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Learning Through Play by Jan Hunt

"The pursuit of truth and beauty is a sphere of activity
in which we are permitted to remain children all our lives."

- Albert Einstein
 

My son Jason, now a young adult, has been unschooled from the beginning - we were fortunate to have discovered John Holt's books when Jason was two, and never looked back. Jason was a very inquisitive child, who loved learning new words and playing with numbers. He had an extensive vocabulary by 18 months, understood the concept of infinity at 2, and taught himself squares and square roots at 3. In spite of all this, I still wondered if I should use a curriculum, especially for math. It was hard not to worry when taking a path that was so different from the one I had taken in childhood. It was also hard not to be affected by my parents' doubts, even though I understood the reasons for their skepticism.
When Jason was 7, he asked for a math book as his special holiday gift that year (we had recently read John Holt's glowing review of Harold Jacobs' book Mathematics: A Human Endeavor, in Growing Without Schooling). The book proved to be as wonderful as John Holt had said, and we enjoyed it a lot. But a few months later, I noticed that Jason hadn't looked at it for a while. I decided to suggest reading a chapter per week together. Fortunately, I was busy that day and didn't get around to asking him. That evening, Jason came up to me, book in hand, saying "Let's play math." My first thought was, "Whew, that was a close one." Had I made my offer, he probably would have accepted it, and even learned from it, but where would the concept of math as play have gone?
When Jason was 8, my neighbor, who also had an 8-year-old son, asked me if Jason knew the times tables, and when I said he did, she asked me how he had learned it. Her son had struggled for months, and still had trouble remembering the answers. He was frustrated and worried about his grades, but none of her ideas had helped. I explained that Jason learned everything in a very natural way, as needed. For example, his dad had brought home a dart board, just for fun, a few months back. Scoring a darts game involves both addition and multiplication, and because Jason wanted to be the scorekeeper, he learned all the number combinations used for darts (and later learned other combinations as he needed them), though the dartboard had not been purchased with that in mind, nor had we ever used the term "times tables".
Now, Jason can do math in his head, unlike me. Having memorized formulas, I can solve most math problems, but always on paper, and I rarely understand the concepts involved. Jason can not only do the math easily but really understands the whole process. If he happens to need a new mathematical tool, he can easily learn it. He needed to know about sines and cosines when he converted paintings into graphics for my children's book A Gift for Baby. He learned this quickly and easily from the Internet. I could only look back and remember how much time I had spent memorizing calculus formulas, and though I passed all the tests, I really hadn't learned anything. I didn't understand how the formulas actually worked, or how to use them in the real world.
Jason has learned much of what he knows through play, and has the same love of learning he was born with. He learned about money by playing Monopoly, about spelling by playing Scrabble, about strategies by playing chess, Clue, and video games, about our culture by watching classic and modern TV shows and films, about politics and government by watching "Yes, Minister", about grammar by playing Mad Libs, about fractions by cooking, about words by playing Dictionary, and writing skills by reading P. G. Wodehouse. He learns about life through living it. But all of this learning has taken place more incidentally than intentionally, as part of the larger business of living life freely and naturally.
During a recent newspaper interview for an article on unschooling, the reporter asked me which techniques unschoolers use that could be used by parents of children in school. I explained that unschooling isn't a technique; it's living and learning naturally, lovingly, and respectfully together. As my friend and unschooling parent Mary Van Doren once wrote:

Raising children with an emphasis on intrinsic rewards is not a technique, a method or a trick to get them to do what the parent wants them to by subtler means, but a way of life, a way of living with children with real respect for their intelligence and for their being.

I feel indebted to John Holt and other unschooling writers for encouraging me to trust Jason to know what he needed and wanted to learn and how to go about learning it. But my best teacher has always been my son. For parents who went to school, unschooling can be a challenge, but it is also our best opportunity to learn to trust our children's natural love of learning.  I have also discovered some great educational toys, pretend play toys, and great classic toys at The Imaginative Child.

Great Article on the Importance of Recess and Play

Position
The National Association of Early Childhood Specialists in State Departments of Education takes the position that recess is an essential component of education and that preschool and elementary school children must have the opportunity to participate in regular periods of active, free play with peers.
Recess

The term recess refers to a break during the day set aside to allow children the time for active, free play. Schools vary in the number of recess periods given children each day, the length of the periods, and the environments available. Typically, recess occurs outdoors and in a designated play area. During inclement weather, schools may have recess periods in a game room, gymnasium, or inside the classroom.

“Recess is the right of every child. Article 31 of the United Nations Convention on Children’s Rights states that every child has the right to leisure time. Taking away recess, whether as a disciplinary measure or abolishing it in the name of work, infringes on that right.” [Skrupskelis, in Clements (2000), 126]

Benefits to children

During the period of time commonly referred to as recess, learning occurs in ways not possible inside the regular classroom. An increasing body of research continues to indicate the benefits of unstructured play and specifically outdoor play for young children.

The National Association for the Education of Young Children (NAEYC) describes unstructured physical play as a developmentally appropriate outlet for reducing stress in children (Appendix 2). This period of time allows children the opportunity to make choices, plan, and expand their creativity.

In allowing a mental change and release of energy, recess may facilitate subsequent attention to more academic tasks and minimize disruptive behavior once students return to the classroom; recess, therefore, becomes an important element of classroom management and behavior guidance (Bogden & Vega-Matos, 2000).

Recess contributes significantly to the physical, social, emotional, and cognitive (intellectual) development of the young child (Clements, 2001). Recess is one of the few places and times during the day when all these developmental domains are utilized in a context that children view as meaningful. Children must function in all the developmental domains if they are to successfully adapt to school and societal norms. The domains are empirically related and should be considered intertwined. For example, social interaction and physical activity facilitate cognition; recess (indoor and outside) offers the opportunity for this development. On the playground, children can be observed actively practicing the learning and cognitive skills acquired in the classroom.

The benefits of recess in each of the specific developmental domains, as identified by current research, are outlined below. The division of the benefits into domains is only for evaluative purposes. All domains are interrelated as children develop.

• Social Development: Social development begins at birth and continues rapidly throughout the early childhood years. Research from the last ten years suggests strongly that close relationships with peers contribute to both social and cognitive development. Recess is that period of time during the school day that allows children the opportunity to interact with peers in ways not usually possible in the typical classroom.
  
  A wide range of social competencies – cooperation, sharing, language, conflict resolution – can be actively practiced, interpreted, and learned in a meaningful context during recess. Through active, free play and peer interaction, children can:
  • develop a respect for rules,
  • gain self-discipline, and
  • construct an appreciation for other people’s cultures and beliefs.

An important educational and socialization experience is lost when children are not allowed to participate in free play with peers on a regular basis.

• Emotional Development: Recess may act as an outlet for reducing anxiety and serve as a means by which children learn to manage stress and gain self-control. During recess play, children also learn the art of expressing themselves to others, and begin rehearsing behaviors and practicing skills. Children learn about their own abilities, perseverance, self-direction, responsibility, and self-acceptance. They begin to understand which behaviors result in approval or disapproval from their peers. During the primary years, children should begin to develop real friendships and relationships with peers. If children are not given the opportunity and the support to develop these interactions, they may not learn how to maintain and sustain such relationships. A positive social and working relationship with peers helps children develop a sense of social and emotional competence.
• Physical Development: Recess provides young children with opportunities to move and participate in physical activities. Two theories on why physical activity improves children’s attentiveness and decreases restlessness dominate the research: the surplus energy theory and the novelty theory (Jambor, 1994). The surplus energy theory cites recess as a means for children to release excess energy that has built up over time, while they have been sitting in a classroom. The novelty theory claims that on-task attention can be increased by providing opportunities for diversion from boredom. As indicated by current brain research, if students are given the chance to move around and be active, they return to the classroom more attentive and able to concentrate on the tasks presented. This change enables learning to take place more efficiently (Healy, 1998).
  
  Physical movement is essential for healthy growth and development. Recent surveys have discovered that 40% of our young children have significant cardiac risk factors including obesity, high blood pressure, high cholesterol, and an inactive life style. Many children are not getting enough exercise to develop healthy hearts and lungs. Another cause for concern is obesity. In October, 1999, the Agriculture Department released a report that revealed a record 10 million American children – or one in five – are overweight, and that a record 8% of the children are already overweight by preschool age.
  
  Through active play, young children learn about their bodies’ capabilities and how to control their bodies. One of the most apparent benefits of recess is the opportunity for sheer physical activity and the practice of physical skills, such as running, climbing, jumping, chasing, traveling, batting, kicking, catching, balancing, hanging, swinging, stretching, pushing, and pulling.
  
  Physical activity fuels the brain with a better supply of blood and provides brain cells with a healthier supply of natural substances; these substances enhance brain growth and help the brain make a greater number of connections between neurons (Healy, 1998). The connections make the brain better able to process a variety of information, thus leading to improved retention of facts, a greater understanding of concepts, and subsequently higher achievement.
• Cognitive Development: There are volumes of recent research substantiating the link between play and cognitive gains. Children learn through play. Children develop intellectual constructs and cognitive understandings through the hands-on, manipulative, exploratory behavior that occurs during play episodes and play opportunities. Play context provides the most appropriate support or scaffolding for children as they develop skills. “Children can remember more, focus better, and regulate their own behavior better in play than in any other context” (Guddemi et al., p. 5). After children practice skills in play, they become ready to utilize these skills in other contexts (Bodrova & Leong, 1999).
  
  Providing opportunities for active, free play with peers facilitates the encoding and decoding of social signals. The mechanisms involved are every bit as cognitive as math seatwork (Bjorklund & Brown, 1998). With the recent hypothesis that domain-specific brain modules may have evolved to process social information, it could be intimated that some cognitive benefits are a direct consequence of some types of physical play.
  
  Examples of content areas that can be explored in context outdoors and on a playground include:
  • the natural elements: experiencing wind, dirt, water, seasons;
  • physics: using a see-saw, merry-go-round, swings;
  • architecture and design: building with natural materials;
  • math and numbers: counting, keeping score; and
  • language development: explaining, describing, articulating, seeking information, and making use of oral language/vocabulary/word power.

Special Thanks to The National Association of Early Childhood Specialists in State Departments of Education