Where will play fit into the effort to rewrite the No Child Left Behind Act?

Proponents argue the increasing focus on testing and curriculum in kindergarten – and the idea this can become part of preschool and pre-kindergarten – actually counters goals of early education. It threatens a student’s chances at long-term success in school and health, according to play-focused advocacy group The Alliance for Childhood.  This argument gained momentum in recent years, but this year’s congressional debate over reforming the key federal law for elementary and secondary education could show how much traction the argument has gained.

Research shows that children who engage in complex forms of socio-dramatic play have greater language skills than nonplayers, better social skills, more empathy, more imagination, and more of the subtle capacity to know what others mean. They are less aggressive and show more self-control and higher levels of thinking.  – “Crisis in the Kindergarten Why Children Need to Play in School,” – Alliance for Childhood. 3/09.

Before you dismiss the report as the brainchild of a group with the stated agenda of restoring “play to kindergartens and preschools” remember two things: The report is based on nine studies and there is plenty of other research that play is an important element of an early childhood curriculum.

And the report is not talking about free-for-all kindergartens and preschools where kids choose whatever activities they want.

 We are not calling for a simple return to the practices of an earlier time. We now understand much better the kinds of rich experiences that young children need in order to become avid learners. Teachers need to understand the ways in which child-initiated play when combined with playful, experiential learning leads to lifelong benefits in ways that didactic drills, standardized tests, and scripted teaching do not.

A few other items from the report:

• Classic play materials like blocks, sand and water tables, and props for dramatic play have largely disap­peared from the 268 full-day kindergarten classrooms studied.
• (The pressure to meet new standards once  reserved for first grade and the loss of play creates a) double burden, many experts believe, is contributing to a rise in anger and aggression in young children, reflected in increasing reports of se­vere behavior problems.
• On a typical day, kindergartners in Los Angeles and New York City spend four to six times as long being instructed and tested in literacy and math (two to three hours per day) as in free play or “choice time” (30 minutes or less).

While the report focuses on kindergarten it makes it clear that if the problems are not recognized and remedied, the same ills will be passed on to preschools and even to programs for children ages birth to three.

It also connects its findings to the emerging idea of a U.S. economy where imagination is a key skill and economic driver.

...The leaders of major business corporations are saying that creativity and play are the future of the U.S. economy.

Now the report is a year old, but it has more relevance today as Congress begins to debate what went wrong and right with No Child Left Behind.  In fact, the report is generating a buzz on Twitter among early childhood educators.

The summary and recommendations are available here and worth a read.

We spend a lot of time talking about the importance of literacy and curriculum, but a big green playground can have a key role in a child’s social and cognitive development, and even curtail aggression, new research suggests.

It turns out playgrounds are for more than just play. Regular contact with outdoor play can improve everything from a child’s reasoning and coordination to her concentration and self-discipline, according to a summary of research in a Children, Youth and Environments article.

They even get sick less often, the report said.

While the opposite, a lack of space “has been connected with childhood aggression…Children in denser play areas exhibit more aggressive play and less cooperative play,” author Susan Herrington wrote. (See the story for citations, though you will have to register.)

The research on Canadian child care also broke plenty of new ground, including showing that teachers value bigger play spaces, with lots of trees, grass and more challenging structures.

“First, the study makes a strong connection between the presence of plant material and positive perceptions of ECE (early childhood educators) regarding their outdoor play spaces. This suggests that centers looking to improve their outdoor play spaces might consider planting hardy, non-toxic vegetation.” – “Perspectives from the Ground: Early Childhood Educators’ Perceptions of Outdoor Play Spaces at Child Care Centers.”

In the debates over what is and isn’t quality early learning don’t forget the playground.
               
Full article: Herrington, Susan (2008). “Perspectives from the Ground: Early Childhood Educators’ Perceptions of Outdoor Play Spaces at Child Care Centers.” Children, Youth and Environments 18(2): 64-87.

Breaking News: EarlyStories has an interesting story on a pre-k expansion fight: “Pre-k expansion in Tennessee could come at a cost.”

We read about early learning teaching breakthroughs all the time. Literacy matters. Now math is important. In all of this curriculum, though, creativity drives a lot of the learning in the baby-to-kindergartener set.

This week, Learning for Life offers a five-part series on the power of creativity – everything from working in a theater to turning leaves into toys, and reminds us imagination is often the fuel that helps prepare children for kindergarten.

“Creativity in children improves problem-solving, social skills, and even helps children work through myriad of emotions in a safe, child-friendly way. Being creative and simply having unstructured play time can strengthen the child's ego, allow for independence, and help the child confront and cope with many things in life.” – Learning for Life series summary. (The series is a joint venture between Thrive by Five Washington and BELO Seattle.)

If I ever need proof of the power of creativity, I don’t have to look beyond my own kids. After I reviewed a book about wilderness activities for families, for example, my first-grade son quickly grabbed the book and folded over pages with things he wanted to try – building huts out of sticks, a homemade catapult and various types of campfires. He turned over nearly every page.

It is also fitting that Thrive began this series only days after the new film “Where the Wild Things Are” opened in theaters. Whatever your opinion of the movie, one of the plot lines is how the boy uses his own creativity to build an imaginary world that helps him understand the real world.

In an era of transforming toys and toddler video games, it is refreshing to hear this week’s Learning for Life series emphasizes the use of everyday items, such as household material and sticks, to spur creativity.

It is worth checking out on KING 5.com’s Learning for Life page or when it airs on KING Morning News (KONG channels 6 or 16) between 7:30 a.m. and 8:00 a.m.      

Play is an increasingly popular tool in early education, but we may need to dramatically redefine how we view it and use it in classrooms to help children succeed in school and life, a New York Times Magazine article suggests.

This Sunday, the magazine explored the Tools of the Mind teaching method that relies on structured and directed play to help students learn cognitive control - a big part of how to think - which holds the promise of better math and literacy scores that are in demand today. Without getting too simplistic, with Tools of the Mind kids can learn self regulation through long periods of complex scenario-based play, according to the in-depth story. Essentially, play is hard work.

Especially these days, they contend, when children spend more time in front of screens and less time in unsupervised play, kids need careful adult guidance and instruction before they are able to play in a productive way.

…

For (Lev) Vygotsky (whose work Tools of the Mind is based on), the real purpose of early-childhood education was not to learn content, like the letters of the alphabet or the names of shapes and colors and animals. The point was to learn how to think. – “Can the Right Kinds of Play Teach Self-Control?,” New York Times Magazine, 9/27/09.

The story raises fundamental questions about education, early, elementary and even secondary. Is education supposed to emphasize development of skills, whether it’s reading or writing software code, or how to think? Of course, education develops both, but it’s a question of emphasis.

While The New York Times story reports it’s too early to determine how effective Tools of the Mind is there are encouraging signs.

After a year in the program, students did significantly better than a similar group on basic measures of literacy ability. And more recent studies, including one overseen by Adele Diamond, a professor at the University of British Columbia who is one of the most prominent researchers in the field of cognitive self-control, have shown that Tools students consistently score higher on tests requiring executive function. – New York Times Magazine.

It is unlikely that Tools is a magic key, or at least the only magic key, that unlocks the power of play. But, the story left me thinking it could be a dramatic and important step in that direction.

Still, helping early learners boost their executive function – basically the ability to think clearly and in a directed way - isn’t easy, says University of Pennsylvania psychologist Angela Duckworth, according to the story.

“It’s not impossible,” she concludes, “but it’s damn hard.”

We know play is making a comeback and now a Seattle-based group has created a series of guides, PlayBright, to help parents and teachers use it to help children learn and grow.

Based on hundreds of research studies, PlayBright relies on a series of books and a set of early learning principles. But, the curriculum’s core belief is that play is the way.

“Research has shown that the first five years of a child’s life are the most important in brain development, and that the best way young children learn is through play,” PlayBright, the brainchild of Seattle-based Children’s Home Society of Washington, said in a statement announcing its launch last month. “When kids play, they develop new intellectual, motor, and social skills; learn language and problem-solving skills; explore how the world works; and form strong bonds to their favorite playmates: family and caregivers.”

Instead of letting your kids run all of their playtime, sometimes play needs to be directed and these books offer games, exercises and tips to help parents and educators make play work. (You can preview the books here.)  PlayBright even recommends a long list of toys for your baby, toddler and preschooler, and I didn’t see Baby Einstein or other videos anywhere on the list.

The PlayBright curriculum arrives at an excellent time, with the power of play grabbing parenting headlines and classroom time. This week, for example, play is the topic of Thrive by Five of Washington’s Learning for Life series.

Plus , the $39.95 you spend for the guides supports a great organization, the Children’s Home Society of Washington, a statewide non-profit that  provides 40,000 Washington children and families support every year with early learning, adoption, out-of-home care, family support, and child and family counseling services.

The park is a basic part of a child’s early learning experience, yet kids with cerebral palsy, autism and other special needs often can’t enjoy parks, and sometimes don’t even feel welcome there.

At parks, other children may exclude kids who don’t walk or talk the same way, or simply not understand how to include them, says Liz Bullard, the driving force behind an ambitious attempt to address the problem: Seattle Children’s PlayGarden. In a South Seattle playfield, Bullard and a dedicated group are building a new type of park where all kids can play together, whether they are walking or riding in a wheelchair.

“I would not say they are not welcome. They are not necessarily understood,” the speech therapist said. “They also need a place to gather where they feel welcome,”

The Seattle Children’s PlayGarden is a bold step towards helping others understand that these children want to play like everybody else. When complete, the park will be a place for children with special needs or disabilities AND for typically developing children, and it will have Mount Jordan volcano, which is a structure all kids can climb, an amphitheater, a cutting-edge kitchen for classes inside the Garden House and a family play plaza. (Check out the PlayGarden Web site for architectural drawings of its many future features.)

"The lives of families of children with special needs are a constant struggle. Activities outside the home are centered in classrooms, therapy cubicles, physicians' offices, and hospital waiting rooms. I never hear the word fun mentioned,” Bullard says on the Web site.

Bullard said she believes the PlayGarden is a first-of-its-kind in the nation because it is a public-private partnership - in 2003, the Seattle Parks Department offered the south end of Colman Playfield for the development of the PlayGarden. After seven years of work, the PlayGarden is nearing completion, but organizers need to raise another $200,000 to cover the $2.1 million cost. 

Digging in the dirt, swinging in the sun, chasing butterflies. All kids deserve these simple pleasures.— Seattle Children’s PlayGarden Web site.

A number of events converged in the last few weeks to remind parents and teachers of the importance of slow, or at least slower, parenting: Turn Off Your TV Week started Monday, the Slow Parenting was in the news, and the recession forced many families to scale back.

Together, these elements are refocusing the debate about the benefits of slowing things down for your kids. This is not simply a theoretical discussion. Researchers, for example, suggest unstructured play helps brain development and promotes early learning skills, the American Academy of Pediatrics reported in 2007.

Undirected play allows children to learn how to work in groups, to share, to negotiate, to resolve conflicts, and to learn self-advocacy skills.^7,10,11,16 When play is allowed to be child driven, children practice decision-making skills, move at their own pace, discover their own areas of interest, and ultimately engage fully in the passions they wish to pursue. – The Importance of Play in Promoting Healthy Child Development and Maintaining Strong Parent-Child Bonds, Pediatrics, Jan. 2007.

But, today’s hurried parenting culture may offer less time for this important skill development, authors suggest.

Despite the numerous benefits derived from play for both children and parents, time for free play has been markedly reduced for some children. This trend has even affected kindergarten children, who have had free play reduced in their schedules to make room for more academics. A 1989 survey taken by the National Association of Elementary School Principals found that 96% of surveyed school systems had at least 1 recess period. Another survey a decade later found that only 70% of even kindergarten classrooms had a recess period. – Pediatrics, Jan. 2007.

And the doctors’ group isn’t suggesting all those new parenting tools – Mandarin lessons, afterschool programs and intensive tutoring – are bad, only that maybe we need a better balance.

I am not unbiased on slow parenting. In my last job, I wrote a lot about the cultural goal of work-family balance until I realized it was joke for my family, a media-driven illusion of a magical formula - just the right amount of hours at work, family time and date nights - that would create a harmonious family. Instead, we try to embrace the occasional chaos that is part of raising a young family.

Plus, slowing down is a good parenting tool, the AAP article suggests.

Parents who have the opportunity to glimpse into their children’s world learn to communicate more effectively with their children and are given another setting to offer gentle, nurturing guidance.           

I am a big supporter of the power of play in preschools and grade schools as standardized tests take up more time in those classrooms. Now one interest group is warning of a play-deficit crisis.

Tests are crowding out playtime in kindergarten and creating problems in school, U.S. News & World Report’s Nancy Shute reports this week.

But kindergarten tests are almost certainly counterproductive, according to a new report from the Alliance for Childhood, an advocacy group in College Park, Md., called "Crisis in the Kindergarten: Why Children Need to Play in School." Pushing children to perform at a level they aren't old enough to handle increases behavior problems and failure rates and takes away from a focus on the importance of play, which is what 5-year-olds really should be doing. – On Parenting, U.S. News & World Report, 4/7/09.

These days benefits of play are increasingly well-documented, even as the amount of playtime shrinks. Kids lost roughly eight hours of play — an entire workday — and 12 hours of basic outdoor and free time over the last 20 years, David Elkind writes in The Power of Play: How Spontaneous, Imaginative Activities Lead to Happier, Healthier Children.

What I liked about Shute’s story was that it went beyond the latest report and offered parents a lot of tips, such as: 

• Tell your child that tests do not measure how smart, able, or good a person is. 
• Consider requesting that your kindergartner not be tested.

The power of play isn’t crystal clear, and the Alliance for Childhood clearly has an agenda to encourage more playtime. Over at The Early Ed Watch Blog Lisa Guernsey points out we need more research on the benefits of playtime. (Guernsey’s post offers an excellent review of current writing and research on play and school, while also promising to track the issue in the coming months.

Where does the play debate fit in the broader dialogue on early learning. While advocates, teachers and academics are talking about it, when will it rise to the level of serious policy debate? Perhaps when Congress and the Obama administration tackle the No Child Left Behind Act.

Any thoughts?