Making, and Playing, and Kids... Oh my!

This past Saturday was really fun, getting to hang out with the kids and watch what they created. I've been trying to process it all and think about themes or even case studies that stood out to me. For now- I'll make a list.

- It was interesting to me how every kid seemed to undergo a different process to create. I noticed that some of our friends found items arbitrarily and collected them solely based (at least it seems to me) on aesthetic value, texture, or function. After they collected their items they decided what they would make. There were others who found a couple of objects as inspiration for what to make, and went ahead and started their creation rather than collect all of their materials first. They would create, then go back to the table for more supplies, go back and keep working, etc.

- It was interesting that to me one of our friends made things solely for others at the start. The first 2-3 items she made were for someone else, not for herself.

- Some of the kids made things that have usefulness in a normative sense (a scale, a doll, a dollhouse, a puppet), and others who made more imaginative creations (a rain maker, a roller coaster, a bed). 

- Every single kid made something different to start. Only after one friend made a rain stick did then others copy her. But even still, everyone made something original.

- Few kids asked for help in coming up with something to create; in fact, no one that I know of asked for help. One friend got help because he didn't seem to be making anything, but overall I saw and heard no kid ask what should I make? Rather, all of the help asked for was more for practical help- like cutting this or holding that. 

I'm sure there is so much more that I could talk about, but for now, these are the things that really stood out to me.  

Imaginary Play

This is PLAY.

Playing Fate

So, I'm posting late. ARG! I have a good reason though- I spent the past three days in Las Vegas with my husband! I had never been to Vegas, and Justin had a conference, so it was a good excuse to go.

Monday was his birthday, so it was really nice to be together. We walked the strip, which was beautiful and horrific all at the same time. I felt very conflicted the whole time we were there. On the one hand, you have some beautiful buildings, interesting architecture, and people (like us) who gamble purely for entertainment, and therefore know when to stop. But then, on the other hand, you have men peddling pictures of half-naked women who more than likely aren't in the business because they want to be, homeless people who have nothing, and people who are gambling their lives away, all in hope of hitting that one jackpot. It's a really difficult position to be in. I wasn't sure how to feel, or if I could/should enjoy myself? It made me think a lot about our discussions about how one person's "play" can be so detrimental to another person- and is that then really play?

However, I did enjoy playing the penny slots. I won nothing, but only lost $10. Overall, I did enjoy being with my husband and seeing a new city.

Celebrations and Play

This past weekend was filled with gathering surrounding celebrations and traditions. It all started on Friday. Our church, Redeemer Community Church, held a Good Friday service. It was somber, yet beautiful, remembering the death of Jesus. I sang and read Scripture. While this wasn't really play, I did enjoy the service, as it made me remember and ponder my faith.

After the service, we had a birthday party for my good friend Erin at the Irish Lion. We had such fun laughing and celebrating her. This is how I typically think of play- eating good food, drinking good beer, and socializing with friends.

On Saturday, we had a lingerie shower for my friend Emily, who is getting married in May. I was one of the hostesses, so I spent most of the morning baking and decorating. The shower was a great success- lots of people came, Emily got some great gifts ;), and the food was delicious. Again, this fits with my typical view of play.

On Sunday, we had our Easter gathering at church. I run our kids ministry, and we had 40 kids- we normally have about 20 kids. While it was a bit stressful, it was also really fun. After church, we had a pitch-in lunch. Again, this fit in to my traditional view of play.

I guess what I loved about this weekend was how many rhetorics of play I experienced (not sure if that's the correct word). Each experience had seemed to have elements of play that were shared, and other elements of play that were unique to that particular experience. It's amazing how this semester has broadened my view of play and made me think about how so much of life is play, if you view it that way.

Anxious Play

This past Saturday I went to the Little 500 Qualifying Races. My husband coaches a team, the Christian Student Fellowship Men's team. The weather was beautiful, and the excitement at the track is contagious.

I started the day cheering on my friend Kath, who rides for Theta's team. She's an INCREDIBLE athlete, and an amazing cyclist. I had so much fun watching her compete, but I also felt a lot of nervousness and anxiety while she was actually racing. Especially when they have to do those exchanges! AH! So terrifying!!! But, despite the anxiety, I really had a blast.

Later, watching Justin's team compete, I felt anxious not just for the boys but also for Justin. I know how much they have trained and how hard they have worked, and I was so nervous that they wouldn't do well.

This made me think about anxiety, worry, nerves, anticipation, and play. I felt like I had a playful experience on Saturday, as well as enjoying the day, but I also felt quite a bit of anxiety. Throughout the day I used the word stressed, but I'm not quite sure that's what I was feeling. It might just be semantics, but it seems to me that there's a difference between feeling anxious and nervous and stressed. I don't know that I can think of a situation where I felt stressed and also felt like I was playing. I did, however, on Saturday feel like I was playing even though I felt anxious. Interesting, and something to think more on.

ONE MORE THING!

MARY- I BLAME YOU!!!!!!

Failure... leads to Insight?

So I'm a failure- I failed to bring home my embodied player this week!!! I left it in the cupboard in our classroom. I feel like such a loser- I was excited to take pictures of my player with me during Spring Break. Also, I like to follow the rules, and since the "rule" was to write a blog after Spring Break about our times with our embodied players, I felt rather badly about forgetting my player.

Levi, Krystal, Seth, Leah, and Me

However, as I started to think about Spring Break, and who I would like to be as a player, I thought of my sweet friend Leah. Leah is 8 years old, in third grade, and practically perfect in every way. She's my best friend Krystal's daughter, and I really love her. While I also sincerely enjoy and love both of Krystal's other kids (Seth and Levi), there's something special about Leah and I's friendship.

This past week I went to the Children's Museum in Indianapolis with the Jones kids and Krystal, and we had a blast! I had never been, at least not to my recollection, and I was really excited to go. It was everything I hoped for and more! We saw basically all of the exhibits, and of course, took lots of fun pictures.

Thinking about who I would want to be as a player made me think of Leah, because Leah is wonderful when it comes to play. She's incredibly kind, and while very shy at first, once she opens up she is quite the talker. She's really fun to be around and to play with, as she loves to have fun, laugh, and go with the flow. Throughout the day, despite having seen these exhibits before, she still took it all in as though it was the first time. There were multiple times when her brothers wouldn't want to do something because they had done it before, but Leah would take every chance to do anything offered at the museum, whether it was a craft, digging for dinosaur bones, or playing dress up.

Leah digging for bones

More than anything, Leah doesn't let anything stand in her way of play. She has fun no matter what she is doing. Even if it's something she's done a million times, she makes it fun somehow. She's not inhibited the way so many of us "old folks" are.

Leah playing dress up with scuba gear

Leah striking a pose in Egypt

Leah and Krystal- "Walk like an Egyptian"

Leah in Egypt.

Leah and I

After the Children's Museum, the girls went to Trader Joe's, our absolutely most favorite grocery store ever. While we were in the store a song came on, to which Leah said, "That's our school song! We dance to it every Friday!" So, I asked her to show me the dance. Without hardly blinking an eye, in the middle of the grocery store, she starts dancing. I LOVE THAT! While I generally have few inhibitions, I love that she didn't even seem to think about the cultural norm of how to act in a grocery store. Before long, Krystal and I were both dancing with Leah, and all of us were laughing hysterically. The great thing is that everyone else in the store that we saw laughed with us, and seemed to love that we were having such a great time.

So, to sum up this post, I want to be more like Leah. I want to be uninhibited with my play- to enjoy it fully no matter the situation.

Play despite sickness

I've been sick all weekend- really from Thursday until even now as I write this. Being sick is really not much fun, and it's hard to play when you're sick. But, I also don't feel like I didn't play at all this weekend. I finished my book Insurgent and started a new book. I watched a lot of TV on DVD, which is one of my favorite things to do.

This activity actually made me think about flow. I easily lose track of time when I watch TV on DVD. There are no commercials, I can hit "play all" so I don't even have to control the remote, and the next thing you know, I've watched 3 hours of television! (Don't judge me!) This made me wonder if I'm experiencing flow, or if it's more just "zoning out", and what the difference is between the two.

Looking at this diagram that Lina found, I would say that when I am watching TV it's in the "Relaxation" zone. I definitely have the skill level needed to watch, and the challenge level is low as I watch TV that doesn't require a whole lot of thinking. So there's definitely a difference, I think, between experiencing flow v. zoning out or relaxation when watching TV.

But this then made me think about reading Insurgent. My inclination is to say that I'm experiencing flow, because reading is a more cognitively taxing activity for me than reading. However, reading a book like Insurgent doesn't present much of a challenge for me, as it's writing on about an eighth grade level. But I don't necessarily feel like it's totally relaxation, as the challenge level isn't too low. So perhaps, according to this diagram, I'm in the control zone. I'm not sure though, and still feel like it is flow- I am enjoying the experience, and I feel like I'm acting in complete control. According to Dr. C, flow is a “Holistic sensation that people feel when they act with total involvement” (pg. 36).

Perhaps there is an element of flow that really comes down to the person's opinion/feeling about the experience, and not just the challenge and skill required.

I love flow.

Work and Play

Today I taught K-1st graders- and it was so much fun. First of all, it was nice to have confirmation that going back in to the schools is indeed where I need to go. It's always nice to have experiences that confirm decisions you've already made. :) Second of all, it really got me thinking about play v. work. Technically what I was doing would be considered "work." However, I ostensibly lost track of time. I think as a former teacher you lose the ability to COMPLETELY lose track of time (or maybe that's just my personality), but I definitely didn't realize just how long I had been teaching the kiddos. So, even though it was work, it would perhaps seem as though I was experiencing flow.

I've been thinking a lot lately about flow after reading about the construct in Ambiguities of Play and now having read Beyond Boredom and Anxiety. According to Csikeszentmihalyi, "The state of flow is felt when opportunities for action are in balance with the actor's skills; the experience is then autotelic." (p. 49) The following model is given:

Model from www.bioss.name

The question then that has been going around in my head is this- are work and play at their peak the same? Csikszentmihalyi would say yes, Sutton-Smith would say no. I think I'm finding myself agreeing with Csikszentmihalyi. (I do, however, reserve the right to change my mind). When I think about my experience today it is very similar when it comes to flow as play experiences. Now, there are still of course differences between play and work, as there is even within those categories. But when I think back to work today, as well as other days of work teaching pre-service teachers where I just felt great afterwards, I think I experienced flow, just as I would in a play experience.

So, the next question is how to experience work at its best all the time, or at least most of the time.

I Cannot Live Without Books

"I cannot live without books." Thomas Jefferson

I really love to read. It's perhaps my favorite thing to do. But with graduate school I often don't read for fun very much. Don't get me wrong, I certainly enjoy most of the readings that I do for school, even when I don't agree with the reading. But, there's something about choosing a book and reading it for no purpose except my own. 

Photo from barnesandnoble.com

This week I took time to read Insurgent by Veronica Roth. I read her first book in the series, Divergent, in about two days. I'd like to read Insurgent at the same pace, but due to a big statistics test this week and lots and lots and lots of grading, I'm only getting to read a bit here and there. But I still love it! I get to escape into the world of the story and forget about my worries and problems. 

I'm always amazed when people say that they don't like to read. But I have to be careful not to privilege reading or think it's better than what other people like to do. 

For me, reading is play. Thinking about play and reading, for me, makes me think about flow and Csikszentmihalyi. When I'm reading for fun and pleasure, I often experience a state of flow- I can read for hours and hours and not realize it. I rarely experience that when reading for school. It might be tempting to solely attribute this to the fact that the reading has been assigned, but I don't think that's the whole story. I think it has more to do with cognitive load and ZPD. When I read for fun, I am generally reading books that require little effort on my part, whereas when I read for school it is often very cognitively taxing. When I read for school, I am definitely in my ZPD, stretching from what I'm able to do on my own to what I can do with a little help (discussions of the reading in class). When I read for fun, I am rarely in my ZPD, as I can read with no help whatsoever. 

Perhaps play isn't always about the difference between work and play, or force and choice, but deals more with cognition and theories of learning.

Privileging Play

I've been thinking quite a bit about our class discussion two weeks ago, where we talked about how sometimes children's play is deemed inappropriate or cut off by adults who do not understand what the children are doing.

I've also been thinking about how we privilege certain types of play. I saw this in Sutton-Smith, where he quotes Neulinger, writing, "the primary dimension of leisure, then, is the freedom or, to be more specific, the perceived freedom. By this we simply mean a state in which the person feels that what he is doing, he is doing by choice and because he wants to". I can't say that I agree with this. In fact, I think this is an example of privileging certain forms of play. In the "west" we do tend to theorize about play as being a free experience in which you choose exactly what you want to do, when you want to do it. But, that's not the only way to play. Often, I am forced to do something, but that experience ends up being a playful experience. Take, for example, class activities. In many classes we are forced to do certain activities. I don't choose to do them, yet they can still be playful.

On that note, we babysat this past weekend for our dear friends who have three wonderful children. The daughter, Leah, wanted me to make bracelets with her. While I love Leah, making bracelets is not my favorite thing. I'm not one to make stuff. So, you could argue that I was forced to do this activity. However, because I love Leah and want to make her happy, I made bracelets with her, and in the end found it to be quite fun and would describe it as play.

I think we must always be careful about how we define and therefore privilege and oppress certain forms of play.

Future Thinking

One of my most favorite things to do is decorate and organize. I just love furniture, art, and paint, and thinking about ways to renovate and decorate spaces.

Since finding out we are moving at the end of May back to Lubbock, TX we have been thinking quite a bit about where we will live. We have some dear friends who have moved to the Dallas area but have been unable to sell their house. So, we decided that we will rent it from them for a while! I'm really excited to already have a plan for where we will live.

Our house!

This weekend I spent quite a bit more than my allotted 30 minutes thinking about this house and our current furniture and perhaps future furniture. 

Living room, dining room, and kitchen

Using Pinterest I pinned different paint schemes, rugs, chairs, and accessories that I would like to someday have or copy. It was so much fun to just think about what might be someday.

I wondered though how others might feel about moving. I get excited, and planning and thinking about it is play for me. But for other people, like my husband, it can be really stressful. This got me thinking about our discussion last class period about norms and practices. For me, my parents encouraged me to rearrange my room and decorate it however I wanted. This was a common practice for me. I also spent a lot of time designing my barbies' houses. However, for someone like my husband, who never practiced decorating or designing homes, moving and planning a new home can be stressful. 

One person's play can be another person's stress.

Watching TV

I know it sounds so silly, but one of my favorite things to do is watch television. This week my husband was out of town for a job interview. This gives me a lot of time to watch TV- whatever I want to watch. Justin typically controls the TV. :)

Photo from www.fanpop.com

I watched one of my favorite shows, Psych, most of the weekend. I love watching mystery type shows, and Psych is that plus comedy. Even though I'd already seen all of the episode that I watched, I still really enjoyed watching it.

I wonder if most people would consider watching television as play. I do- it allows me to relax, and I truly enjoy it. For me, I guess play is about enjoyment- if I enjoy what I'm doing, it seems like play to me.

I wonder what Sutton-Smith would say. I'm not sure, but I think he would agree that since I define this as play it is. Furthermore, reading the chapter about self, Sutton-Smith wrote, "Freedom has become not just the freedom from work but also the freedom to be a conspicuous consumer, and to participate in the material riches of consumer civilization." (Sutton-Smith, p. 178). In some way I think I am experiencing that freedom when I can take out my Psych DVD, put it in my DVD player, and sit back and enjoy.

Wordle and Concept Map

Child's Play

This week I had the opportunity to play with two of my dear friends, Leah and Levi. They are my best friend Krystal's kiddos. Leah is 7 and Levi is 4. They were supposed to be getting ready for bed, but we ended up playing instead. They both got out their pillow pets as well as their Yoohoo friends. We all had one pillow pet and one yoohoo friend. Each of us represented a different family, with the pillow pet being the dad and the yoohoo friend being the daughter or son. Levi gave his dad and yoohoo friend arbitrary names, and while Leah gave her yoohoo friend an arbitrary name, she gave her pillow pet dad the same name as her dad. I thought this was interesting, and aligns well with some of the ideas from Chapter 3 of Sutton-Smith's book The Ambiguity of Play. In a way, Leah is playing at reality- naming her pillow pet after her dad.

As we played, Leah and Levi decided that our yoohoo friends would jump on their dads. Of course, the dads were none to pleased with their children jumping on them and sent them all to bed early. Little did the dads know, however, that their children would refuse to go to sleep and rather would stay up all night. Throughout the night the children would jump on their dads backs again, but would scurry away as soon as the dads woke up. They rarely got caught.

I had so much fun playing with these kids! I loved seeing their imagination at work. I played with them before reading the chapter from Sutton-Smith, so it was really interesting reading the chapter with this experience in mind.

I'm not sure how I feel about the role of play in a child's life after reading this chapter. I have always agreed with Vygotsky's assertion that play leads cognitive development by creating a zone of proximal development. While Sutton-Smith doesn't necessarily disagree with this idea, he does complicate the notion of play as developmental. Even though Vygotsky theorized about play different than Piaget (play preceding development as opposed to development preceding play), there are still problems with assuming play is somehow developmental. It's difficult to say in this experience whether or not Leah and Levi were developing in some way. It is clear, at least to me, that they were playing with the rules of reality. Rules like going to bed at a certain time and obeying your parents were up for breaking. Both Leah and Levi are very well behaved children in reality, and very rarely outright disobey their parents and rules. However, in play, they are safe and comfortable (thinking back to Artin Goncü's discussion) to break these rules. There is no real consequence for doing so, and for a moment both get to experience in some way the feeling of breaking these rules.

Considering my own involvement and experience in this play, I find Sutton-Smith's discussion of adult play particularly germane. Describing older folks in Florida golfing, Sutton-Smith writes, "What their play seems to be, besides just a way to get out of doors in a pleasant place with pleasant company to pass the time, is an assertion of the possibility of skill and persistence in the face of increasing evidence to the contrary." (p. 48) I find that this is true for me- while part of me plays simply because I love these kids, there is a part of me that wants to feel young again. And I realize that at 28 years old I am still very young. But I want to feel as though I'm 7 again- with no worries and no real responsibilities. I want to play with the rules of adulthood by casting them aside, and proving that despite my ever increasing age, I still have the ability to play.

One thing that is clear to me after playing with Leah and Levi; I absolutely agree with Erickson, as quoted in Sutton-Smith, "Longitudinal research showing that the more interesting and fulfilling lives are those in which playfulness was kept at the center of things." (p. 39). I find that my life is much more interesting and fulfilling when I make time for play.

Learning about Competition

I love games- the competition, the strategy, the collaboration; there's really nothing I don't like about games. This week for my "30 minutes of play", I played the game Catchphrase with our Bible study. Every Wednesday night we host a Bible study at our host through our church. This week was a "party" week because we just started back up for the semester. I desperately wanted to play a game, and after some persuasive arguments from myself, the group agreed. We chose Catchphrase because it's easy to play with a large group, and we had 15 people there.

I noticed a lot of interesting moments throughout the game. At one point, when the buzzer went off, two people were holding the game contraption (I have no idea what it's called). I immediately called out that the other team CLEARLY was in control at that point, and therefore our team should receive a point. However, this was met with some dissension from the other team (imagine that!) What was interesting though was that the majority of people felt that no one should get a point. Rather than trying to argue for their team's benefit, they would rather try to keep the peace. I find that fascinating- to me, the point of playing a game is to try to win. But clearly, for many in our group, the goal was not to win, but something else. Perhaps winning is a subgoal, but the main goal must be one of having fun, enjoyment, frivolity... who knows? Those are all of course subgoals for me, but the main goal, the reason I love games more than lots of other forms of play, is the competitive nature of it.

A similar situation happened another time. We had decided that you could only skip words a total of two times. After you skipped twice, you HAD to use the word you were on. However, at one point, a girl skipped many more times than twice. Since she was on my team, I said we should just keep going because what does it really matter? (I actually just didn't want to lose the round!) The majority of people though, again, said that the round should just be no points, and we could start over.

I'm interested in thinking about this more, and perhaps asking people from my group what they think the goal of a game is. My guess is that most would say to win, but clearly they are operating from some other belief. It's really fascinating! It makes me also wonder and think more deeply about what play is, and who/what defines and effects that definition/belief.