When I was younger the adults in my life allowed me to be a child. They protected you from the adult issues of the world. They sent us outside to play and out of rooms for adult conversations. My weekends, summers and holidays were spent playing with my siblings and other children. At the end of the day, success was your feet being dirty, your hands being a mess, and my eyes sparkling.
As an adult and early childhood professional, I understand how important play was to me as a child. Dolls and outdoors was my playground. It did not include fancy playgrounds and sandboxes with sand toys selected meticulously for my growth and development. Now I know almost all creativity involves purposeful play.
My imagination and the great outdoors was my discovery area. The friends and neighbors were where I learned so many lessons and rules of life. Fred Donaldson said it best “Children learn as they play. More importantly, in play, children learn how to learn. “You wonder now as an adult how much you learned in school but what about those lessons you learned in play.
