What is going on in these photos?
Pretty obviously they are photos of kids playing and having fun. But there is much, much more happening beyond the obvious.
Who is in charge of the play in each case? Again it is fairly obvious – the kids themselves are. This makes what they are doing free or unstructured play. The absence of adults or older children is a strong pointer to this. But this does not mean that adults cannot be involved in free play, Not at all. Who’s in charge is what matters; if it’s the kids, then its free play.
It’s unstructured play of this kind, especially if it is in nature, that I place at the core of an authentic childhood.
Stay with me as I probe deeper into the play activities in the photos to see why.
Perhaps the simplest activity is the game of chasings in the top photo. This is an example of what is called rough-and-tumble or locomotor play. Simple it may look, the game is actually quite complex. Think about the skills involved. There are motor skills such as running, turning, ducking under and climbing over obstacles and the social skills needed to organise the game in the first place. Dr Madeline Levine suggests that “Kids can learn more from a game of chase than from a week of leadership camp”. They certainly learn valuable lessons about their physical capabilities, about themselves more generally and about the fun to be had from exercising those capabilities.
The girl fishing for tadpoles (or whatever) in the second photo is engaged in what is technically called object play. The object in this case, the fishing net, is enabling her to engage the environment in a way that is enormously beneficial. The attending and exploring she is doing are stimulating chemicals in her brain that activate curiosity and improve learning efficiency. Beyond simply having “fun”, the youngster is actually making herself smarter.
The toddler in the third photo is doing much the same as he investigates the leaves, sticks and rocks encountered on his walk. Both children may well be on the way to discovering areas of interest that may someday blossom into passions. In the ranks of great scientists, there are many who trace their achievements to interests born in childhood nature play. Joseph Banks, one of world’s foremost botanists, is a case in point. He attributed his passion for plants to his wildflower rambles as a child.
I hope the fourth photo takes you back to your childhood and memories of building and playing in cubbies. The children in the photo are taking part in a mixture of social and pretend play – both absolutely essential for healthy development. They are learning how to work together, to share, to negotiate, to resolve conflicts and to advocate for themselves. They are creating and exploring a world they can master and very likely practising adult roles.
The powerful contribution of pretend play to children’s development is well documented. It fosters creative thinking and imaginative reasoning and is associated with the enrichment of both receptive and expressive language.
The fifth picture reminds us that risk-taking is part of play. Apart from exercising his balance and co-ordinatioin skills, the boy is learning about challenges and his ability to meet them. He is exploring physical and mental boundaries, conquering fears perhaps, building confidence and developing resilience in the process.
Stuart Brown, a psychiatrist and leading investigator of play, has found that deprivation of free play in childhood is associated later in life with lack of empathy, mental rigidity, diminished curiosity, workaholism, addictions, joylessness, anxiety and “smouldering” depression. Even more alarming is his observation that a common feature of the early lives of the hundreds of serial killers and murderers he has studied was few opportunities for free play and combined sometimes with perverted and cruel forms of play.
Another important point that Brown constantly emphasises is that human beings are one of the few species that are playful throughout the lifecycle. This means that adults and children can participate in play together. What a happy thought – families can engage in nature play together! If you want ideas about how to engage in nature play with children in your life, you might like to see what I have to say about this in my books, Claim Your Wildness and A Day in the Bush.
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