Free Spirits

Twice a week the Aurora class takes a day trip to a nearby playground. The hour we spend at the playground is for free play, an activity crucial to their development as children. I've always known that free play time is good for kids, as it allows them to be creative and use their imaginations, but after doing some research on childhood development and psychology, I learned just how important times like these are for my students. Free play is so important to a child's development that the United Nations recognized it as a global specific right. As we all know, the world can be a very confusing place, and as children engage in free play they are able to make sense of their environment.

(on our way)

At first glance, it would appear that the children are simply running around a play ground, climbing up ropes, swinging on swings, and piling down a slide. What is actually taking place is that the children are building their own worlds, in which they learn through play. In one child's mind the playground becomes a jungle, the children are monkeys and the ropes are their vines. For another child, the playground is a giant ship and they are the pirates, making people walk the plank (go down the slide). In the next child's mind, she is an astronaut and is on her way to the moon. The higher her swing goes, the smaller earth becomes behind her. My group of three year olds are using their imaginations to create more fantastical worlds than the one you and I live in. In theirs, anything is impossible. They are whoever they chose to be, and it can change in a heartbeat. They are free.

When we are children our imaginations are the greatest tool we have. They can create friends out of stuffed animals, castles from forts built of sheets, race cars from cardboard boxes, and family portraits from some red and blue scribbles on a table top. Our imaginations are incredibly powerful at a young age, and many of us forget how to use them as we grow older.  I've always liked working with kids, because it reminds me of that beautiful gift we have been given as people. I am lucky to have a job that allows me to be creative and use my imagination everyday. Many of us get stuck in jobs that don't allow for creativity or that have routines that must be followed, day after day. It is important that a child learns that there are daily routines, but they also must have time where structure doesn't exist. A time where they are able to feel a sense of control over their own lives; a time when they make the rules.

During playtime I watch students interact with one another, and I see how important it is to their social development. I watch them help one another, whether they are building a sand castle together or playing house and cooking an ice cream chocolate pizza in the microwave, with un-meltable ice cream (as a student informed me this morning). They are building self confidence through interactions with different children and this is helping them to mature emotionally. Building self confidence is something I would like children to learn as early as possible, because it helps in all aspects of life. Self confident people are more adventurous, they adapt easier to their environment, familiar or foreign, they are better students, they are more prone to behavior that will exhibit leadership, and they will build stronger relationships throughout life.

I am a very happy young adult, and while I take responsibility for the way I feel each day I wake up, I also have to thank my parents for the way I was raised.

From as young as I can remember,  I was always surrounded by many children, and although I was involved with sports, hobbies, and clubs, my parents always gave me tons of free time to play and just act like a child.

They encouraged any outlet that allowed me to be creative, and were always my biggest fans.

They allowed me to have tons of time to spend as I would like, whether it was in my room, creating a whole new world within my dollhouse, or at the neighborhood park, where I would spend the afternoon with my brother, pretending to be indians.  The thing I value most about myself, is my self confidence. I am able to interact with most people, even in situations that would normally be uncomfortable, I have always made friends with ease, and I am able to pick up and move from country to country, traveling alone, and adapting to whatever comes my way.

The person I am today began to take shape at a very young age, and I try and keep that in mind with my students. One day they will be my age, and the habits and behavior they form today will follow them throughout life.

According to evidence from neuroscience research, it is during the ages of birth to six years old that children build the basics for behavior, learning and health. The year that I spend with my three year-olds might just be one calendar year, but for them it is a portion from a very important time in their lives. The things they are learning with me, I would like to believe, will have a significant impact on their development, and so I want to provide them with many opportunities that allow for positive growth.

Through free play they learn others' boundaries, as well as their own, and this is necessary for understanding  interaction with people in any stage of life. They learn to play in a cooperative manner and they learn to share the toys and space involved. They help one another, whether it's holding out a hand when climbing up the slide, or giving their friend a push on the bicycle. During free play they learn teamwork and most importantly, they are able to join their world of imagination with their friend's.

The free play time we give the students at The World should never be viewed as time taken away from the classroom. During free play students are building new knowledge, adventures and friendships through previous experiences. Free play has also been proven to influence their development through thinking, exploring, problem solving and most importantly at an international school, through language expression.