Play As Education

Marion County Public School Early Childhood Educators Engage in Play and Art-Making at Kinderoo Childrens’ Center, Ocala Florida

Self active play is a form of play education. As with other types of “education”, such as “mathematics education” or “science education”. “Play education” is the practice of teaching and learning about play and its many varied applications and benefits for human development.

Following play with paints teachers journaled about their experience:

Tina: I first thought I was going to make a painting of the ocean with crashing waves. I picked up the paint brush and my mind went to flowers. I painted wild flowers with the hot sun shining on them. It was a lovely journey.

In this three minute video you see the vitality of teachers as they relax, investigate and uncover different approaches to playing with tempera paints,…simply making marks, fiddling, letting go and enjoying the adventure of playing with paints and enjoying the process of spontaneously expressing themselves freely intuitively.

Emily: I really enjoyed painting. The music playing in the background made me feel relaxed. I notice after while my mind stopped thinking of other things and I started to sing along to the music in my head. Once that happened I started to get more creative and came up with more things to add. It was peaceful to just let my mind relax and focus on the freedom of expression in my painting.

Ceci: When collecting the paint and tools I began to think about Spring break. I got to thinking about our trip to the Keys! My favorite spots and most fondest memories there! I painted the sunrise in Islamorada. It reminds me of happy beach or fishing trips with my family. I painted 2 large pink octopus because it is my favorite sea creature and the pink octopus stands for the 1st trip my daughter took to the keys at two months old,…my hubs bought her an oversized octopus…she loves it still to this day!