My Connections to Play

            Child play and throughout adulthood teaches you to work with others and to obtain self-control. I believe that it also teaches you to accept each other as they are and to support others that are close to you. Play is creativity and in anything that you do is in creation from your mind, even as an adult. I think that is how artist become who they are. They are open to curiosity and let their imagination come out in their artwork. Child play is something that stays with us even as adults because child play is about learning and being open to something new. As adults we still learn and that is what life is all about.

The way people would support me when I would play is for example, sometimes my mom would let me play with her old jewelry when she did not want it anymore. I would use it to pretend to be a movie star most of the time or to play dress up. I had a play kitchen and used that to make my pretend meals! The best thing I had at play was my Barbie car. I loved that car, I took it on some “road trips” and picked up some toy friends on the way. At my grandmother’s house, she always encouraged me and my cousins to go play outside. She would give us the whole yard to play with. We mostly rode bikes. Anything else that was outside, we used to play make believe. I hope that children will take their imagination and let it take them on many adventures. Not to just use modern toys but use something simple and make it into something more. I’ve known many toddlers who can take a cardboard box and make it into a castle.

                The difference between why play is so much more different now from when I engaged in it as a child was because of the toys of today. There are so much more toys today that are built as what children just can moderately use. They do not even have to use their imagination as much. Technology has taken a toll as children use it more often than using imagination. They now have game systems and IPad that they pay more attention and takes up their time. Television also is a factor, parents will put their child in front of a television quick before they let them go outside. A lot of times it may have to do something about environment that they child is in and they are not able to go outside.

 This car was the best thing that happened to me! I had loads of adventures with this mad car!

I was a power ranger fan and I played it a lot outside with my cousins. I was always the yellow ranger. I thought she was so cool and not always so girlie. I was such a tomboy back then.

Quotes

                                             "Play keeps us fit physically and mentally."

Stuart Brown, MD
Contemporary American psychiatrist

"Children have always learned and created places for themselves through play."

Donna R. Barnes
Contemporary American psychologist