I observed from 8-8:30 on (3-17-09) in front of the school as the children were waiting to get into the school. This age range was from 4-14 (the whole school) and the only equipment around was a bench that all of the adults were sitting on and the lines in the pavement. Today, the students were all VERY excited because it was St. Patrick's day, so they were all dressed for the day of excitement. Throughout this observation, all of the children were playing with each other no matter what the age. I also noticed that siblings were sticking together. One family with a 7th grader, a 4th grader, and a kindergartner were all playing together. This area was very interesting to observe because it was a mix of ages, mix of genders, mix of ethnicity (Caucasian, African American, Asian American and Latino.)
The only main observations that I made from this is that the students will play with each other no matter where they are or what they have to do. The mixed ranges of age were playing tag/chase with each other and the different poles were if you got caught or if you were hiding. Their imagination with a pole and pavement was very inspiring because that proves that they do not need equipment to have to play with each other.
With a group of both male and females and from the age of 5-12, there was a tag game with a leprechaun chasing after them and if they got caught they had to go to the pot of gold which was the garbage can. Overall, all of the age groups had room to play whatever game that they felt they wanted to and through the different ages playing together, both the young and the old learned something. The older children would guide the children in the ways to be safe etc, while the younger children had so much creativity that it really expanded what their game was.
Overall, this open plot of pavement really allowed children to pick what they were going to play and how they were going to play it and gave them the freedom that they needed to understand what they are doing to make this game their own.
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The openness of the pavement is a great resource that a lot of people overlook. Due to it being basically a lot of nothing, children are able to express themselves and use their imaginations. They do not always need equipment and prompts in order to have a good time. I also liked that you said the children didn't care about age or ethnicity. A lot of times children don't discriminate unless they are conditioned to do so so when they were given the free chance to play whatever with whoever, it seems like they took it upon themselves to just have fun. I noticed the same thing when I observed in the open field full of snow. Everyone played together and created a larger game as it progressed.
ReplyDeleteI never would have thought of this as a play environment, Katie - I'm glad you included it so my eyes could be opened even further regarding the great lengths children will go to in order to create fun for themselves.
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