My first LIVE online gig for nearly two years. Grab it, quick!
1,000 words on just how easy it is for the word 'play' to be subsumed by other agendas and disapeer.
"This pushing aside of the word play has a long history and it tends to happen when the topic of play meets another, usually more powerful agenda. The word play becomes subsumed by that agenda and disappears which by default trivialises play into a lesser-importance."
1,000 words about where loose parts should best be left to get the most from them. It's largely about the word serendipity and a dead German biologist. The second of a two-part blog.
a \‘shȯrt-rēd’\ piece
"Whether we acknowledge it or not, when we adults gather specific materials together and place them in a context that we have pre-decided, like the tabletop, then we have both reduced the variety and the possible combinations available."
900 words about the confusion some find over using loose parts and how that relates to 'open-endedness'. The first of a two-part blog.
"By definition an object, whether a loose part or not, cannot be ‘open-ended’."
900 words about the deep suspicion there appears to be for 'play' in the American kindergarten classroom.
"Restricting particular types of play, or learning, into a predesignated ‘corner’, ‘area’ or ‘station’ is like putting a wild animal in a cage and thinking that’s helpful. It’s not."
"I can see the reasoning behind saying play is the child’s equivalent of work … but it isn’t, and saying it is doesn’t help."
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a \'lɒŋ- rēd'\ piece
An 1,800 word piece that points out that those who don't know their history are doomed to make the mistakes of the past. So, this piece links the topics of play and history together and traces a line of thought through some significant names.
A PDF version of this essay is available in the text.
