Empowered by Play » Community Playthings

The Wisdom of Play from Community Playthings: A gift to the early childhood world

Geralyn — Thu, 29 Oct 2009 19:30:00 +0000

Leave it to Community Playthings to convince me to break my rule against corporate sponsored teaching resources. Their new professional development guide The Wisdom of Play: Why Children at Play Are Their Own Best Teachers is outstanding. Their guide is free to anyone who asks. When school budgets are tight (as they are these days), it is tempting to use corporate sponsored materials. Usually these materials have one sole purpose: to further brand recognition and increase sales. With the publication and distribution of The Wisdom of Play, however, Community Playthings keeps the child – not the bottom line – at the center.

The ten short essays are written by a wide range of experts in the field, such as David Elkind, PhD, Stuart Brown, MD and early childhood teacher Sydney Gurewitz Clemens. There is information about current research from the Alliance for Childhood, and practical ideas for the classroom on nature, block building and open-ended play. The colorful photographs help convey the rich and inviting world of children at play. At a time when there are far too many companies making harmful inroads into our schools, Community Playthings does not market to children, and that, for me, makes all the difference. Their work supports good teaching practices and is a gift to the world of early childhood.

Contrast that to marketing plans such as Google’s Doodle4Google campaign in which elementary and secondary school children in Ireland were asked to design a new Google logo to be used on the website for St.Patrick’s Day. I learned about this tactic from the comprehensive report released by the Commercialism in Education Research Unit at Arizona State University – Click: The Twelfth Annual Report on Schoolhouse Trends:2008-2009. In the report, the authors explain that the Google lesson plan for young elementary students directed teachers to:

…write the word ‘Google’ on the board and show the pupils a print-out of the logo template. Explain that Google helps us find information when we are using the computer….Identify all the letters and colours in the Google logo.

Clearly, the aim of the lesson was to enmesh school children in the Google name. This is basically propaganda masquerading as educational curriculum. It happens all the time. If you are concerned about protecting students from devious marketing tactics like these, I urge you to read the Arizona State University’s report. It is one of the best resources around for combating exploitation – both blatant and hidden – of our children, and of schools in need.

Then take a look at Community Playthings’ The Wisdom of Play and see what genuine corporate responsibility looks like.

"We Need More Sticks and Rocks! We Need More Beauty"

Geralyn — Tue, 08 Sep 2009 23:59:00 +0000

You are invited to check out my new article, “We Need More Sticks and Rocks! We Need More Beauty!” in the latest edition of Collage, the E-newsletter published by Community Playthings. Read about some of my classroom experiences bringing nature and imaginative play into the school day. Click here to see the entire newsletter. You’ll be glad you did! It is chock full of terrific resouces around the vital topic of nature education.

Cheers!

Thank You, Community Playthings!

Geralyn — Mon, 13 Jul 2009 20:28:00 +0000

Today I had the extraordinary privilege of spending a morning at Community Playthings. There, I met a fantastic group of people who are working hard on behalf of children everywhere. This is truly a company that understands what is good for children and has kept faithful to that ideal for decades. Their high quality maple furniture and toys can be found in classrooms around the world.

Their own words say it best: “We take our cues from children: They’re genuine and straightforward. How can we make products to match? We use natural materials like solid maple. We steer clear of complicated and contrived, and aim for intuitive and teacher-friendly. Our goal is to design open-ended products that inspire imaginative play.”

I’ve known about the company for many, many years, having used their furniture and toys in my classroom. However, I am just beginning to understand how truly dedicated they are to promoting happy, healthy and child-centered development. Their website is full of helpful and engaging resources, many of them in the archives of their free e-newsletter, Community Collage. For example, there is the May 2009 article Learning Through Play by David Elkind, PhD, and the May 2007 issue of Community Collage is all about Play vs. Technology. Every issue also contains an abundance of excellent book suggestions and other resources. They offer free tools (booklets and CD-ROMs) for designing spaces and creating environments. Every time I look at the site, I find new treasures to behold!

And to all of the folks at Community Playthings: I extend a heartfelt thank you – as a teacher and as a parent – for all your fine work. I can say with confidence – on behalf of generations of playful, happy, imaginative and innovative people – you are a certainly a treasure!