I was introduced to a fantastic article this week, it is a news story from Feb 2008, however it’s message is just as relevant today “Old-Fashioned Play Builds Serious Skills” claims the headline.
Fascinating to learn that it seems Mattel is one of the companies who were at the forefront of ‘toy’ advertising and thus starting a trend towards toys with purpose rather than, as had been the case for years, toys with open ended play options.
“It’s interesting to me that when we talk about play today, the first thing that comes to mind are toys,” says Howard Chudacoff, cultural historian. “Whereas when I would think of play in the 19th century, I would think of activity rather than an object.”
But with the invention of ‘toys’ and the ability to market them to an eager child, play shifted from open ended, make it up as you go along kind of play to rule based, pre-determined play roles. A trend, claims Chudacoff, that “begins to shrink the size of children’s imaginative space.”
I was one of those mean mummy’s who took away the Lego instructions for absolutely that reason! I have fond memories of playing with my toys in an open ended way, blocks were simply blocks to be made into whatever I choose and Lego bricks were coloured blocks of wonder to be transformed and sculpted as I played, fascinated by the fact that 3D shapes now held their form due to their interlocking nature. Of course I would allow the Harry Potter/Star Wars/Racing car sets to be built ‘as the boxed instructions direct’ but after the initial creation (which does teach skills in patience, perseverance and the ability to mentally render a 2D image as a 3D plan!) I would remove the instructions thus forcing the children to make their own Harry Potter/Star Wars/Racing cars – and you know what….they were always far more spectacular than anything on that box!
Studies have shown that the removal of all that self directed creative play has altered kids emotional and cognitive development too.
According to executive function researcher Laura Berk, one reason make-believe is such a powerful tool for building self-discipline is because during make-believe, children engage in what’s called private speech: They talk to themselves about what they are going to do and how they are going to do it.
This self-regulating language is maximised during make-believe play as children make sense of what they are doing and use their play to act out and solve problems and deal with emotions. The more structured the play…the more private self-regulating language declines as does the opportunity to practice policing themselves!
It seems that in the rush to give children every advantage — to protect them, to stimulate them, to enrich them — our culture has unwittingly compromised one of the activities that helped children most. All that wasted time was not such a waste after all.
You can read the original article “Old Fashioned Play Builds Serious Skills” here.