Child Led Play = Learning

This past weekend, I had the opportunity to attend the Southern Utah Early Childhood Collaboration Conference in Cedar City.  Denita Dinger was invited to be the guest speaker and she shared a lot of good information about the importance of child-led open ended play.  Below is a list of words she shared that is the "Important Stuff" found in play...

Asking	Discriminating	Kicking	Pretending	Trying
Comparing	Deciphering	Leading	Questioning	Testing
Compromising	Exploring	Laughing	Reasoning	Tracking
Compassion	Expressing	Loving	Rationing	Understanding
Control	Failing	Manipulating	Relationships	Visualizing
Comprehending	Grabbing	Moving	Realizing	Volunteering
Collaborating	Grasping	Mimicking	Running	Walking
Causing	Giving	Observing	Rolling	Waiting
Challenging	Hopping	Objecting	Role Playing	Watching
Creating	Holding	Organizing	Showing	Wondering
Climbing	Imagining	Planning	Struggling
Crawling	Investigating	Participating	Succeeding
Coordinating	Joking	Practicing	Strengthening
Discovering	Jumping	Polishing	Solving

And there are many more words that could be used to describe children's play!  Isn't it amazing all the different things your child can learn through play?

Photo Credit

Denita went on to share five tips when it comes to open play:

1. Control your Stuff.  You must know what stuff you have and where it is so you can grab it at any time.  As children are playing and learning, they may ask for something to add to their play that will also expand their learning and you need to know where to find it!  
2. Plopper! Plopper (noun):  Anything that is placed in a child's environment with zero adult direction, demonstration or expectation.  Giving your child a new item and allowing them to explore different ways to play with it is a great way for them to learn.  Avoid showing them how to use it.  
3. Stellar Reactor.  By allowing your child to lead the play, they will try different "wonder if" techniques.  Allow your child to explore and try different methods.  By doing so, they learn how to react to problems and conflicts
4. Tongue Biter!  This is the hardest one for adults.  It would be so easy for us to swoop in and solve any problem that comes up.  Like said in #2, plop and then step back.  Allow your child to discover a method that works for them.  Don't try and show them the "correct" way.
5. Dissector of Play.  Observe your child while they play.  Do you see what they are doing?  They are learning!  Now's the time for you to sit back and enjoy watching your children play.

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What kinds of things do you like to give your kids to play with during open play time?

-Jodi