Empowered by Play » unplugged

Playing without plastic

Geralyn — Sat, 25 Jun 2011 15:28:32 +0000

I am always a fan of “unplugged” play, so on Sunday when I saw that a local historical site was offering a free event for children – featuring games and toys from the Revolutionary War era, I packed up my boys and a couple of their cousins to check it out. It was a beautiful day – and a perfect afternoon for romping on the lawn.

The event was great for a few reasons. First, because it was offered at no cost to the public. Gotta love that! Second, the event offered children and families an afternoon away from the hectic, plugged-in world. Many parents got into the act and played along with the kids, folks (for the most part) kept cell phones tucked away, and fun was had by young and old alike. Finally, all the games and toys were made with natural materials. Swings made of cotton rope; tops, paddles, and hoops made of wood; balls made of leather. You get the idea. Nothing was plastic. Nothing was emblazoned with Disney Princesses, Spiderman or Sponge Bob. Simple, beautiful and good for the earth. I couldn’t help imagining if all our modern day toys and games were still made this way, as Annie Leonard’s words from The Story of Stuff swirled in my head.

So there we were, playing Cat and Mouse, Ring on a String and more. These were new to us, but are very old games. Spinning wooden tops, catching a leather ball, trying to walk on wooden stilts – and most of all joining lots of other children and families in outdoor, unplugged, screen-free entertainment. Nice.

On a related note…if you are looking for some unplugged and free entertainment that is good for the earth and will connect your own family with people and communities around the world, why not celebrate International Mud Day on June 29th?!

The following is from the World Forum Website: “What began as an exchange between the children of Nepal and Australia, organized by Bishnu Bhatta and Gillian McAuliffe, is an idea shared throughout the world. Organize your own activities, invite children and families to participate, take photos and write your story, share resources on mud play and outdoor experiences. But most of all we invite you to go outdoors with a playful spirit and muck about with children.”

Does that sound great, or what? Empowered by Play encourages you to join in celebrating International Mud Day and to spread the word!

How Screen-Free Can You Be?

Geralyn — Fri, 29 Apr 2011 01:22:41 +0000

One of the nicest things about Screen-Free Week is how the week has turned into a week-and-a-half, at least to some extent, in that I haven’t resumed all my screen-time habits yet. As predicted, Screen-Free Week was much harder for me than it was for our sons, being that they are already screen-free during the week.

The boys did get more time with me, that is for sure. We played lots of Yahtzee and helped dad fold the laundry. My husband and I even managed to tackle a few household tasks that had been on the back-burner for a very long time (like hanging the two mirrors I’d bought at a yard sale back in October!). We watched as our tadpoles grew bigger each day. We visited local friends and Boston-based friends. We played new board games – ones our friends taught us. Ticket to Ride was our favorite and one we will definitely add to our rotation at home. Bananagrams, too.

On Saturday we took our planned family trip to NYC, though we didn’t get into the Museum of Natural History (seems as though thousands of others had the same idea). A quick change of plans brought us to the Intrepid Air and Space Museum – another that had been on our “must see” list. While in NYC, we visited the new Lego store at Rockefeller Center – and I’ll save the details of that experience for another post. Walking the streets of Manhattan is one of my favorite things to do – and this time I saw it differently – through the eyes of my son who was snapping pictures along the way.

By far, the hardest part for me was giving up my daily show from Netflix. On most nights, after the boys are in bed, my husband and I watch something together. I thought the first night would be the toughest – so it helped that my sons were in an Easter program that evening. We had something WAY better to watch then the usual House episode. After coming home from that special event, it was easy to open a book and just read for a bit. Other nights, we stayed over at friends’ houses, and that helped too. There were plenty of stories to share and games to play.

For me, turning off Facebook and Twitter turned out to be incredibly freeing – and easy. I still haven’t returned whole-hog, and have been checking in only for brief moments since Screen-Free Week ended. I can’t say I missed either of them. (I did post an article to my Facebook page through an application – after reading what a friend had sent and I used email to set up some meetings with friends as we traveled to Boston for a few days, and that felt just fine.) Truth be told, I did have one major slip and that was watching a House episode with my husband late in the week. So, I didn’t quite make it – though my sons easily did. (Now my sons know that I slipped up – as one of them is reading over my shoulder as I type! I can tell I am going to get some big-time flak for this!) The boys were able to keep track of their Screen-Free activities in a log – maybe next time I’ll try that too.

All-in-all, it was a wonderful and freeing experience. I look forward to seeing how many Screen-Free Week Activity logs arrive at Empowered by Play from local folks who were successful. They’ll be receiving a free family pass to the Outdoor Discovery Center at the Hudson Highlands Nature Museum. Nice!

And a big thanks goes to the folks at Campaign for a Commercial-Free Childhood for promoting Screen-Free Week this year!

Just for fun…here are some of my son’s NYC pics:

Empowered by Play endorses Screen-Free Week!

Geralyn — Fri, 11 Feb 2011 14:56:19 +0000

How hard would it be for your family to forgo screen entertainment for one week? That includes video games, television, social media and texting – the whole kit-and-caboodle. Have you ever tried it? Maybe the electricity went out for a day or two from an ice-storm (that happened in our area last winter) and you and the kids didn’t have an inkling how to entertain yourselves. Or maybe you did. Maybe you dusted off the board games, read books together, or played cards. Chances are you talked to each other more than usual.

Going unplugged today is harder than ever for many of us. Consider these quotes from a recent article, Social Media: A Great Uncontrolled Experiment on Kids published by Internal Medicine News. The article quotes many experts in the field, including Dr. Rich, director of the center on media and child health at Children’s Hospital Boston; Dr. Shifrin, a Bellevue, WA–based pediatrician who served as the American Academy of Pediatrics’ consultant to Microsoft when it developed a family safety setting for Windows XP; Dr. Susan Greenfield, a neuroscientist who directs the Institute for the Future of the Mind at the Oxford Martin School, Oxford University in England; and Dr. Gwenn Schurgin O’Keeffe, a pediatrician and author of “CyberSafe: Protecting and Empowering Digital Kids in the World of Texting, Gaming, and Social Media“.

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According to a 2009 survey by the Kaiser Family Foundation, young people aged 8-18 years spend an average of 7 hours and 38 minutes each day with TV, video games, or computers, an increase of 1 hour and 17 minutes over the average in 2004. In addition, 66% of these youngsters own a cell phone (on which they text or talk for another 2 hours each day), 76% of them have an iPod or other media player, and 74% of kids in grades 7-12 say they have a profile on a social networking site such as Facebook.

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…social media eat into quality time together, said Dr. O’Keeffe, who has two teenage daughters and who authors a syndicated blog called “Dr. Gwenn Is In.”

“We’ve all been at restaurants where mom and dad are plugged into their Blackberries or iPhones and the kids have their game systems or their cell phones, and no one’s talking to one another,” she said. “We have a pretty strict rule at our house: no digital stuff or picking up the phone during family meals. When we go on vacation we lock the phones away. We go unplugged a few times a year. That teaches our kids that you can do it. Sometimes my 16-year-old will not turn on her computer for a few days in a row. I think you have to teach your kids when they’re young to resist the temptation. If they see you do it, they’ll do it.”

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Dr. Greenfield is concerned that children and adolescents who spend too much time on social media may be compromising the proper development of certain cognitive skills. “We know that people are getting good at processing information very quickly and efficiently – the kind of skills you have when you’re driving,” she said. “What we’re talking about is turning yourself into kind of a computer in a way: making efficient and fast responses as appropriate. This is very different from reading a book, which is very linear and slow. That’s what the brain needs to understand something usually; you don’t want to have it diluted and distracted, because the brain only has so much power. If it’s being employed in attending to lots of different things, it’s not going to be able to pursue a linear train of thought.”

The result, Dr. Greenfield offered, “could be an infantilizing of the brain, that we are going to create a generation of Peter Pans who live in a world that is a literal one, dominated by sensory content over cognitive significance, a world where what you see is what you get.”

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And here is my favorite, this quote is from Dr. O’Keefe:

Each generation that passes is going to be more digital. So while we still remember what an offline world is, if we can instill in the current teenagers and elementary school kids what it’s like to be unplugged, they’ll instill it in their kids, and it should pay forward.

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That idea of passing on the feeling of being unplugged to future generations is really an empowering idea for me. And it is what lead me to help organize a Turn-off Week at Mission Hill School where I worked in Boston. Now the event is called Screen-Free Week and it is being organized by our great friends at the Campaign for a Commercial-Free Childhood. We know the problems that a sedentary and screen-filled life can bring, and we know the benefits of getting outside; being creative; and playing and talking together. Since 1996 folks have been organizing screen-free weeks as a way to promote these ideas and to further the discussions about the choices for entertainment that we make as families and individuals.

Absolutely anyone can organize a Screen-Free week in their community: parents, teachers, librarians, clergy, activists, even kids. This year’s Screen-Free week is April 18 – 24th and for this event CCFC has created a new, improved Organizer’s Kit to walk you through the process; it includes suggestions for getting kids ready for the week by yours truly and my friend and TRUCE colleague Alexis Ladd, and all the activities and handouts you’ll need for a great Screen-Free Week—as well as 2 beautiful posters perfect for promoting. There are other materials you can purchase – such as t-shirts – and all of these purchases will help to spread the movement.

Time to turn off the screen and turn on the amazing world around us!

Radical Preschool

Geralyn — Wed, 01 Sep 2010 18:54:15 +0000

As young children across the country start a new school year, and teachers across the country set up learning environments for their young students, many early childhood teachers will look to the HighScope Educational Research Foundation for guidance. HighScope is a well-respected, research based approach to early childhood care and education. The well-known Perry Preschool Study showed the long-term benefits of receiving a high-quality preschool program using the HighScope approach. Active Learning is at the center of the HighScope.

From their website:

The HighScope educational approach is based on the belief that young children build or “construct” their knowledge of the world – they are “active learners”. This means learning is not simply a process of adults giving information to children. Rather, children discover things through direct experience with people, objects, events, and ideas. They learn best from pursuing their own interests while being actively supported and challenged by adults.

And:

The space and materials in a HighScope setting are carefully arranged to promote active learning. The center is divided into interest areas organized around specifics kinds of play; for example, block area, house area, small toy area, book area, sand-and-water area, and art area.

Sounds good, right? Sounds great, actually. I agree wholeheartedly with the foundations of the HighScope curriculum, which is why I was shocked and disappointed recently when I read in one of their new resources that “Computers are a ‘must’ in early childhood classrooms.” (Setting Up the Preschool Classroom by Nancy Vogel, p. 81)

WHAT?!? Since when? And says who? Computers are a “must”?!? Not according to over 70 professionals who recently signed a letter to NAEYC (National Association for the Education of Young Children). This letter was written by the Campaign for a Commercial-Free Childhood with help from the folks at the Alliance for Childhood.

From the letter:

In the world of medicine, implementation of any medical practice intervention is guided by the principle “Do no harm.” We believe that maxim should guide the use of new technologies in classrooms, particularly since screen time may displace activities with proven benefits for young children such as direct hands-on exploration of the world, connecting with nature and with other human beings, and child-initiated play. Given the vast amount of time that young children are spending with screens and out of child-care settings, and the growing concerns about the impact of screen media on children’s well-being and development, we urge the NAEYC to take a leadership position in efforts to reduce the amount of time children spend with screens and promote the kinds of hands-on creative play proven to be beneficial to their growth and development.

And:

Given that there exists a wealth of screen-free educational activities known to be beneficial to children, and limited data on the costs/benefits of screen media – particular, new media – for young children, we strongly recommend that the burden of proof should be on documenting the benefits of screen media, and on proving they are not harmful, before it is assumed that screens should be incorporated into early childhood environments.

Lisa Guernsey of The New America Foundation is more in favor of computers than those who signed the CCFC’s letter. She has her own letter to NAEYC posted on her blog, Early Ed Watch. But even though Guernsey is more supportive of computers in early childhood settings, she also cites her own warnings and recommendations, and doesn’t agree that computers are now a “must”.

So I ask: why such a strong (and in my opinion, dangerous) statement from HighScope? Believe me, I am trying to find out.

And consider the e-mail I received recently, with the message line reading “Here is your Digital Kindergarten”. The pitch letter started out like this:

Please enjoy this Digital Sample Digital Mini-Text for your students. Complete Curriculum publishes dynamic K-12 digital textbooks and highly-interactive web-based instructional programs that make learning fun and “cool” for today’s whiz kids who eat, breathe, and sleep technology. Our groundbreaking format takes students out of the dull world of traditional print textbooks and transports them into the exciting world of interactive textbooks and lesson plans where learning becomes fun.

Uggh! So now we have a digital alternative to the “dull” world of print textbooks. Hmm, here’s a radical idea: how about letting our students interact with the world around them?! Play with real people and real open-ended materials? Explore nature, art materials, building materials and actual books?! Could the real world be an alternative to the “dull world” of print textbooks? To paraphrase Free-Range Kids author Lenore Skenazy, when did the preschool/kindergarten we grew up with become so radical?

The beautiful blur of work and play

Geralyn — Thu, 19 Aug 2010 10:55:41 +0000

“Let’s see what happens if I do this,” my son said as he played with his twin brother in the sand. We were at the ocean, and the boys were constructing a track for a tennis ball they’d found the night before. We first spied the tennis ball bobbing in the waves as high tide crashed upon the shore. We ran along the boardwalk watching as the ball got tossed and turned in the waves. The boys were cheering for the tennis ball – in a way only six-year-old boys might – hoping that the ball would find a safe place to land on the shore. Their prayers answered, the tennis ball finally came to rest in a nest of rocks. Hooray! The boys “rescued” the ball from one adventure – only to create a new adventure for it on land.

Carved in sand on a slight incline, they made an initial track and then tested and re-tested their creation, perfecting it as they went. When the ball only made it halfway down the track, one of the boys suggested, “Push it harder this time.” When the ball jumped the track, one declared, “Don’t worry! I know how to fix it!” I listened and watched the boys as they played. They didn’t need me; they had plenty of their own ideas. Eventually, though, they came running over to ask me to join in their hypothesizing. “Mom, the ball smashed through the sand wall. So what do you think will happen if we make a cement wall with sand, rocks and water?”

Hypothesizing, testing out ideas, making observations and re-testing – all in the name of good fun – keeps children engaged. I always know their minds are engaged when I hear children say, “Let’s see what happens if I do this…” It’s right up there with hearing them say, “I have an idea!”

When they weren’t busy making the track in the sand, or riding their boogie boards in the waves, they were busy collecting rocks. “These are not usual rocks,” they explained. The boys had names for the categories of rocks they found: “Clear rocks; flat-bottom rocks; multi-rocks” and even some uniquely shaped rocks, such as “The Heart Rock” and “The Maine Rock.” I heard one boy sigh to himself, “This is a lot of work,” as he added his latest findings to their lines of rocks in the sand. Then he turned to me and professed, “Aren’t these some supremely cool rocks?”

Eventually, we had to go, and they decided to count the rocks. The total: 112 in all, plus two shells and one piece of beach glass. “Mom, can we bring our collection home?” they asked. “Yes,” I replied. “I suppose so.” “And can we have some egg cartons so we can organize them?” “Of course!”

Collecting, sorting, categorizing, and admiring objects – especially those from nature – is another way to capture the minds of young children. The best thing about these beach endeavors is that the boys themselves decided what they were going to do, and then did it. For hours they were engaged and entertained in a beautiful blur of work and play. Were they learning? Absolutely. Were they laughing and living? You bet. Sometimes I wish life was always just a day at the beach.

Check out related posts:

A day at the beach – playing with the wind and other wonderful problems and

“I have and idea!”

Fun for All Ages

Geralyn — Fri, 06 Aug 2010 12:32:27 +0000

“Fun for all ages” is a wonderful concept. When thinking about imaginative play, and life in general, you know you have a hit when a wide range of ages can be equally engaged. Last week, our family held the second annual “Cousin’s Camp” for our upcoming generation. We had 15 campers ranging in age from 4 – 13. Ahh, there lies the challenge – how do you keep such a wide range of kids engaged for hours (and days?!) at a time?

For one thing, you have have a flexible structure for them to work within. Setting the parameters, and giving choices within them, goes a long way in keeping everyone actively engaged. Second, you find materials and experiences that are open-ended and usually quite simple. Think natural materials such as water, sand and wooden blocks; and art materials such as finger paints, paper, crayons, markers and clay. Nothing fancy or gimmicky here, and definitely no batteries required. Of course, what a 4 year-old and 13 year-old chose to do with blocks, sand, clay or finger paints will vary. Their methods, attention span and ability to coordinate their play with others will look very different, but isn’t that the beauty of open-ended materials? In these instances, the child is in charge of deciding the how and the what; the grown ups are there just to provide the materials, the time and the space.

“Quiet Time” in the afternoons gave us all a chance to relax, take a deep breath and entertain ourselves individually. Within the “Quiet Time” framework older campers read novels and wrote in their journals; younger campers read or looked at books and drew pictures; and our youngest campers took their afternoon nap. And singing was something we did daily together – with lots of songs that have become family favorites – including call and response songs which everyone (including the youngest non-readers) can enjoy. Our oldest camper even taught the rest of us a new song – now a favorite – which we will add to our growing songbook.

But there is one more crucial ingredient – interesting adults. This year, we had a rotating list of aunts and uncle who came and shared their interests, time and talents with the kids. One of my brothers, a former art teacher, made paper with the campers. Another brother is a talented musician, and he joined us with his guitar for some of our singing sessions. My sister came one day and shared her talents in the kitchen to help our campers make lunch and snack for that day. Launching rockets, starting a campfire, pitching a tent, telling a funny story, performing a skit…so many interesting grown ups spending time with the campers…sharing laughter and love and making memories.

So, how do you keep kids engaged? Open-ended and simple materials. Flexible structure. Quality time spent with interesting and caring adults. These make for a fantastic summer camp experience. And you know what…pretty great for school, too. I remember times in my second and third grade classroom at Mission Hill School – when things were feeling stressful and unproductive, and our insightful principal Deb Meier would say to me, “What about making the classroom feel more like summer camp?” That question would help me tweak my routine, materials and attitude in a way that could get us back on track – and making it fun for all ages.

See a related post: KEVA planks – creating fun for everyone

You can help protect preschoolers from too much screen-time!

Geralyn — Wed, 28 Jul 2010 11:49:11 +0000

I am in the joyful and exhausting throes of “Cousins’ Camp” (this year we have 15 first cousins, ages 4-13!) and don’t have time for a long post. But I felt compelled to let everyone know about an important window of opportunity to advocate for our youngest children. Currently NAEYC (National Association for the Education of Young Children) is re-drafting their position statement on Technology and Young Children. NAEYC is at the forefront of early childhood education. Just to give you an idea of their influence, their Annual Conference draws more than 20,000 early childhood teachers, administrators, professors and others. Lots of people pay attention to what NAEYC has to say. Right now we have a unique opportunity to have input on their statement – and help steer NAEYC in the right direction in limiting screen-time in daycare centers, preschools and other early childhood settings. In a brilliant move, Campaign for a Commercial-Free Childhood has teamed up with the Alliance for Childhood to draft a letter to NAEYC – signed by over 70 early childhood experts. Please visit CCFC’s website today to read their letter to NAEYC and for a wealth of information about this topic. Then you can contact NAEYC yourself. The window of opportunity closes July 30, 2010, so I urge you to act soon and to spread the word! Thanks so much.

Strawberries, snakes and swings

Geralyn — Tue, 01 Jun 2010 11:29:03 +0000

It feels like summer is already here. This weekend our family enjoyed many moments outdoors – for me this is the best antidote to screen-time. At least two snakes were spotted – slithering among rocks at our house and at friends’. Awesome. The first yummy strawberries ripened in our little garden, and the boys delighted in picking every berry that was ready to eat. Absolutely, purely delicious fun. One of my sons, who learned to swing last June, taught his brother how to get himself going on the swing in our backyard. Excellent! And the two boys swung together on a lovely bench swing hanging from a tree and overlooking a pond. We were visiting friends and toasting marshmallows for s’mores – again, delicious and fun.

This blog began in May 0f 2009, and since then, I have been on the computer more than I ever have before. It often strikes me as ironic, that in my efforts to encourage imaginative play, and to help families and children reduce screen-time, I have increased my own screen-time. Yuck. I am trying to do more connecting and sharing of ideas and information through Twitter and Facebook – and doing so has actually helped me cut down on my time online. I was worried about adding them to the Empowered by Play networking plan, in that they might increase my time spent in front of the screen, but thankfully the opposite has proven to be true.

Nature. That’s where you’ll find me, whenever possible. Right in my own yard, usually – where the bird feeders, breezes, flowers and general green-ness help me relax. This weekend in the backyard, I even spied two spirited fox kits playing and wrestling while their mom watched nearby. Very cool. It reminded me of Bill Crain’s piece about the need for play being innate. Clearly, for these young fox kits, it is. And for my kids, too. In fact, my son just came up and asked me to play – so I’ll be signing off.

Here’s to playing outside, finding snakes, swinging in the breeze and picking ripe strawberries!

Small moments

Geralyn — Thu, 18 Mar 2010 01:08:55 +0000

Last night after dinner, my sons begged and begged to watch a DVD. We don’t have television, and we have a “No DVD on school nights” rule. I stood firm and upheld the rule. Oh, my goodness, were there tears. “It’s okay,” I said. “You can be sad.” One son, looking outside and seeing the light still in the sky implored, “Look, it’s still so early. Why can’t we watch a DVD? We have more time now.” I tried to explain (once again) the phenomenon of daylight savings and turning the clocks ahead one hour. It’s hard for a six-year-old to grasp. His brother tried a different tactic. “You can give us yogurt treats or you can let us watch something. You have to chose one.” Actually, son: I don’t. I did, however, remind the boys of their other options.

“You can go back outside and ride bikes. Or we can play backgammon. Or you can do LEGOs.” The boys didn’t immediately jump at any of those options. They weren’t quite done sulking yet. Eventually, one went back to the LEGO car he’s been working on, and his brother took me up on the offer to play backgammon. Halfway through the game the brothers joined forces against me in the backgammon game. We laughed and strategized. We tried our best to plan ahead; to anticipate each other’s moves; to make good decisions; and roll with the luck of the dice. They beat me fair and square. And by then it was time for the night time routine of bath, books and bed.

I am happy that I stuck to my guns about our school night rule, even though it initially made the boys sad. It would be easy to slide into the habit of watching DVDs every evening, but I know that small moments, such as beating mom at backgammon, and reading together, are too precious to give up. These small moments are disappearing from our busy lives. It is sad, because the cumulative effect of these small moments are connected relationships and emotional security. Instead, we often have electronic gadgets entertaining our babies (check out this AT&T commercial) and plugged in, multi-tasking, tweens, teens (see the recent Kaiser Family Foundation report) and stressed-out grown ups (see just about any of us).

So, here’s to singing off-key on long family car trips – instead of using headphones and video screens; to talking together and sharing laughs over dinner – and leaving the TV off during the meal; and to beating mom real good at backgammon – especially on a school night.

Snow storms and bookmarks: momentous events in the life of a child

Geralyn — Tue, 02 Mar 2010 17:39:58 +0000

Two big snow storms rocked our area last week. Our kids missed about a week of school. We lost power for our home, as did thousands of other families. It has been a great time to have children who are not addicted to electronic entertainment. Our sons easily entertained themselves by building with Legos, sledding, reading, playing board games and more. For me, the first few days were an adventure. We played backgammon, shoveled and talked. We snuggled under covers and read together – that is something I will always remember. We are a house of readers, but we don’t usually snuggle under the covers – all four of us – and read together. We took turns reading picture books, some of our favorites, and some new ones we had borrowed from the library. And then a magical thing happened. Over these snow days, with extra time on his hands, one of my sons made a great leap in his reading. He has been reading for about two years, but he read his first book for which he needed a book mark. He was so proud of himself – you could hear it in his voice and see it in his face – the satisfaction of turning that last page and reaching the end of the story. He read three long books over this past week, and by the last night his brother – now ready for the challenge himself - picked up a longer book and started to read it. Yup – he’s now got a book mark, too.

I just talked with my sister-in-law. Her family had “D.E.A.R” time (Drop Everything and Read) during the power outage, and her youngest daughter made the leap to truly seeing herself as a reader. She used a book mark as well, for the first time last week. Two big snow storms with power outages have helped a few budding readers blossom, giving them a chance to raise their skill and their pleasure to the next level. I am guessing there are others out there who also enjoyed this success, but we’ll never know for sure. For now, I’ll just delight in the image of hundreds of thousands of children going “unplugged” and discovering new ways to entertain themselves.