Welcome back to a playful episode about play! While I intended for this episode to be about play theorists, the benefits of play, and how play and learning are interconnected, I ended up taking a walk and capturing some recent reflections from my own practice and experience about how I value and notice play, lately. Here, I share my hot takes on keeping play alive in our language and observations, what I’ve been learning about Anishinaabe perspectives about animals (and how that, to me, feels playful) and what children need post-COVID. I also included a voice note on my phone where I reflect on my own experience with play and sound lately, and Jean Clinton’s idea of positive upwards spirals/Carol Anne Wein’s suggestion of supporting the whirldwind effects of synergy and positive energy in classrooms. I’d love to hear your thoughts on play as well – how do you keep the play alive in your life?
Just to clarify a few things, the children’s book I discuss is actually called Sometimes I Feel Like a Fox and the author is Danielle Daniel.
Jean Clinton’s idea of positive upward spirals is discussed in her book Love Builds Brains, but it’s also discusses in a conversation she has with Anne Douglas on YouTube.
Finally, Carol Anne Wein’s idea of the whirl wind effect is from the Think Feel Act document, Empowering Children in the Middle Years.
Playful Pedagogies 