Thank you, Dr. Lobman for a fascinating lecture! The topic was extremely timely and helped to connect so many of the point made in other lectures in our series. Children need play to learn, grow and make sense of their worlds. When this innate activity is disconnected from learning, children are at great risk for not meeting their potential. Thanks to all who commented on other contextual factors that limit play such as unsafe parks, lack of play areas, and increased reliance on TV. Be sure to share your thoughts and reflections!
Ashley Gomez
Lecture Response
Carrie Lobman expressed that she loves play and the revolutionary. She mentions that learning and development are involved in play. Learning and development are constantly feeding each other. Neither comes first. Sadly, as Lobman stated, society is experiencing a play crisis.
Children are now receiving just twenty-six minutes for lunch and recess combined. They relate to play as growing, as becoming. If there is a decrease in play, how will children perform beyond themselves? When was younger, all I ever did was play. Plenty of time was dedicated to the involvement.
Finally, Carrie Lobman provided the audience with a very inspiring quote, “Play is a second away”. The “Let’s Try Some Play” activity, which had been organized during the lecture, had reminded me of how true that statement is.
Kristina Culotta replied:
Dr. Lobman made so many comments that really got me thinking. She stated that “learning pushes development forward” and that “children do things before they know how to do them.” These concepts are so basic (learning and doing without knowing has been happening since the dawn of time, and since before we scientifically analyzed it) but they are very important when looking at the changes that have occurred in childhood and early learning. Another point she made was that “children under the most devastating situations still find time and ways to play.” Play is so fundamental and such a need for children that they will play no matter what. Her reference to the study done on children’s play in WWII really interested me, and I look forward to reading about it further.
Thank you Dr. Lobman for a fun, and inspirational book talk.
Dr. Lobman’s talk was very inspirational. As a future teacher, it is important to learn the necessities in making sure that a child develops properly. Play is a topic that is very controversial within the school systems. Almost to the point where it is non-existent. One thing she mentioned that really touched me was the way adults go from “yes and” to “yes but” people. As we get older we no longer accept that fact that we can do certain things and we question our motives, perhaps more than necessary. We did a small activity, and it taught me how to accept things and not question every motive. It brought me back into the time frame of what it was like being a child where we did things without hesitation. Another thing I learned was being able to set the stage within any environment we are in. It was as simple as saying “pretend you are sitting in a seat quietly” and although you get them to do the action, you are changing the setting. This talk was very interesting and fun, and confirmed just how important play really is!
Jean Ruiz
Thank you Dr. Lobman for an interesting, inspirational, and motivating talk. I believe all educators should be play revolutionaries like you . I was really astonished when you talk about how children in horrible circumstances can still be able to play , that though never really crossed my mind. Think you for the insight .
Hello Kristina and Ashley, I completely agree with your posts. Prof. Lobman lecture thus far was my favorite. I concur on her main argument that play is essential to development of child. Remembering my childhood and childhood of my sisters (I am the oldest one) play does contribute a lot to the intellectual, physical, societal, and emotional well-being. I also agree with her on the point that play is under disappearance and needs to be saved. Interesting fact, if we think about it, few decades ago children still had lots of time for themselves, yet now if we observe closely all children games or recreational activities are pretty much adult-led or adult-supervised. In this theme, I decided to read on more authors who are like Prof. Lobman are interested in protecting childhood, namely I wanted to add the view of well-known play advocate and expert, Prof. Hutchison from Rowan University.
Play is part of our DNA, Hutchison said. It’s directly connected to brain development. Play “absolutely alchemizes learning, rather than hampers it,” said Hutchison.
True play is unstructured, she said. “It’s messy and it’s child-initiated,” Hutchison said.
“We’ve become a society of helicopter parents,” she added. “We hover over our kids and we don’t want them to get hurt, when actually, the opposite happens. By allowing them to go onto the playground and get scraped knees and even broken arms, they learn what they can do and what they can’t do.”
the quote didn’t appear correctly at first:
“Play is part of our DNA, Hutchison said. It’s directly connected to brain development. Play “absolutely alchemizes learning, rather than hampers it,” said Hutchison.
True play is unstructured, she said. “It’s messy and it’s child-initiated,” Hutchison said.
“We’ve become a society of helicopter parents,” she added. “We hover over our kids and we don’t want them to get hurt, when actually, the opposite happens. By allowing them to go onto the playground and get scraped knees and even broken arms, they learn what they can do and what they can’t do.”” (Prof. Hutchinson)
I really liked Dr. Lobman’s talk about play. Play is an important factor in a child’s life and in this generation it is drastically going away and hiding. Play nowadays is not a big factor and it needs to be. Play helps a child develop the meaning of learning and growing up. I also really liked how she made all of us get up and played a game by only saying “Yea and…”, this help all of us to continue a play without even noticing it and not realizing we weren’t able to stop such a play that we developed and it also got us to get to know one another if we did not know the person we was talking too.
I really enjoyed Dr. Lobman’s talk, she exuded so much passion and energy into the discussion and I believe she is an inspiration to the cause of early childhood development. Like my peers, I too was intrigued by “children do things before they know how to do them,” a theory first proposed by Vygotsky, that shows the importance of play and the necessity it is for children to be able to do. I had never thought about it in those terms; children do talk before they can talk, walk before they can walk, and constantly imitate and pretend what life is to them and this is detrimental in their development. Because so many parents have become “hovering parents” as Dr. Lobman claimed, they have the habit of over protecting their children in a way that is not healthy for the child or the parent, resulting in a child that is not exploring their developmental needs through play. Also just to put this out there, playing has a new meaning for the 21st century child, playing used to be going outside and running around with other kids your age, scraping your knees, getting dirty, causing a little trouble. Now a days parents are too afraid to let their children outside by themselves because of horrible stories that are retold every day on the news, and although these stories are tragic and frightening, the results of negative stories in the media caused playing to more than likely take place in doors on an iPad, computer, cell phones, among other technical devices. Dr. Lobman’s talk was extraordinary and the part where she encouraged us to interact with one another and make up a story was refreshing and fun.
I must say that Dr. Lobman’s talk which explained the role of play and performance in development was very interesting and informative. She stated that we were in the middle of a play crisis; this included learning that children only get 26 mins of play a day in school, and that includes lunch, which in turn has a negative and long standing effect on children in poorer families because no the children have less time for play. During play children play and develop and once that is gone, what will children be left with. Dr. Lobman delved in to the theory of Vygotsky, where one of his beliefs if that children develop within culture and as a result learning pushes culture. She also stated that children do things before they know how to do them and that knowing in not a prerequisite for doing; i thought that analysis was very true to form. Piaget, Freud and Erickson were all theorist who believed that play has great advantages on development and therefore the lack of play should be taken much more seriously as a growing epidemic and the long term effects would be dire. Dr. Lobman declares that she is a play revolutionary and listening to her speak made me think about fighting harder for children’s play in school.
I really enjoyed Dr. Lobman’s Book Talk. She was so inspiring, passionate and full of energy. Play in children’s lives is vital in their development. Play and child development go hand in hand. She mentioned poverty is a devastating effect on hope for some and how there is a tremendous gap between the rich and poor and how this affects our children’s education. Sadly, I agree. On a lighter note, I really enjoyed the play and performance part. This allows children and adults create our lives in a different way from the norm. Again, I really enjoyed this book talk. Thank you Dr. Lobman
Dr. Lobman is a self-proclaimed Play Revolutionary who is passionate in her mission to spread the importance of play through her research, books and lectures. Her lecture was very interesting and thought provoking as she used theorist such as Vygotsky as her guide to express how children “do” before they actually “know how.” In this case, play is critical factor to development! She also discussed the importance of play environments and the fact that children will adapt to there surroundings to fulfill their basic needs for play. She mentioned a poignant, sobering photograph of Jewish children playing inside of a concentration camp.
Dr. Lobman’s lecture also touched on the educator’s responsibility in terms of making sure children’s need for play are met while being “playful” without feeling uncomfortable. To stress the importance of play for adults, getting her audience involved, Dr. Lobman introduced us to the “Yes, and…” game. I must say that the entire lecture was a very informative and fun!
Dr. Lobman’s booktalk was so enlightening, inspiring, and gave me hope that one day I may be able to leave an impact ona child’s life the way Dr. Lobman did on me. I think of the things that stayed on my mind was the “Yes and…” It reminded me that we as adults are so caught up with our everyday lives we forget to let loose. She also mentioned how the average child’s lunch break is roughly 26 minutes which I found surprising. How can the most important part of the day to a child, be the shortest? I truly enjoyed Dr. Lobman’s lecture. Thank you!
I would like to thanks Dr. Lobman for such a great lecture. The issue that you discussed was very interesting, and I agree with you since I wrote my advocacy paper on the same issue. I also think that the way you talk and the way you managed the lecture was very enjoyable, especially when you made us participate in the middle of your discussion, it made me feel as art of the lecture. I also had the opportunity to read your book, which is very interesting and it was very helpful for my advocacy paper.
I would like to thank Dr. Lobman for such an informative talk on the importance of play as well as her insight and passion for the topic. Play is definitely an important part of any child’s growing process, play can be looked as the gateway for children branching off into there own characters and learning how the world works from their own points of view. I also agreed with the statement made by Dr. Lobman about children not receiving enough time to play during recess/lunchtime in my opinion it’s critical that children are given enough time to eat let their food digest and engage in play most importantly a time to debrief from the work overload they receive in class.
I have to thanks Dr Lobman for a great lecture that not only allow me to think outside the box, but also gave me information that will help me in the future. She spoke about the importance of play and I think many of us do think that the role of play is important, but perhaps never thought it would be that important. Play is important in everyone life. I think that in all it doesn’t matter the age, because play sometimes can be a stress free technique.
I also enjoy the game she played with us because sometimes we need that ice breaker and I think she did just that. Her book is another interesting reading that gives you the information needed to understand play and its role.Oh and the video was cutie and real. We have to understand that not everything has to happen as we plan or the way it should be. The video show us that even when we don’t understand what the babies are saying, communication is still happening. Personally I think the society we are living today has try to neglect the fact that play is important and focus on other things that they feel is important.
Thanks Dr Lobman for an interesting lecture that not only gave me ides but also gave me the opportunity to see and define play in a whole different level.
I enjoyed listening to Dr. Lobman lecture it was by far the most interesting one to me, and the one that I mostly understand without saying “huh!”. I agree 100% that play for children is so important, because that’s how children learn through play. Dr. Lobman pointed out some interesting points she mentioned “lost of play, Play crisis, fewer opportunies to play”. It’s so true especially in preschool it is so much paper work where we as teachers don’t even have a opportunity to engage in play with the children. Programs are cutting the playtime for children which is not far. How are the children suppose to learn the skills they need to develop appropriately for their age if play time is being cut short. What I also realize is if schools are giving children only 26 minutes for play but within this 26 minutes it includes walking to lunchroom, eating and then recess what happen to the physical part of working the lunch off after eating. Here in a preschool setting especially half day they trying to squeeze 1 hour play for outdoor play, and 45 minutes for area play. The half day class I use to work in was 8:30-11:30am. I believe parents should also be responsible more with engaging in play with their children.
What also caught my attention was when Dr.Lobman mentioned that the poorer you are the less time you play. I believe it’s true in this day and age, because as she mentioned upper class& middle class families have the monies to play for their children to attend swimming lessons, gymnastics, sports camp, cheer camp, as for us families less fortunate are unable to do those types of activites, so we find the next best thing send our children to the nearest park, and pray they will return by the curfew time we set.
Thank you Dr.Lobman for giving me more insight on children and why it’s so important for them to play as well as us as adults.
I enjoyed this lecture so much. My advocacy paper was on the importance of play, so although my paper was already complete, I noticed a lot of information that was in my paper and more that should have been included. Dr Lobman is so passionate about her work and calling her self a “revolutionary” was quite comically and encouraging. Working with child, I know how crucial play time is for all ages and hopefully this lecture opened up the idea to more people then before.