2) Original Observation: As I sat on my couch and looked out the
window into our court yard of our apartment complex I watched as
young children played; running, screaming, and chasing each other.
This helped me choose my original image of children playing relating
to my topic of free choice, free play, play, etc. As I watched these
children play I thought about what is play? As I listened to the
children scream and laugh I thought about when I was younger and all
the games I played with my brother and sister. Chasing, playing hide
and seek, laughing, running, skipping, jumping, etc.
3) Re-imagination: As I re-imagined play I began to think
of all the different types and forms of play. How play can be
interpreted in many different ways. What really made me think of all
the different types of play is my students parents. As a child
development major most of my teaching positions were with younger
children. In each setting that I worked in play was a huge part of
the schools philosophy and also played a huge role in the curriculum.
Often parents would question this form of teaching and couldn't quite
understand how their children were learning through play. Often
parents just envision play as children running around and playing on
playgrounds, but it is more than that. As I thought about play I
thought about all the different ways it could be interpreted to help
parents see that in fact their children are learning through play in
many different ways and forms. Play can be playing an instrument,
computer games, sports, pretend play, play dough, a play or skit,
etc.
4) This new understanding and how it impacts my topic: This new understanding impacts my topic
because now I can inform parents and show them a different side of
play they might be familiar with. For instance, within play children
can use their five senses to explore and play. Through pictures above
I showed children exploring sensory play (paint, shaving cream).
Young children smell new objects and things that might be less
familiar to them. They see and manipulate objects in their own
creative ways. For example, in pretend play they are acting out skits
or their own plays whether they realize it or not. They take on
roles. Within the classroom children discover and explore all
different types of play. Re-imagining play helps me to think about
play more in depth to help answer parents questions and to really
incorporate and show how play can help a child learn in all
developmental aspects. We can see and look at play in many different
ways and not just envision play as children running around and
screaming.
