"Guided play: a planned play environment, enriched with objects and toys that provide experiential learning opportunities, infused with curricular content."
Berger, 2008
"Collaboration is the ultimate soft skill that all other skills build on because when we enter the world alone and incompetent, the first thing we do is make contact with other humans."
Golinkoff & Hirsh-Pasek, 2016
"Gettin' good players is easy. Gettin' 'em to play together is the hard part."
Casey Stengel, former Manager of the Brooklyn Dodgers
"Gettin' good players is easy. Gettin' 'em to play together is the hard part."
Casey Stengel, former Manager of the Brooklyn Dodgers
Play is the most significant way for young children to learn to collaborate (one of the '6 Cs' of learning covered in the last blog entry). And primary questions researchers have been exploring over the past few years are related to play - what percentage of time do children actually play? How does play support the development of collaboration, critical thinking and other key success qualities related to learning? Should children play more? What should they play? What if all they want to do is play? What if they never play well with others? Questions about play abound in our world - a world inundated daily with perceived threats to childhood development and later success. So, what do we know about play?
Play actually comes in many forms and does have a critical role to play in successful child development and learning. While we are born needing to be social to survive, we are not born with the self-control to successfully collaborate and bond with others - but we all have the capacity to do so through play. It is through play that we learn language, appropriate social and cultural interaction, build stamina and physical strength - just as a beginning. The American Academy of Pediatricians (2012) notes:
Play actually comes in many forms and does have a critical role to play in successful child development and learning. While we are born needing to be social to survive, we are not born with the self-control to successfully collaborate and bond with others - but we all have the capacity to do so through play. It is through play that we learn language, appropriate social and cultural interaction, build stamina and physical strength - just as a beginning. The American Academy of Pediatricians (2012) notes:
- Play is essential to the social, emotional, cognitive and physical well-being of children beginning in early childhood
- It is a natural tool to develop resiliency to cooperative, overcome challenges, negotiate, be creative, and for adults to bond with children and see the world from child perspectives
- The challenge is to strike a balance between the desire to enrich children’s lives and the need to foster play as a foundation for learning skills
Four significant types of play have been identified as critical for successful child development of self-regulation and collaborative skills that will foster teamwork, the ability to get along with others, generate successful social bonds, develop positive social-emotional self regulation, impulse control, self-reliance and the presence of socially responsible behaviours. And developing appropriate self-regulation predicts life success through persistence, confidence, task mastery, academic achievement, communication, social collaboration, moral maturity and sharing. The best news is that play actually teaches all of this through conversation, questioning, imagining, modeling, creating and exploring!
Four kinds of Play:
1) On My Own (solitary) Play
- babies arrive without collaborative skills - they learn them through successful interactions with parents and caregivers - collaboration 'starts with the self-regulation that keeps us from getting hysterical every time something goes wrong...parents scaffold this development of self-regulation but it is the parent who has the burden for crafting the collaboration and social control; little by little the child takes more and more responsibility ' (Golinkoff/Hirsh-Pasek, 2016)
- there are adults still stuck in level 1 collaboration - frequently referred to as the 'silo syndrome' and it exists in workplace cultures, social structures and classrooms as well as individuals - groups of people who do not want to listen to any new thinking or ideas, are insulated and protective of turf and unwilling to innovate or share ideas
- 'silo syndrome' inhibits growth, creativity and innovation and limits potential for success even though, on the surface, success might seem to be already evident - without collaboration, success will be temporary and shallow
2) Side by Side (parallel) Play
- older toddlers and preschool children often engage in parallel play - in fact, it is a critical component of learning to collaborate that can't be skipped
- parallel play encourages each child to follow their own needs and wants until they need something more - rather than just scream unregulated like a baby, toddlers have learned to look around and ask for help - not in thinking but in doing - they are still working toward their own desire but will share - or take - what they need from someone else and can use the skills of asking or diverting to support this action
- adults and older students engaged in parallel play might be doing very similar work side-by-side but they do not (or are not allowed in classrooms) to engage with others while they solve a task - their only ideas, plans and strategies are their own and this constrains the potential for growth or innovation
- children engaged in side-by-side or parallel play are not moving towards a big picture plan but are engaged in developing only their own ideas - they have not yet developed strategies for expanding and seeing potential - parents and caregivers can model and encourage sharing and thinking of others during this phase until gradually children begin to advance their collaborative skills through play
- organizations and adults who do not advance beyond side by side collaboration will often feel frustrated their ideas are not honoured or the work they are doing is not seen as valuable because they have not been able to participate in developing a bigger picture of what is needed - adults working together but functioning as independent agents will find the innovative requirements are unclear and frustration results
- organizations or classrooms that promote parallel (level 2) collaboration strategies are frequently highly competitive environments where only one person 'wins' or gets the right answer
3) Back and Forth (associative) Play
- scaffolding activities for pre-school and school-age children, both in educational environments as well as at home and play, provides opportunities for children to see themselves as contributors to devising games, solving problems, making plans and acting out stories
- back and forth play causes students to use language to describe their needs, identify priorities, ask questions and build on ideas - children learn they are better together - the games become bigger, better, more engaging, longer lasting when friends engage in play together
- for adults, similar success occurs - in these days of exploding amounts of information, no one person can know anything in it's entirety - adults need to share expertise to get through any anomaly - like a computer glitch, a traffic situation, a major weather event, planning an event - no one person carries all the expertise needed
- collaboration requires defining a goal - what are we trying to do/play/create/achieve?
- collaboration also requires someone involved that has some connection or understanding of what needs to be achieved and has the self-regulation skills to express and share ideas
4) Building it Together - full collaboration
- building it together with full collaboration - shared ideas, honouring of input, respect for every possibility - is achieved with intentional, strategic awareness of the importance and value of working together
- full collaboration requires a shared goal - a reason to come together, complete trust in other collaborators and a shared responsibility for what results - even if the results do not achieve what was desired - there is no blaming a less-desired result on a team member
- in schools where children 'work for a long time in a serious way on an authentic topic, asking questions that push their inquiry along' full collaboration is clearly evident (Golinkoff/Hirsh-Pasek, 2016)
- adults working together in environments where solutions percolate from inside the organization rather than delivered from the 'top' of the organization exemplify fully collaborative, building it together environments where we can creatively address identified problems together and see things from other's perspectives
- in schools, building it together play offers opportunities for students to identify a common goal, share strategies and ideas without judgment, build common vocabulary, take shared responsibility, speak respectfully to each other and share our narratives
- improv theatre, Wikipedia, Google, LEGO are just a few examples of times when adults are fully collaborating together
It is no coincidence that these four kinds of play correspond to identified levels of success as collaborators - for play is truly the collaborative action that strengthens and grows collaborative skills from birth to end of life.
When we talk to our children, we need to listen for the kinds of play they are engaging in, both at school and in other areas of their lives. What collaborative skills have we already scaffolded successfully with them? Where do they need a little extra support? How can we foster play opportunities for them to build these skills? And - perhaps even more importantly - what level of collaboration are we ourselves living with most of the time?
Do we need to engage in a little collaborative play ourselves?
Lorraine Kinsman, Principal
1) On My Own (solitary) Play
- babies arrive without collaborative skills - they learn them through successful interactions with parents and caregivers - collaboration 'starts with the self-regulation that keeps us from getting hysterical every time something goes wrong...parents scaffold this development of self-regulation but it is the parent who has the burden for crafting the collaboration and social control; little by little the child takes more and more responsibility ' (Golinkoff/Hirsh-Pasek, 2016)
- there are adults still stuck in level 1 collaboration - frequently referred to as the 'silo syndrome' and it exists in workplace cultures, social structures and classrooms as well as individuals - groups of people who do not want to listen to any new thinking or ideas, are insulated and protective of turf and unwilling to innovate or share ideas
- 'silo syndrome' inhibits growth, creativity and innovation and limits potential for success even though, on the surface, success might seem to be already evident - without collaboration, success will be temporary and shallow
2) Side by Side (parallel) Play
- older toddlers and preschool children often engage in parallel play - in fact, it is a critical component of learning to collaborate that can't be skipped
- parallel play encourages each child to follow their own needs and wants until they need something more - rather than just scream unregulated like a baby, toddlers have learned to look around and ask for help - not in thinking but in doing - they are still working toward their own desire but will share - or take - what they need from someone else and can use the skills of asking or diverting to support this action
- adults and older students engaged in parallel play might be doing very similar work side-by-side but they do not (or are not allowed in classrooms) to engage with others while they solve a task - their only ideas, plans and strategies are their own and this constrains the potential for growth or innovation
- children engaged in side-by-side or parallel play are not moving towards a big picture plan but are engaged in developing only their own ideas - they have not yet developed strategies for expanding and seeing potential - parents and caregivers can model and encourage sharing and thinking of others during this phase until gradually children begin to advance their collaborative skills through play
- organizations and adults who do not advance beyond side by side collaboration will often feel frustrated their ideas are not honoured or the work they are doing is not seen as valuable because they have not been able to participate in developing a bigger picture of what is needed - adults working together but functioning as independent agents will find the innovative requirements are unclear and frustration results
- organizations or classrooms that promote parallel (level 2) collaboration strategies are frequently highly competitive environments where only one person 'wins' or gets the right answer
3) Back and Forth (associative) Play
- scaffolding activities for pre-school and school-age children, both in educational environments as well as at home and play, provides opportunities for children to see themselves as contributors to devising games, solving problems, making plans and acting out stories
- back and forth play causes students to use language to describe their needs, identify priorities, ask questions and build on ideas - children learn they are better together - the games become bigger, better, more engaging, longer lasting when friends engage in play together
- for adults, similar success occurs - in these days of exploding amounts of information, no one person can know anything in it's entirety - adults need to share expertise to get through any anomaly - like a computer glitch, a traffic situation, a major weather event, planning an event - no one person carries all the expertise needed
- collaboration requires defining a goal - what are we trying to do/play/create/achieve?
- collaboration also requires someone involved that has some connection or understanding of what needs to be achieved and has the self-regulation skills to express and share ideas
4) Building it Together - full collaboration
- building it together with full collaboration - shared ideas, honouring of input, respect for every possibility - is achieved with intentional, strategic awareness of the importance and value of working together
- full collaboration requires a shared goal - a reason to come together, complete trust in other collaborators and a shared responsibility for what results - even if the results do not achieve what was desired - there is no blaming a less-desired result on a team member
- in schools where children 'work for a long time in a serious way on an authentic topic, asking questions that push their inquiry along' full collaboration is clearly evident (Golinkoff/Hirsh-Pasek, 2016)
- adults working together in environments where solutions percolate from inside the organization rather than delivered from the 'top' of the organization exemplify fully collaborative, building it together environments where we can creatively address identified problems together and see things from other's perspectives
- in schools, building it together play offers opportunities for students to identify a common goal, share strategies and ideas without judgment, build common vocabulary, take shared responsibility, speak respectfully to each other and share our narratives
- improv theatre, Wikipedia, Google, LEGO are just a few examples of times when adults are fully collaborating together
It is no coincidence that these four kinds of play correspond to identified levels of success as collaborators - for play is truly the collaborative action that strengthens and grows collaborative skills from birth to end of life.
When we talk to our children, we need to listen for the kinds of play they are engaging in, both at school and in other areas of their lives. What collaborative skills have we already scaffolded successfully with them? Where do they need a little extra support? How can we foster play opportunities for them to build these skills? And - perhaps even more importantly - what level of collaboration are we ourselves living with most of the time?
Do we need to engage in a little collaborative play ourselves?
Lorraine Kinsman, Principal
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