Purposeful Play in the Classroom
Play in the classroom is an easy idea to get behind. The benefits are clear; students are engaged, gaining vital social emotional skills, fostering creativity, and exploring new ideas. Play for a Change defines play as,
“what children and young people do when they follow their own ideas, in their own way and for their own reasons.”
The word that immediately pops into my head after reading that is choice. I am big believer of choice in my classroom. It has always proved worthy of the effort I put into it. I utilize my literacy and math rotations to include as much choice as I can. I try to offer a wide range of activities, some on topic, some review. I also include a big range of ability into those activities. So, any given rotation might contain anywhere from 3 to 7 choices (or more if I’m feeling really crazy). It’s during this time that I sneak in as much play as possible. A math rotation might have include legos, flash card games, addition races etc. A literacy rotation could have a word hunt, sight word board games, compound word puzzles etc. Not to mention the iPad rotation which is always a fan favorite.
The authors of Purposeful Play distinguish four types of play: fantasy play, constructive play, games with rules, and rough and tumble play. Here’s a quick run down:
Fantasy Play: Children choose imaginary scenarios that they then act out.
Constructive Play: Children use materials to create a product.
Games with Rules: Rules are set in order for a game to work. (made up or not)
Rough and Tumble Play: Play fighting, chasing, etc.
The authors argue that when all types of play are offered across the day the benefits of play are strengthened. My rotations often include constructive play and games with rules. P.E. and recess typically include rough and tumble play. So, 3 out of 4 isn’t bad right?
Now, the devils advocate inside of me is saying “that’s not really purposeful play”. And I do agree it isn’t. In a perfect world I would have a designated time for free play in my classroom, but there’s a couple reasons why I don’t: time & storage. I truly don’t know where in the day I can fit in some extra play, and where do I put all of these toys? These might sound like excuses, but until I find some extra time in the day, (and I don’t see that happening soon with the current pandemic) I’ll continue to sneak play into my daily rotations. For now, 3 out of 4 will have to do.
