My Connections To Play

"Play is the only way the highest intelligence of humankind can unfold.” -Joseph Chilton Pearce

“We don’t stop playing because we grow old; we grow old because we stop playing.” -George Bernard Shaw

“It is a happy talent to know how to play.” -Ralph Waldo Emerson

As a child, I played my little booty off! I did not have all the latest toys but, I had a huge imagination. I had imaginary friends as walls, I put on my mother's nylon as long hair (my mother used to give me a boy haircut), I made my own dolls and Barbie outfits from my grandmother scraps as she sews our clothing. But, most of my play was supported by all my cousins.  We are a bunch of girl cousins from my mother side.  We were basically raised together as we spent every single weekend together up until the age of 13,(I thought I was too grown to play).  I am the oldest female cousin so they all looked up to me. We all bought our own uniqueness to our play, we traveled the world, transformed into our favorite singing group, to teachers, doctors, mothers, daughters, boyfriends (yes we were each other's boyfriends), and everything else in between. We cut our hair, painted our nails, and borrow our mother's heels. We camped under the stars, gave births to our favorite dolls and used our mother's makeup while they were sleeping.  I do not remember having many play dates from classmates but I did have a few and we are still friends and continue to play adults game till this day. I am still very close to my cousins and we continue to play adult games. 

As an adult, I still play, adults game like pool, board games or any fun activity that might include a game of some sort. Furthermore, As I look at "play" As I observed my students and engage with them as they play, I have noticed some of my students rather interact with me than with their peers.  Majority of them engage with their classmates and are able to use their imagination to create a scene, characters, a plot and support their play with minimum assistance from me.  A couple of years back I would hear a lot of young children use the word "bored" if they were not engaged in some sort of technology. I used to tell them to create something, paint a picture, ride a bike, call your friends, use your imagination, they looked at me like if I had a third eye.  But that type of language and outlook at life has been dying down within my demographic.  

I hope to play and which play on everybody! To play is to have joy, playing is beautiful, to play is to live.  I tell my students "Don't grow up it's a trap" especially when they what to be older than what they are.  It's so funny to see their reaction.  As I continue to educate and nurture my students I will continue to support and be an advocate for play no matter what age you are, play can be incorporated into your life.  

Some of My Childhood Favorite Toys

My Little Pony
I had the entire collection, but my favorite one was the purple one

Miss Piggy, my favorite doll because her hair was soft, I don't know if it was because I combed the S%*t out of her hair or because she came like that, but either way, I loved her.

McDonald's Easy Bake Oven, yes I ate that nasty stuff. Between one of my cousin and I we had almost the entire collection, we would get tother on the weekends and have a ball with this especially the ice cream.  

Easy Bake Oven, this was my favorite of the ovens. The light bulb wasn't the brightest idea (no pun intended), the soggiest cake ever but like I said before we had a blast baking our cakes. 

My Grandmother's scraps from when she used to sew our (all my cousins and me) clothing.  She taught me how to sew with a needle and a thread at four years old.  I sew all my dolls and Barbies clothing.  

I still get flashback every time I wear a pair. "I used to swing my hair side to side flip it back and forth and completely rock out with my nylon wig. 

Walls were my best friend as a child they were always there for me, never told my secrets, and help me practice my kissing skills.