My Connections to Play

2 Quotes that Summarize what play represented for me in childhood:

"A rose can say "I Love You"
orchids can enthrall
but a weed bouquet in a chubby fist
yes, that says it all."
~Unknown
(I was always giving weeds to my mom and friends as gifts)

"Play is the highest form of research"
~Albert Einstein

( I experimented with many things inside and outside of the house)

Play objects:

 

These 2 objects are things that my younger self played with often. We played outside all of the time and there is a million +1 things to do with sticks! The bowl is for putting things that I collected in. It can also make mud pies and "stews" and "Cakes".  It could also be a drum or a bug catcher!

My Play supported:
~My mom supported my play when I was younger. She would let us play outside all of the time. My sister and I would make mudpies and "food" and "feed" them to her. She would never yell at us or discourage us. She "ate" what we made and made us feel fantastic!

Play today vs my play:
Play today as I have observed is a bit different than when I was younger. I feel that today, children have so many play toys that they can pretend anything and they have a specific toy that they can use. When I played with my sisters, we had to be creative and use what we could. A spoon could be a spoon or a magic wand, microphone, etc.

The role of play throughout my life:
Play was something that we did all of the time. I had siblings so we played constantly. Anything and everything could be a game. Play was very important because I always had the opportunity to play to explore and learn.