Stories of Play – Let The Children Direct Their Play

We are currently on holidays in Singapore. Yesterday we brought Miss 12mo to the Singapore Zoo where she also had some fun at the water play area. It was an amazing water play area with many water features that would excite many a teenager and even an adult. After playing with a couple of mini fountains and sprinklers, I noticed my little girl picking up this little leaf that had caught her eye. She was staring at it intently, gingerly touching the surface and edges of it for quite some time. At one point, I caught myself wanting to direct her attention to one of the more exciting water features and say things like “Look at that water spraying all over!” (I mean weren’t we at a water play area?!) but then I stopped myself and continued to observe her instead. After she was satisfied that she had finished exploring that single leaf, she looked around and crawled at lightning speed to a couple of leaves that were some distance away. It wasn’t long before she had a little collection of different sized and different coloured leaves around her and she was so focused on exploring them all.

I was so thankful I hadn’t disrupted her play (and consequently her discovery and learning) with my own ideas of what’s more worth her time, concentration and intent study. I want her to always know that all of her interests are important, that ALL knowledge is worth pursuing no matter how insignificant it might seem, that her education is for fulfilling no one’s agenda but her own and that she is perfectly capable of deciding and directing her own learning.