My Connections to Play

Quotes that summarize my playtime as a child

"Life must be lived as play."
Plato
Retrieved from http://www.thestrong.org/about-play/play-quotes

"Imagination is more important than knowledge. For knowledge is limited, whereas imagination embraces the entire world, stimulating progress, giving birth to evolution."

Albert Einstein 
Retrieved from http://www.csmonitor.com/Books/2012/0313/Albert-Einstein-15-great-quotes-on-his-birthday/Imagination-is-power



"Play is the highest form of research."   
Albert Einstein    
Retrieved from  http://www.joyofquotes.com/play_quotes.html

 "…play produces feelings of pleasure which help you escape from two major creativity killers – stress and self-consciousness."   
Jordan Ayan    
Retrieved from http://www.joyofquotes.com/play_quotes.html




How people in my life helped to support play

Some of my favorite memories are built around playing. My family and I would have a game night about once a week. We would turn the television off and would spend the evening playing board games and card games as a family. It was a great way for our family to play together and spend quality time with one another.

I also remember always being outside playing. The only time that I would be inside the house playing was when the it was late or the weather would not permit me to go outside. I would spend hours upon hours riding my bicycle with neighborhood friends, playing on the neighborhood playing, climbing trees, or just pretending to be anything I wanted to be. 

As I grew up, my style of playing had changed. I went from playing with the neighborhood children to playing ball with my teammates. In middle school, high school, and college my play revolved around sports. I loved playing basketball and soccer and everything that I did was built around becoming better at my sports. I would spend hours playing hoops with my father or kicking a soccer ball around with my brother.

The similarities and differences from my playtime and playtime for today's generation

When observing children in today's generation playing I can tell that they still enjoy using their imagination. I would hardly go an minute without using my imagination. I do not think there is a big age gap between my generation and today's generation of children, but there is a big playing gap. 

As a child I was always playing outside, and when I couldn't be outside playing my parents had a small trampoline in the house that I could jump on. I always wanted to be moving and doing something. One of the biggest differences that I have noticed from my childhood that is missing in a lot of my students childhood, is the desire to just play without the assistance of some form of technology. Don't get me wrong, I loved playing on my Nintendo when it was raining. It is sad to see how unsafe and corrupt the neighborhoods have become. When I was a girl we could play out in the streets for hours without having the parents watching every move. Today's generation rarely get to have that privilege.


The role of play throughout my life

Playing has helped me to stay focused and on task when needed. As a child I would play just for the pure pleasure of playing. It was enjoyable and helped me to meet new friends. As I grew my playing turned into sports, which taught me a lot of life lessons. Through the sports I have learned self-discipline, unity, teamwork, winning, losing, and so much more. Now that I am not involved in childhood playing or sport teams, I  go to the gym to shoot a basketball and play one on one with my husband. When I pick up a basketball, all of the days stresses and worries just melt away for the brief moment of time.  So many times I get focused on the tasks that are due tomorrow that I end up missing the beauty of the moment. Playing helps me to relax and to enjoy that moment.