How can displays around the room and on the walls reflect the value of children’s lives and the process of their learning? How can children personalise their space with art, gifts and treasures inspired by and created by them? — Journey into Early Childhood.
Here are some ideas for your outdoor play area to inspire inquiry, imagination, social and physical skills; and a few quotes on the importance of play to get you going. Share this article with your teacher friends, let’s get the word out on creating and stimulating exploitative learning environments!
“Play is the work of the child.” — Maria Montessori
“Play is the highest form of research.” — Albert Einstein
“It is a happy talent to know how to play.” — Ralph Waldo Emerson
“Children learn as they play. Most importantly, in play, children learn how to learn.” — O. Fred Donaldson
“Almost all creativity involves purposeful play.” — Abraham Maslow
“Play is the beginning of knowledge.” — George Dorsey
“A man is getting old when he walks around a puddle instead of through it.” — R.C. Ferguson
“Children are born with a sense of wonder and an affinity for Nature. Properly cultivated, these values can mature into ecological literacy, and eventually into sustainable patterns of living.” — Zenobia Barlow
“Teaching children about the natural world should be seen as one of the most important events in their lives.” — Thomas Berry
“It is paradoxical that many educators and parents still differentiate between a time for learning and a time for play without seeing the vital connection between them.” -Leo F. Buscaglia
“We don’t stop playing because we grow old; we grow old because we stop playing.” -George Bernard Shaw
“Whoever wants to understand much must play much.” — Gottfried Benn
“In every real man a child is hidden that wants to play.” — Friedrich Nietzsche
“Deep meaning lies often in childish play.” — Johann Friedrich von Schiller
“There are children playing in the streets who could solve some of my top problems in physics, because they have modes of sensory perception that I lost long ago.” — J. Robert Oppenheimer
“Play is our brain’s favourite way of learning.” — Diane Ackerman
Author: Carly Moloney
