Tamara's Blog

2/6/22 - Let Them Play

Let them play. Trust them. Let them practice life. Play is processing—it’s self-care.

Let’s do some comparisons:

#1 is electronic, colorful interactive, animated and hours of continuous fun and challenges. It can be played alone or with friends sometimes remotely. This unit has games that contain learning embedded in it. The games are made by someone and has fixed rules and outcomes. A wide variety, but limited in scope and some freedom within the game to try things. It is also designed to keep you interested and continue without rest to play over and over. Bells and whistles and sound and rewards are also built in to activate the dopamine in your brain to crave more.

#2 is a card game. It is as flashy as can be with bright colors and a promise that it’s “Fast Fun for everyone!” If you have played this game yourself you know that it is indeed fast and fun. You must play it with at least one other friend in real life. It takes time to shuffle and set up someone needs to read the instructions so this game is for age 7+.   When the game is over there is a clear winner and you can shuffle and play again and again.

Similarities: both require sitting and small motor movements and coordination to both hold the cards so that nobody else cans see what you are holding and the tablet requires hand coordination to press the right buttons on the screen. Cards are three dimensional and have more texture and can bend and fall and slide. The tablet has a smooth glass surface and has more weight and a squishy cover.

In my opinion they are both great tools for learning. Think if you were a kid. Which would you ask to play?

Why?

I will tell you what I think when posed with this question. I think it would be accurate to say most would pick the tablet. I mean- come on. Really. First off as long as it’s charged the tablet is ready to go immediate fun. The other game requires first to find a willing player to join you. Does mom or dad really have the time? Does your sister want to play? No? She’s busy doing homework or online with friends or at a class.

Thinking of psychology and what I know of human nature, if you put someone in the right setting you can change the outcome. When put into a space that has lots of loose parts and play things in addition to at least 1 other child, the play becomes dynamic and self-motivated to be challenging. Kids will figure out something to do and most likely it will not be Uno – but if you have an iPad available they will play it. So it has been my experience every time that when kids come to play in a setting with a wide variety of things to interact with they will move and continue moving from one thing to another alongside or with someone else collaborating often, to extend their fun and (ehem learning, cough cough- she don’t tell them!) The fun is built in because it’s decided by the child what to engage with and in what way.

My space has old phones and cell phones that are inactive. This way they are not scripted. They make up their own stories and practice communicating how they have seen others do. It should be a part of play because it’s part of life. They need to practice. When kids are older they are allowed to bring phones and IPad for quiet time if parents allow it. It is a challenge because they are so tempted. It’s necessary to let them struggle with this so they know what it feels like. They can learn how to put it down. And leave it there for things that are even more fun t do with other kids.

If electronics are more fun they will choose that. It’s only human nature.  Make play more fun.

My Play studio came out of 17 years of studying school aged children plus the years I spent parenting my own two kids. These were my labs where I observed children daily who were happy to spend time with other children of differing types of ages and personalities, talents and deficits, interests and communication styles. This was a privilege to see every day. I witnessed joy. A lot of joy and giggles. Strife and complications. Confusion and tears. Struggle and fights and compassion and triumph. Empathy was learned in real time with real feelings. Aren’t you supposed to feel empathy? Not think empathy…. Not read about empathy. It is felt by doing.