The importance of play – How children discover the world through play

Can play help children gain responsibility, confidence and mutual understanding, learn to manage failures and rejection? Of course it can, as the most important elements of a person’s personality are formed in the first years of his life. A key element for this, however, is for children to play smoothly, without the intervention of adults.

Giannis Giannoudis, an entrepreneur in the field of education and organizer of the second International Conference on the role of the Toy in the education of young children, talks to Skai.gr about the game and its role in a child’s life. Play on Early Education (April 27-30, Seraphio of the Municipality of Athens 19 Echelides & Piraeus 144).

Leading teachers will speak at the Conference, such as Tom Hobson from Seattle and Suzanne Axelsson from Stockholm, while it will include thematic units harmonized with the developments of the time, such as racial equality and breaking down stereotypes, technology, but also how a child plays in the age of social distance….

– How important is play to a child’s development – mental, emotional -?
Free-choice, adult-free play is the basic way in which children learn to decide for themselves on their own from an early age, to become autonomous, to gain self-confidence and self-confidence in their own strengths. The game is also the way in which they discover knowledge with enthusiasm and at their own unique pace, something that will follow them for the rest of their lives.
When playing without the intervention of adults, children are forced to manage their own controversies and disagreements. They create their own worlds (always “out of the box”) innovate, develop codes of effective communication, solidarity and mutual understanding. It is especially moments of tension and failure that help children learn to recognize and manage difficult emotions (fear, frustration, rejection) and gain empathy and autonomy.

– Children play as much as they should play and how easy is it for a child to play enough and because of the special situation in which the world has fallen due to the coronavirus but also due to the development of technology?
The amount of the game is never enough! Especially in our time, where children from a very early age are involved in school activities and organized activities of an academic nature.
The two years of coronavirus and prolonged lockdowns around the world have forced the entire planet to discover new ways for children to stay in touch with their friends and teachers. Fortunately, modern technology has given us this opportunity! Technology is just the medium and its good or bad use depends on us and the conditions we create for its use. Today there is no doubt about whether technology enhances the game, the question is always the way.

– Are there any basic reasons why a child does not play enough, do the “adults” make a mistake?
The main “mistake” that we adults usually make is that we are afraid to transfer to children the responsibility for managing their lives and our confidence in their ability to do so!
The correct view, on the other hand, is that the child is a person completely equal to us. Our goal should be, through observation, respect for his needs and confidence in his own abilities, to help him discover the world every day at his own unique pace. We do not need to intervene but to create a framework of security, trust and acceptance. A child never disappoints us when we make him responsible for the physical consequences of his actions.

– At what age does a child’s education need to be play-based? Is the transition to school abrupt and the obligations arising from it and the child is in danger of losing his inspiration?
There is no age limit! In contrast, schools such as Sadbury Valley or children who have spent their entire lives in a home schooling pedagogical environment demonstrate that education can be top-notch and academic. Let us not forget that the current school model developed in the era of the industrial revolution, when the world began to need large-scale workers trained in the disciplined repetition of mechanistic work.
On the other hand, no matter how strict the academic school environment is, a child who by the age of six has been nurtured in a play based environment and has developed all the characteristics we talked about above, will definitely find a way to adapt properly. and will continue to be happy and inspiring.
Because the most important elements of his personality have already been formed in the first years of his life and the power that the game has offered him, he has it inside him.

– What changes does the education system need to make children more independent and responsible?
The Greek educational system suffers from two major wounds over time: the huge & continuous intervention of the central state in the operation of schools and the complete lack of evaluation of teachers. In both of these areas, changes are finally taking place today.
But know that we will see an “other”, better (public) school only when the teachers are substantially evaluated and the best of them are chosen to run the schools. With increased, in relation to today, autonomy and above all with the possibility of connecting the school with the society that is evolving and changing.

– What was it that made you decide to host a game conference? Target Audience;
The only reason we do it is our desire to “play ball”, as a school, in the champions league of play-based education!
So, we will bring back to Greece some of the top people in the world today, in our area. Seven keynote speakers & 25 presenters & workshop conductors, half of whom will come from abroad, for four days will try to explore with us the evolution of the game in education, in the new world that has already dawned.
Play on Early Education is aimed at anyone who comes in contact with young children on a daily basis and wants to see them evolve and discover the world with enthusiasm and confidence. Children are now born in an age that offers them thousands of stimuli very quickly. It is impossible for a teacher or a parent to manage these “new models” of children, based only on the knowledge and experience of the past.

– What to expect to hear from someone who will attend the Conference?
In addition to the traditional issues that we traditionally discuss, we will also deal with new areas harmonized with the developments of the time (eg racial equality and breaking down stereotypes, technology, neuroscience, etc.) – always centered on the ruthless, freely chosen game that helps children gain confidence, autonomy, independence.
It will again be a conference to re-evaluate the old data, with the aim of all of us leaving with constructive and “out of the box” concerns. And of course having heard “good stories” about the game from around the world!

* Giannis Giannoudis is the owner of the Dorothy Snot Preschool Education Center

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