{"id":1166,"date":"2008-05-08T10:46:08","date_gmt":"2008-05-08T17:46:08","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.artsjournal.com\/artfulmanager\/wp\/2008\/05\/creating_space_for_play\/"},"modified":"2008-05-08T10:46:08","modified_gmt":"2008-05-08T17:46:08","slug":"creating_space_for_play","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.artsjournal.com\/artfulmanager\/main\/creating_space_for_play.php","title":{"rendered":"Creating space for play"},"content":{"rendered":"<p>One of my MBA students (thanks Michal) connected me with <a href=\"http:\/\/www.ccl-cca.ca\/CCL\/Reports\/LessonsInLearning\/LinL20061010LearninPlay.htm?Language=EN\">this useful article about creative play<\/a> and its importance in childhood development. I particularly like the list of tips for facilitating play (included below). It seems that cultural managers could use some version of this list in many situations, by substituting the word &#8221;children&#8221; with &#8221; staff,&#8221; &#8221;artists,&#8221; &#8221;board members,&#8221; &#8221;audiences,&#8221; &#8221;volunteers,&#8221; and the like.<\/p>\n<p>Let the play begin.<\/p>\n<blockquote><p><i><br \/>\n<b>Facilitating children&#8217;s play<\/b><br \/>\nYoung children need a balance of opportunities for different kinds of play, indoors and outdoors. They need the support of knowledgeable adults and parents who do the following:<\/p>\n<ul>\n<li>Provide long, uninterrupted periods (45-60 minutes minimum) for spontaneous free play.\n<li>Provide a variety of materials to stimulate different kinds of play&#8211;blocks and construction toys for cognitive development; sand, mud, water, clay, paint, and other open-ended materials for sensory play, dress-up clothes and props for pretend play; balls, hoops, climbing places, and open space for gross motor play.\n<li>Provide loose parts for play, both indoors and out, and encourage children to manipulate the environment to support their play.\n<li>Consider the opportunities for challenge and age-appropriate risk-taking in play.\n<li>Ensure that all children have access to play opportunities and are included in play.\n<li>Let children play for their own purposes.\n<li>Play with children on their terms, taking the occasional ride down the slide, or putting on a hat and assuming a role in pretend play.\n<li>Recognize the value of messy play, rough-and-tumble play, and nonsense play.\n<li>Understand that children need to feel a sense of belonging to the play culture of childhood.\n<li>Take an interest in their play, asking questions, offering suggestions, and engaging eagerly as co-players when invited.\n<\/ul>\n<p><\/i><\/p><\/blockquote>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>One of my MBA students (thanks Michal) connected me with this useful article about creative play and its importance in childhood development. I particularly like the list of tips for facilitating play (included below). It seems that cultural managers could use some version of this list in many situations, by substituting the word &#8221;children&#8221; with [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":3,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_genesis_hide_title":false,"_genesis_hide_breadcrumbs":false,"_genesis_hide_singular_image":false,"_genesis_hide_footer_widgets":false,"_genesis_custom_body_class":"","_genesis_custom_post_class":"","_genesis_layout":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[4],"tags":[],"class_list":{"0":"post-1166","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","6":"category-main","7":"entry"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.artsjournal.com\/artfulmanager\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1166","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.artsjournal.com\/artfulmanager\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.artsjournal.com\/artfulmanager\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.artsjournal.com\/artfulmanager\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/3"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.artsjournal.com\/artfulmanager\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=1166"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.artsjournal.com\/artfulmanager\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1166\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.artsjournal.com\/artfulmanager\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=1166"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.artsjournal.com\/artfulmanager\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=1166"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.artsjournal.com\/artfulmanager\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=1166"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}