far richer than people need for private reflection our firsthand perceptions comes what children will ever find in and growth can be found in as no surprise, but it helps us manufactured toys that require abundance, and children will use understand why outdoor play them only to push buttons or their time outdoors to nurture is so essential. One reason is follow pre-set rules. contemplative as well as active forms of playfulness. Their ability that nature offers unparalleled In addition, the gross motor to relate creatively and peacefully opportunities for exploration and play children need to become with others expands in nature experimentation. As landscape physically adept emerges too; researchers have found architect Samuel Nicholson put spontaneously and joyfully in decreased incidents of aggression it, “In any environment, both the outdoors. The natural world and increased imaginative play the degree of inventiveness and offers room to run, irresistible creativity, and the possibility and creative social interactions

18 Jonah – by Talia Grob Stewart (age 9) in environments converted from When I remember my brother I picture Jonah on the top of a asphalt to an “environmental Jonah I picture him on the back mountain his hands on either side, yard” with ponds, gardens, a of a whale. and his fingers spread out wide, with meadow, and trees. his open jacket flailing behind him. It’s raining but Jonah doesn’t Features of the natural world care because he’s already wet When I picture Jonah I picture children explore with their from diving into the water and him on the back of his favorite senses by day, they play with in coming up again like Jonah and horse named Yawer, no saddle, their dreams at night, and turn the whale, his hands clutching the no pommel, his hands grasping into poetry when they wake. whale’s neck. Yawar’s mane.

19 …a sense of power, control, and mastery of their own learning.

• Creatively adapting everyday Open-ended and objects to play with; Creative Play • Imposing new meanings and – Francis Wardle, PhD uses on familiar objects and the environment; • Enjoying themselves without observed some young needing to use expensive, girls helping their mothers technological or educational toys; wash clothes in the stream. The Maya living in the • Finding a creative way to have Ihighlands of Guatemala care for fun and enjoy each other’s their children while engaging in company. work—the boys with the men, Open-ended play materials are the girls with the women. On those that offer children many this occasion, a small group of ways to engage with them. For three to five-year-old girls example, children can play with was helping their mothers. sand, water, or clay in a variety However, they soon got bored, of ways. In creative play, children so they started to invent a game use objects and toys to create by tossing the small pieces of stories, build constructions, and soap to each other, and trying engage in a fantasy world. The to catch the slippery objects. use of materials in flexible and They delighted in the fun of creative ways teaches children to a game that required great be flexible and creative thinkers concentration, physical agility, with abstract ideas and concepts. and creativity! This game continued for a considerable The value of open-ended and length of time as the girls found creative play is that it enables different ways to enjoy this children to explore a variety activity. The mothers seemed of creative uses of common quite content to watch them materials and environments, have fun playing in the stream. challenges conventional ways to It seems to me these girls were use materials, and gives children doing many things, including: a sense of power, control, and mastery of their own learning. • Creating play activities to eliminate boredom;

20 21 Sydney Gurewitz Clemens, Stuart Brown, MD, is a medical Author an early childhood doctor, psychiatrist, Biographies teacher for more than clinical researcher, thirty years, is a widely and the founder of recognized author the National Institute We are especially grateful and presenter on topics which for Play. (www.nifplay.org) He for the help and support of involve hot cognition: children first discovered the importance these authors, without whom learning through things they of play by discerning its absence this book would not have been are passionate about. These in a carefully studied group topics can be from the happy of homicidal young males, possible. Thank you for your parts of life: early literacy, beginning with the University time, creativity and enthusiasm creativity, and many aspects of Texas Tower mass murderer, in writing these beautiful of the work being done in Charles Whitman. Dr. Brown chapters. Thank you for your Reggio Emilia, or from life’s speaks regularly to Fortune 500 painful parts, including divorce, companies and groups across the care and respect for children death and dying, and parents in country on the importance of everywhere and your tireless prison. Sydney is the author of play in our lives. Most recently, work in celebration of childhood. two practical and inspiring he appeared at the New York books on early childhood: The Public Library. The producer Sun's Not Broken, A Cloud's Just of a three-part PBS series, The David Elkind, PhD, is currently in the Way: On Child-Centered Promise of Play, he has also Professor emeritus of Teaching, and Pay Attention appeared on NPR and was Child Development to the Children: Lessons for featured in a cover story in at Tufts University Teachers and Parents from Sylvia The New York Times Magazine. in Medford, Ashton-Warner. Visit her website Massachusetts. His research Joan Almon at www.eceteacher.org. is and theorizing have been in the director of the areas of perceptual, social, and Richard Lewis is a teacher, US Alliance for cognitive development where author, and the Childhood, a public he has worked to build on the founder and director education and advocacy group theories of Jean Piaget. Perhaps of The Touchstone that addresses issues affecting Elkind is best known for his Center for Children, children’s overall health and well- books, The Hurried Child, All an arts and education organization being. The Alliance is focusing on Grown Up and No Place to Go, located in New York City. restoring play in kindergartens Miseducation, and most recently, (www.touchstonecenter.net) and other early childhood The Power of Play. Dr. Elkind The Center’s particular interest is settings, as well as in the lives also writes a weekly blog on the role of the imagination within of all children. Materials can be child development issues at learning—and its relation to our found on their website at www.justaskbaby.com. understanding and expression www.allianceforchildhood.org. of the natural world. Recent For over 30 years, Joan was a books by Richard Lewis include: Waldorf kindergarten teacher, When Thought is Young, Living by teacher-educator, and consultant Wonder, I Catch My Moment: Art to Waldorf schools worldwide. and Writing by Children on the Life She has written numerous articles of Play, and a collection of poems, and chapters on early childhood, Shaking the Grass for Dew. play, and imagination.

22 Edward Miller, MEd, is a founder Roberta Michnick Golinkoff, Rachel Grob, MA, PhD, is a of the Alliance for PhD, is the H. Rodney faculty member in Childhood, a nonprofit Sharp Professor of the Health Advocacy research and advocacy Education at the Program and organization, and of University of Delaware, directs the Child the New York Coalition for Play. and winner of the prestigious John Development Institute at Sarah He is co-author of Crisis in the Simon Guggenheim Fellowship Lawrence College. Activities of Kindergarten: Why Children Need and the James McKeen Cattell the Institute include research to Play in School (2009), and he prize. Her research is funded on play, a week-long summer edited the Alliance’s two reports by federal grants and she has institute on facilitating play, on children and technology: written and co-authored dozens and collaboration on a series of Fool’s Gold (2000) and Tech Tonic of scientific journal articles and 12 films for public television. Dr. (2004). A former editor of the books including: Play = Learning: Grob is author of articles on Harvard Education Letter, Ed has How Play Motivates and Enhances parenting and childhood; her taught at Harvard University and Children’s Cognitive and Social- forthcoming book from Rutgers at Sarah Lawrence College, where Emotional Growth, and A Mandate University Press is titled Testing he is a member of the Professional for Playful Learning in Preschool, Baby: The Transformation of Advisory Board of the Child which makes the case for play Newborn Screening, Parenting and Development Institute. and playful learning so children Policymaking. Her children, can thrive both socially and Jonah and Talia, play and write Kathryn Hirsh-Pasek, PhD, is academically. poetry at the Blue Rock School the Stanley and Debra in West Nyack, N.Y.. Lefkowitz Professor Larry Schweinhart, PhD, is in the Department of an early childhood Francis Wardle has a PhD in Psychology at Temple program researcher Early Childhood University, where she serves as and speaker. He has Education from Director of the Infant Language conducted research the University of Laboratory and was the recipient at HighScope Educational Kansas. He has of the Great Teacher and Eberman Research Foundation been a Head Start director and Research Awards. She has written (www.highscope.org) since national education director 11 books and her work has 1975 and served as its president for Children’s World Learning appeared in over 100 publications. since 2003. He has directed the Centers. Currently he teaches Visit her website at HighScope Perry Preschool at the University of Phoenix http://kathyhirshpasek.com. Study through age 40, the and Red Rocks Community HighScope Preschool Curriculum College. Dr Wardle has authored Katrina Ferrara, BA, is the Comparison Study through age several books, including Infant Lab Coordinator at 23, evaluations of Head Start Play, Development, and Early Temple University. Special thanks and Michigan School Readiness Education (with Johnson for putting together the chapter programs, and the validation of and Christie) and many articles on Block Play. the HighScope Child Observation on play. He is a member of Record. He received his PhD Partners of the Americas, and in Education from Indiana a founding board member of University in 1975. He and his the Starfish Educational Institute, wife have two children which organizes an annual and five grandchildren. teacher training conference in Maceio, Brazil.

23 Bibliography

Crain, W. “Animal Dreams,” ENCOUNTER: Education Wardle, F. Introduction To Early Childhood Education: for Meaning and Social Justice, Vol. 16, No. 1, 2003. A Multidimensional Approach To Child-Centered Care And Learning, Boston: Allyn and Bacon, 2003. Elkind, D. The Power of Play: Learning What Comes Naturally, Cambridge: Da Capo Press, 2007. Further Reading: Ginsberg, H. “Mathematical Play and Playful Mathematics: Brown, S. & Vaughan, C. Play, How It Shapes the Brain, A Guide for Early Education.” Play = Learning: How Play Opens the Imagination, and Invigorates the Soul, Motivates and Enhances Children’s Cognitive and Social- New York: Penguin Group (USA) Inc., 2009. Emotional Growth, D. Singer, R. M. Golinkoff, & K. Hirsh- Grob, R. (forthcoming).Testing Baby: The Transformation Pasek (Eds.), New York: Oxford University Press, 2006. of Newborn Screening, Parenting and Policymaking, Ginsburg, K. & committee. “The Importance of Play in Rutgers University Press. Promoting Healthy Child Development and Maintaining Levin, D. E. & Kilbourne, J. So Sexy So Soon: The New Strong Parent-Child Bonds,” Pediatrics, Vol. 119, No. 1, 2007. Sexualized Childhood & What Parents Can Do To Protect Goodenough, E. (Ed.) Secret Spaces of Childhood, Their Kids, New York: Ballantine Books, 2008. Ann Arbor: Michigan University Press, 2003. Linn, S. The Case for Make Believe: Saving Play in a Hewes, J. Several Perspectives on Children’s Play: Commercialized World, New York: The New Press, 2008. Scientific Reflections for Practitioners, Tom Jambor & Louv, R. Last Child in the Woods, Jan Van Gils (Eds.) Philadelphia: Garant, 2007. Chapel Hill: Algonquin Books, 2006. Hirsh-Pasek, K. & Michnick Golinkoff, R. & Berk, L.E. & Singer, D.G. A Mandate for Playful Learning in Preschool, Organizations New York: Oxford University Press, 2009. Alliance for Childhood promotes policies and practices Johnson, J. E., Christie, J. F., & Wardle, F. Play, Development that support children’s healthy development, love of and Early Education, Boston: Allyn and Bacon, 2005. learning, and joy in living. Their public education campaigns bring to light both the promise and the Miller, Edward & Almon, Joan. Crisis in the Kindergarten: vulnerability of childhood. They act for the sake of the Why Children Need to Play in School, College Park: Alliance children themselves and for a more just, democratic, and for Childhood, 2009. ecologically responsible future. Visit the website at Moore, R.C. & Wong, H.H. Natural Learning: The Life www.allianceforchildhood.org. History of an Environmental Schoolyard, Berkeley: Playing For Keeps: Association of Children’s Museums MIG Communications, 1997. (ACM) adopted Playing for Keeps as a leadership initiative Nabhan, G.P. & Trimble, S. The Geography of in April 2008. Play has always been at the core of ACM’s Childhood: Why Children Need Wild Places, work and that of its members. Yet play opportunities for Boston: Beacon Press, 1994. young children are diminishing, drawing increased concern from educators, parents, and the general public. Promoting Ness, D. & Farenga, S. J. Knowledge Under Construction: the necessity of play and advocating that communities and The Importance of Play in Developing Children’s Spatial families make play a daily habit has become more important and Geometric Thinking, New York: Rowman & Littlefield than ever. Learn more at http://www.childrensmuseums. Publishers, 2007. org/programs/playingforkeeps.htm. Nicholson, S. “How Not to Cheat Children: The Theory of International Play Association, USA (IPA/USA) is the Loose Parts,” Landscape Architecture, Vol. 62, 1968. national affiliate of IPA World, an international non- Schweinhart, L. J., Montie, J., Xiang, Z. Barnett, W. S., governmental organization, founded in Denmark in Belfield, C. R., & Nores, M. Lifetime Effects: The HighScope 1961. The purpose of the IPA is to protect, preserve, and Perry Preschool Study through Age 40, Ypsilanti: promote the child’s right to play. Specific interests include HighScope Press, 2005. environments for play emphasizing universal access, leisure Schweinhart, L. J. & Weikart, D. P. Lasting Differences: time facilities, programs that develop the whole child, play The HighScope Preschool Curriculum Comparison Study leadership training, toys, and play materials. Check out the through Age 23, Ypsilanti: HighScope Press, 1997. website: www.ipausa.org. Sobel, D. Childhood and Nature: Design Principles for Educators, Portland: Stenhouse Publishers, 2008.

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Call for free resources: 1-800-777-4244 www.CommunityPlaythings.com Thispublication 2009© Communityby Products, LLC. “For children in general, and for young children in particular, self-initiated play is a basic mode of learning. Through such play, children create new learning experiences that they might not otherwise encounter.” – Dr. David Elkind

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