Change Becomes Change

The Importance of Play

I don't know about your kids, but mine can create quite the ruckus. Their play often turns into crazy time with a trail of stuffies, toys, and art supplies throughout the house. And, oh, the volume of giggles and shrieks. It's tempting to plop them in front of the TV to get some clean up done, or encourage them to go look at books, or play a nice game that doesn't make a mess.

Please tell me we're not the only ones with tiny cuts of paper all over the house. Often.

But that's not the job of a child. Their job is to play (although it's really nice when they also clean up as part of their job). Our first experience with preschool was a play-based experience where children learn by playing. There's so many important lessons that they learn through play and interactions with other children: cooperation, team work, problem solving, creative thinking, and more.

My butterfly girl.

When my oldest was just a baby a short seven years ago, Baby Einstein movies were the big thing we all had to share with our children to give them a head start. We fell for it and had a handful of videos that he'd watch from time to time but he wasn't really into TV - he'd rather play than watch.

Drawing in the sand.

Sometimes, our kids are way smarter than we think they are.

Just last week there was an article in CNN that praised play-based early childhood education for better preparing our kids for life. Here's a little excerpt:

When a four-year-old destroys someone's carefully constructed block castle or a 20-year-old belligerently monopolizes the class discussion on a routine basis, we might conclude that they are unaware of the feelings of the people around them.

We all know an adult or two like that, right?

The beauty of a play-based curriculum is that very young children can routinely observe and learn from others' emotions and experiences. Skills-based curricula, on the other hand, are sometimes derisively known as "drill and kill" programs because most teachers understand that young children can't learn meaningfully in the social isolation required for such an approach.

Over the years I've learned that my children are at their happiest, and truly thriving when they're engaged in imaginative play, whether alone, with each other or a friend. I'm not worried about their academic careers because that will come in time. For now, I want them to explore, be curious, pretend, imagine and experience. That's it.

Got 10 minutes for SMART?

Do you know about the wonderful work that SMART (Start Making A Reader Today) does? We have an earlier post on their efforts to make books accessible for all children and developing a love of reading that you can check out.

Well, we just heard  that Monday, March 16 has officially been proclaimed SMART Reading Day, thanks to the efforts of Rep. Kim Thatcher and Co-Sponsor Rep. Betty Komp.

 
To celebrate, there's a big party in Salem with Governor Ted Kulongoski, where they'll speak with legislators about the ongoing need to raise the literacy proficiency of K-3 students in Oregon, and reveal the tenth annual SMART Book Award winner.

We can show our support for children's literacy and participate while we enjoy the first morning cup of coffee. Yep, that easy - and takes less than 10 minutes.

1. Take 60 seconds to sign our online petition.

2. Call your legislator on Monday, March 16, in support of SMART.

Sharing the love of books

Most family and friends are familiar with Patrick's love for reading anything and everything he can get his hands on. I recently asked my friend Heather for suggestions on a good introduction to chapter books.  Her recommendation, My Father's Dragon, was a huge hit. Patrick and I read four chapters the first night together, but I wasn't really sure what he thought about he story or chapter book concept. Apparently he loved it since he read three more chapters himself the next day without me. We finished the book together that night and he's shared it with everyone he's talked to since!

I've noticed lately that his passion for reading is contagious - Marcelena loves to read her books too! Well, for her, "reading" is really about looking at the books and reciting what she's memorized from her favorite books, like Fancy Nancy, that we read so often! She thinks she's reading, so don't tell her any different please.

So I've been thinking of our little book lovers and wonder what we did to get so lucky. We've always had books in the house - a lot - and made reading or storytelling a part of our daily routine since they  were newborns. We're pretty fortunate, we know, and understand that a lot of families have a really hard time squeezing daily reading into an already crazy day. We also know that books aren't cheap and going to the library can be a bit overwhelming.

Well, there's a program in Oregon called SMART (Start Making A Reader Today) that helps young children build literacy skills and they do incredible work in the local communities. Patrick and I started talking tonight about what we can do to help spread our love for reading and agreed to figure out how we can get involved with SMART. Of course, they love donations that help put books in the homes, but you can also volunteer to read - something we already enjoy doing! He liked that idea.

Slight detour...I've never told him this, but Justin is a wonderful reader with the children - he brings the story to life with his spoken word. I love listening to him read to them and hope that he'll take this one on with Patrick! 

For now, we're going to gather our gently-loved books that we want to share with others and bring them to The Book Corner where they'll sell them and use the money to support our local library. And we're going to research how we can get involved with SMART. It was also suggested by another friend that we look into ways that Patrick can directly share his love for reading with other children by reading to them. Maybe provide some inspiration to other little ones.

Tell us, what do you do with your books? What ideas do you have to share?