"Play is the way the child learns what no one can teach him. It is the way he explores and orients himself to the actual world of space and time, of things, animals, structures, and people....Play is a child's work."
-L.K. FrankPlay and Learning Mary Sinker, Museum ConsultantAs children play, they learn. It is as simple as that. When you see a child playing, you are watching a learning process. I t make look like 'just play', but the evidence is strongly irrefutable that children are learning as they play. Whether they are learning to move and control their bodies more smoothly, to think through a problem at a new level of understanding, to use their language skills more effectively or increasing their abilities to get along with others, children are learning through play.
In play there is little distinction between working and playing. It is often stated that play is a child's work, although this doesn't mean work in the academic or traditional sense. Rather, a child fully engrossed in play is absorbed in a joyful engagement and experimentation with the world.
A children's museum is full of examples of children busily engaged in learning-full play: children figuring our how this works and what can be done with that; learning what they can do with all those pieces, children playing alone and children playing together; children negotiating and sharing roles and spare parts with others; children alight with feelings of competence and confidence: children learning.
In a children's museum, carefully designed environments inspire children's learning. The exhibit environment is created from three strands, rightly kit together: an appreciation of children's play behavior, a knowledge of how an environment can influence play and learning, and an understanding of children's developmental milestones. These three threads transform the learning landscape so that serious learning looks like play...for those who know how to look.
Children's museums offer children the resources to play their way to deeper understandings, as materials, environments, and people are used to create and construct new learning. Informal but intense play in the museum provides the underpinnings for more formal, structured learning in other parts of their lives.
Although it seems like the antithesis of learning, the very highest form of play invites and involves imagination. Whether it is one child pretending to drive the train through a tunnel, or a group of children imagining themselves fishing off the river bank using magnet-ended fishing lines, imagination play experiences give children exceptionally strong feelings of competence and confidence. The more we can offer children the experience of feeling in control, of being powerful, the more self-confident they will be. The richer their imagination, the better they will become at real-life problem solving. Imagination play isn't real, but the feelings it engenders are strong and long lasting. It isn't real, but it is true.
The most important gift we can give our children is a good imagination. We are handing them an increasingly complex world, with problems that we can hardly envisage that will be theirs to solve. They will need good imaginations to take their place as capable, caring adults. As with any other skill, imagination grows with exercise and experience.
In providing environments for play-filled learning, children's museums affirm that play isn't merely something to be tolerated in the gaps between eating, sleeping, and episodes of formal learning. Play is vitally necessary to a child's healthy and full development. Children's museums provide a safe harbor in a scary, busy, and complicated world. They offer children the gift of playing freely in an inviting and complex environment and of playing with new things and people in time-tested ways. These positive play experiences are changing children's lives, not merely by what they learn during a museum visit, but by helping them believe in their own powers to learn, to succeed, to make their own choices, to get along with other people, to make their own discoveries, and to know that they are interesting people with good ideas.
Did You Know?? (by Santa Fe Children's Museum)
A child's brain is developed early! 85% of it is developed by the time a child is three years old.
Children aren't born knowing how to play. Adults must help them in their play development by providing models. Adults must provide play materials and/or experiences for children. The play of a young child becomes intellectually more beneficial when an adult questions the child and continually reinforces his or her new language.
Play is vital to all children's learning. In play, children gradually develop concepts of casual relationships and the power to discriminate, make judgments, analyze and synthesize, and imagine and formulate.
Play is essentially a research activity. It is motivated by the child's curiosity and desire to find out how to live. Many play activities provide the child with an opportunity to understand and master his or her environment through trial and error. The repetition in play is a very important way for children to acquire both mental and physical skills. Climbing the same structure, pouring water from one container to another, or sifting sand over and over may appear meaningless to an adult. However, these activities help a child feel control over his or her environment.
Your Child Is.....................always learning......................always making meaningful choices......................always excited about learning.
