Play (activity)

“ The Infant School of Wilderspin, already briefly described, was almost a dead thing, with its galleries and its mechanical prodigies, its object-lessons and its theology; now it was breathed upon by the spirit of the man who said: "Play is the highest phase of child development, of human development at this period: for it is the spontaneous representation of the inner, from inner necessity and impulse." "Play is the purest, most spiritual activity of man." "The plays of childhood are the germinal leaves of all later life." ”

“ It is rather a sort of make-believe activity of all the instincts. Kittens and dogs may be seen in play to mimic fighting. They bite and chew each other as in real fighting, but still they are not fighting.
As the structures and organs of children mature, they demand activity. This early activity is called play. It has several characteristics. The main one is that it is pleasurable. Play activity is pleasurable in itself. We do not play that we may get something else which we like, as is the case with the activity which we call work. Play is an end in itself. ”

“ CHAPTER XVIII GAINING EXPERIENCE BY PLAY "The Second Principle is that the method of gaining experience lies through Play and that by this road we can best reach work."
Play is marked off from work chiefly by the absence of any outside pressure, and pleasure in the activity is the characteristic of play pure and simple: if a child has forced upon him a hint of any ulterior motive that may be in the mind of his teacher, the pleasure is spoilt for him and the intrinsic value of the play is lost. ”

“ First, the play spirit advocated as one of the greatest educational factors must not be limited to the merely physical activities, nor should it be considered synonymous with what is easy. This characterization of play as being the aimless trivial physical activities of a little child is a misconception of the whole play tendency. It has already been pointed out that any activity which in itself satisfies, whether that be physical, emotional, or intellectual, is play, and all these phases of human activity show themselves in play first. ”

“ Think of the play of children too young to go to school, for in such spontaneous activity, not yet enriched by invention or tradition, we have the kernel of the whole question. For a series of years we find life virtually controlled by play. Before systematic education begins, the child’s whole existence, except the time devoted to sleeping and eating, is occupied with play, which thus becomes the single, absorbing aim of his life. ”

“ One of the chief values of play comes from its activity aspect. We are essentially motor beings. We grow and develop only through exercise. In early life we do not have to exert ourselves to get a living. Play is nature’s means of giving our organs the exercise which they must have to bring them to maturity. Play is an expression of the universal tendency to action in early life. Without play, the child would not develop, would not become a normal human being. ”

“ The conditions under which an activity occurs, its concomitants, and the attitude of the individual performing it determine whether it is play or work--not its source or root.
Much, then, of what we call play is simply the manifestation of instincts and capacities not immediately useful to the child. If they were immediately useful, they would probably be put under the head of work, not play. Many of the activities which seem playful to us and not of immediate service do so because of the conditions of civilized life. ”

“ The effect of ordinary play is supported by social imitation. To do what the others do, and so get the advantage of the stimulus which belongs to collective activity; to thrill with the feeling that moves the masses; to get out of the narrow circle of one’s own desires and efforts—these the child learns with his playmates, and the grown man in æsthetic sports and in festive gatherings. ”

“ Johnson also claims in this article that play is a preparation for future serious occupations, and cites the play of kittens or young dogs as an example. But observation seems to teach us that in many cases the play activity seems to be a rehearsal of race instinct, as in the hunting and fighting games of boys. ”

“ The keynote of play is freedom, freedom of physical activity, and mental initiative. In play the child makes his own plans, his imagination has free rein, originality is in demand, and constructive ability is placed under tribute. Here are developed a thousand tendencies which would never find expression in the narrow treadmill of labor alone. The child needs to learn to work; but along with his work must be the opportunity for free and unrestricted activity, which can come only through play. ”

“ In passing to our second question we must touch upon that connecting link between work and play which we call occupation. The hobbies of adults furnish voluntary activity like play, which is undertaken chiefly from the pleasure it affords, but often has aims outside the sphere of play. ”

“ Most of the original tendencies involved in play are not peculiar to it, but also are the source of work. Manifestation results in making "mud pies and apple pies"; physical activity results in the kicking, squirming, and wriggling of the infant and the monotonous wielding of the hammer of the road mender. ”

“ In children there is a strong temptation to dreaming, or what is called wool-gathering, and dawdling. In this point of view games are invaluable. By games I mean real play, not lessons in disguise, which children are sure to find out. Play is a provision of nature and involves freedom as well as activity. ”

“ When fairly remote results of a definite character are foreseen and enlist persistent effort for their accomplishment, play passes into work. Like play, it signifies purposeful activity and differs not in that activity is subordinated to an external result, but in the fact that a longer course of activity is occasioned by the idea of a result. ”

“ We need more careful study on the part of teachers of children’s games, and more planning that all may secure the benefits which come from this sort of activity. In the schoolroom, wherever it is possible, the spirit of play should pervade the work. There will be cases enough where results will depend upon the exercise of authority. Let us never forget that the reaction of play may mean just as valuable results as the reaction of necessity, and that the ideal life is the one in which all work is play. ”

“ The play activities must follow along the line of the developing instincts and capacities. As the nerve tracts governing certain responses become ready to act, these responses become the controlling ones in play. So it is that for a time play is controlled largely by the instinct of manipulation, at another time physical activity combined with competition is most prominent, at another period imagination controls, still later the puzzle-solving tendency comes to the point followed by all the games involving an intellectual factor. ”

“ First, plays must be arranged in a sequence which will follow the natural order of children’s development, and when this play course is properly organized, children must be given training in play. The training should be of the same kind as that given in any line, namely, such as to stimulate self-activity and full utilization of the teacher’s suggestions. Specialists in the field have found it advantageous to revive folk games and to call attention to the interest which children exhibit in festivals and dramatic representations. ”

“ The more the awakening of this impulse threatens to force itself upon the child's attention, the more necessary is it to bring into play the measured activity of other faculties and interests. We think here as much of methods of æsthetic culture, reading, and the theatre, as of bodily sports and games. ”

“ This book is an attempt to gather together certain recognised principles, and to show in the light of actual experience how these may be applied to existing circumstances.
The day is coming when all teachers will seek to understand the true value of Play, of spontaneous activity in all directions. Its importance is emphasised in nearly all the educational writings of the day, as well in the Senior as in the Junior departments of the school, but we need a full and deep understanding of the saying, "Man is Man only when he plays." ”

“ Two children will play with the same number of toys for a longer time, without tiring, than if they were alone;—and three or four would, in the same proportion, increase the interest and prolong the season of activity. ”

“ But it is still usual to regard this activity as a specially marked-off stage of childish growth, and to overlook the fact that the difference between play and what is regarded as serious employment should be not a difference between the presence and absence of imagination, but a difference in the materials with which imagination is occupied. ”

“ By the play instinct, I mean that which prompts the young child or animal to its chief activities for the first part of its active life, as well as to those activities to which adults turn for recreation. Play is associated in the child's mind with fun, and with independent activities. The more the play is controlled and demanded of the child, the less is it play and the more is it work. ”

“ But the phrase of “play” meant more to him than all this. Play is diversion: exertion of the mind as well as of the body. There is such a thing as mental play as well as physical play. We ask of play that it shall rest, refresh, exhilarate. ”

“ Spend my time in play when there are things to be done?"
"We think it best to balance the mind's work with the mind's ability to play. You'll find that our fun and games are just as advanced as are our aims and our day's work. ”

“ Whatever be the correct theory of play—that it is practice in the line of future methods of conduct, that it is simply the discharge of the surplus energy of the young, or that it is for the purpose of relaxation and recreation only—whatever theory be adopted, the inestimable value of play to the child and to the nation cannot be gainsaid. Play is an irrepressible method of self-expression.... ”

“ Exercise habits and a spirit of fair play must be a part of their training from the early school days. There is no better way of inculcating these lessons than through story plays and games during their first school years. ”

“ Then there is the conception of play as the utilisation in art of the superfluous energies left unemployed in the practical work of life; this enlarging and harmonising function of play, while in the lower ranges it may be spent trivially, leads in the higher ranges to the production of the most magnificent human achievements. But there is yet a third conception of play, according to which it exerts a direct internal influence—health-giving, developmental, and balancing—on the whole organism of the player himself. ”

“ Play is more than recreation. If its educational significance is real in the kindergarten period, it is real in every subsequent stage of growth and development. Rightly conceived, play is a most efficient method of education for life, for work, for social service. ”

“ His idea may be well expressed in his own words,—“I can convert children’s activities, energies, amusements, occupations, all that goes by the name of play, into instruments for my purpose, and therefore transform play into work. ”

“ Hence, as these movements are of more decided character than those of infancy, “games”—which merely represent play with a purpose—are naturally indulged in. The young child does not “play” aimlessly and listlessly, as is too often supposed. ”

“ Coming now to active play, we find here, too, in the region which seems to owe its very existence to the childish instinct of enjoyment, traces of the same seriousness. For most children, one suspects, play would become a tame thing were there not the fearful to conjure with. The favourite play-haunts, the dark corners under the table, behind the curtains, and so forth, show what a vital element of play is supplied by the excitement of the state of half-dread. ”

“ Play, like other instincts, besides serving the present, looks in two directions, into the past and into the future. From the past come the shadowy interests which, taking form from the touch of our environment, determine the character of the play activities. From the future come the premonitions of the activities that are to be. The boy adjusting himself to the requirements of the game, seeking control over his companions or giving in to them, is practicing in miniature the larger game which he will play in business or profession a little later. ”

“ The periods of confinement to any one mode of action in the very young, and especially mental action, must be short; and they must alternate frequently with other modes. That rapid succession of bodily movements and of mental ideas, and the emotions mingling and alternating with them, which constitutes what children call play, must be regarded not simply as an indulgence, but as a necessity for them. The play must be considered as essential as the study, and that not merely for the very young but for all, up to the age of maturity. ”

“ The excitement of play, we have said, is one chief means which Nature employs for the cultivation of this faculty, and it is peculiarly worthy of attention by the Educationist. Every one must have observed the strong desire which children have, during their more exhilarating games, to exercise their lungs by shouting, and calling out, and giving direction, encouragement, or reproof, to their companions. ”