December 8, 2021

Many of you know I am a huge fan of play.  It is the mothership of learning to navigate the world we live in.  How we fit in or don’t fit in. Of course it brings kids joy but it also allows the opportunity for solving issues which will show up later in their lives. 

Recently at the end of a Seedlings’ class, the five year old’s had some extra time to free play at the barn. One of the kids said to me, “why isn’t anyone playing with me?”  Instead of solving it for the child we had a conversation about how he/she might change this.  I noticed the child was playing separately from the others, perhaps the reason for lack of engagement. The child seemed to expect others to come to him/her.  But I introduced the idea of inviting others to join the play, something that did not occur to the child. 

As adults do we expect  children know how to navigate the “play jungle”? After two years of Covid many of the Kindergartners have had a small amout of group play.  Which means, learning to share, cooperate, discuss together has been delayed for many of them.  I’m also wondering how much play takes place in Kindergarten these days?  Perhaps you can fill me in on this. 

So if your child comes home from school and says, “nobody plays with me at school”,  before you get too sad or upset, help them to come up with ideas to tackle this issue.  Sometimes it’s as simple as moving closer to others who are playing.  

Play is Powerful!!!