The Value of Play

by Betty O’Regan

As a 36-year veteran of art education, I have seen many trends in teaching come and go. Staying current is important, but more vital is meeting the needs of our students. At Sanford, our JK-12 independent school, we enjoy the luxury and responsibility of designing our own curriculum. We have come to rely on valuable information gathered at the annual NAEA convention each year, extensive reading (a favorite author is Daniel Pink, A Whole New Mind and Drive) and collaboration among ourselves, four full-time art teachers.

Throughout the years, we have been aware of a push/pull effect of process versus product. With the recent introduction of constructivist theory, which argues that knowledge is "constructed" by the student rather than given or presented by the teacher, this contradiction comes to the forefront. The answer for us is balance.

 With limited class time (our K-4 grade students have approximately 80 minutes of art instruction per week), it is important that we capture our classes' interest early in the game. We have come up with a way to quickly engage students using the concept of Play as described by Daniel Pink and other authors: Stuart Brown, M.D. Play, Tony Wagner, Creating Innovators.

In Lower School, we begin the school year with students collaborating to generate behavioral expectations for themselves. At the end of each class they use a "respect-o-meter" to assess themselves, as a class, on the 5 points that they have established. A token is earned for the class when they do well and the reward for 8 tokens is a "Free Play Day." This means there is usually a period every 4-6 weeks entirely dedicated to free play at different stations. This play involves discovery, resourcefulness, problem solving, skill building, autonomy, teamwork, self-reliance, and risk taking.

Preparation
Set up 6-8 stations depending on class and room size. I store materials for each in uniform lidded boxes, labeled and stacked. You may want to assign a maximum number of participants for each station.

Instructions
Since the activities are student directed, a very brief overview of the options is all that is required.

Ground Rules
There are two 15-minute play periods so students must stay in their chosen spot for the full time. After that, they can choose to stay or move on. Teacher assistance is minimal (encouraging problem solving and peer interaction).

Clean Up
We give students a countdown and a token towards the next Free Play day if they can finish and be seated quietly before we get to "zero...blast off."

The most popular station is Construction Box. Masking tape, scissors, and lots of interesting items from the recycling bin are all that are required. The skills that students learn and the discoveries that they make are directly related to major projects during the school year. 

The materials are simple, often free or very inexpensive. Also, the possibilities are endless and students enjoy coming up with ideas too. For example, architect Frank Gehry, constructs model buildings from crumpled, bent, and folded paper and works collaboratively with a team. That concept could be a station. More problem solving occurs when limitations are imposed. Green Eggs and Ham, by Dr. Seuss was written when the author was challenged to write a book in 50 words or less. 

The TV show, Project Runway, and a student who had a special interest in fashion design inspired colleague, Nina Silverman. All that is needed is a mannequin, a suitcase full of interesting fabric remnants, and a variety of clips.  

NOTE: some play day projects are taken home and others get deconstructed and returned to their prospective boxes. Photographs can be taken of the student artwork and posted on the classroom site or Artsonia, or printed and added to their sketch journals.

Betty O'Regan teaches art at Sanford School in Hockessin, Delaware.

Photographs by Nina Silverman