My Connections to Play

These quotes speak of my childhood. As a child, play was my life. It was what I did all day. It was fun and I enjoyed doing it. My sister and I are very close in age. There are 2 years between us. We were always playing with each other, making up games, playing board games, running around, and pretending. Our job was to play.

Our parents encouraged play every day. I remember being outside for hours on end. Both our mom and dad played with us. They encouraged us to use our imagination. They provided us places inside and outside of the house to play. Our front yard was the place to play. All our cousins would always play in our yard since we all lived on the same street. We didn’t need much to have fun.
We would turn our yard into many different kinds of adventures-  doctor’s office, school, ice cream shop, stores, or a race track to name a few. My sister and I would bring our cabbage patch dolls to join in the fun. Our dolls were our children, and students. We were the parents and the teachers or  whatever we thought of at that moment.

A couple of the toys that come to mind when I was a child that I played with all the time were Barbie's and cabbage patch dolls. I would play with these all day.

Today’s play is much different than my own that I experience. I see less children playing outside. I see and hear more of children playing video games, watching television, or using some other electronic devices. Many of these electronic devices are learning centered. I see fewer children having the freedom to just play and enjoy.