Play is Learning

Challenge

It may come as a surprise that not all kindergarten classrooms include an environment rich with opportunities for play. Educational policies like the No Child Left Behind Act has contributed to the disappearance of play in kindergarten. Presently, kindergarten children now spend 2 - 3 hours a day in math and literacy instruction and only 30 minutes in unstructured play. The emphasis on testing and test preparation and the inability of teachers to develop ways to incorporate block play, art activities, and open ended objects into the curriculum has denied children the opportunity to develop the physical and mental skills critical to healthy cognitive development.

According to The American Academy of Pediatrics, “play is essential to development”. Children who are not given opportunities for child-centered, exploratory play will not be prepared for success in school. In addition, children who are not given time for unstructured play exhibit behavior problems and are more stressed. It is predicted, that the increasing absence of play from schools will result in a generation of kids unequipped to handle the challenges of the global economy as creative ability becomes increasingly important in achieving success.

Obviously, any policy changes to the structure and format of kindergarten is part of a bigger conversation on the US educational system, but I wanted to explore what opportunities for minor intervention existed in the elementary schools of New York City.

Research and Insights

Through field research, I visited classrooms during free play time, observing kindergarteners at play in a variety of activities. I talked with children about what activities they liked and why they enjoyed them. I also interviewed teachers to gain an understanding of their perception of play and the role it currently has in the classroom.

One of the critical insights that led to my hypothesis was that there was a difference in classrooms that incorporated play throughout the day and classrooms that only have a dedicated amount of time devoted to free play. The problem that I discovered was that in classrooms that lack the materials and resources to create a rich play environment, those classrooms were unable to support the sophisticated play experiences a child desires. This environment is referred to in my thesis as the classroom play desert.

Solving the Classroom Play Desert
I think it is possible solve the problem of classroom play deserts. My hypothesis states that to achieve sophisticated play in play deserts, one that includes transformation, improvisation and narration, a child must be provided with tangible materials to manipulate and react to and a method to draw on past experiences to incorporate during play. Working within the constraints of the classroom, the goal of my thesis is to develop frameworks for designing classroom toys for free play and to use those frameworks as a model for developing a product concept that could be implemented in the classroom.

Springboard Concept
Springboard is a cooperative toy set that enhances traditional classroom blocks by giving children the ability to create their own play environments and transform blocks into objects for play. Designed for kindergarten classrooms where free play is limited to an hour or less a day, Springboard uses embedded electronics to create a multisensory experience - stimulating creative and narrative play. Regardless of the constraints that hinder play in classrooms; this platform will evoke the sophisticated play experiences that children desire.

Read thesis blog posts.


Currently being developed to fulfill graduation requirements for MFA Thesis in Interaction Design 2011