Sounds Easy Enough…

[Open-Ended Play Series-Part 2]

Part 1      Part 2     Part 3

{My little 'minute men' spontaneously re-enacting in anticipation Independence Day while I made dinner!}

So, just letting our children play and explore the world around us sounds easy enough, right?!?!? Although it sounds simple, our culture of consumerism, hectic schedules and competition all compete to crowd out the opportunity for children to grow in this.

I’ve thought of three ways we can help facilitate and protect free-play:

1. protect free-time
2. don’t micro-manage
3. keep it simple

Protecting Free-Time: I think this is so critical. We need to JEALOUSLY guard our children’s free-time. Creative, open-ended play requires time. It is not something that happens in little 15 minute time-segments. We need to be careful to protect our children’s schedules and allow them time to explore.

It helps me to actually “schedule” blocks of time where nothing is planned. I also try to be observant on their patterns of play and not interrupt them and move them on to something else if they appear to be engaged in what they are doing.  This is especially true in the very early years.

As our children get older we need to use discretion as there are responsibilities to get chores done and certain formal school subjects completed on a daily basis. I remember my mom telling a story from our homeschooling days when she had planned out this beautiful, hands-on, playful lesson plan for metamorphosis which is what we were currently learning about.  We had a friend over to play that day (which never stopped her from still doing the fun aspects of our schooling) and when she came in to call us to the learning adventure she had mapped out, she found us all in full costume, designing and putting on a play.  We were so enthralled with our production and enthusiastically getting everything ready, that she wisely put off her 'educational plans' for the afternoon and instead sat down to be the audience for our production.

Two Caveats:
When it comes to protecting free-time, if children aren't used to having free-time without anything scheduled, they might complain about being bored...  Boredom isn’t necessarily a bad thing. It forces the mind to think of something creative to do. When we were young, you NEVER mentioned being bored in our home. Why? Girls who complained of being bored were always assigned more chores. We learned quickly. It worked as intended and we were diligent to find something, anything to do… The results were many delightful experiences that we would have otherwise missed if our mom had given in and let us veg in front of the TV like we were begging for.  It will take a little effort and maybe some creativity on your part to help nudge them in the right direction of using their imaginations, but I promise you it is well worth the effort!

And finally, television is a big killer of free-play. My boys’ creativity takes a nose-dive if they have become accustomed to watching movies.  It becomes a crutch and they can’t think of anything else to do. Limiting this helps give more time for open-ended, creative play!