When my son Reuben was at kindergarten, his wonderful headteacher Lucille Sher was convinced that the UK, with its early formal schooling was - and still is - getting it wrong. In his first few years at primary school, Reuben clearly wanted to move around. "The body," as we Alexander Teachers are wont to say, "is designed to move." But my son's teachers wanted and needed him to sit still.
An excellent article in today's Guardian Education section outlines how research findings are accumulating in support of the children learning through play well into key stage 2, "up to around 8." Five types of play are identified: physical, symbolic, with rules, with objects, and pretence. A variety of skills are developed through each. Click here to read the article.
Incidentally, the definition (quoting Lego's Education Head Hanne Rasmussen) of play as "a playful state of mind in which...you are open and try different things and are in a positive flow" also describes a state of being I rediscovered, as an adult, through the Alexander Technique.
An excellent article in today's Guardian Education section outlines how research findings are accumulating in support of the children learning through play well into key stage 2, "up to around 8." Five types of play are identified: physical, symbolic, with rules, with objects, and pretence. A variety of skills are developed through each. Click here to read the article.
Incidentally, the definition (quoting Lego's Education Head Hanne Rasmussen) of play as "a playful state of mind in which...you are open and try different things and are in a positive flow" also describes a state of being I rediscovered, as an adult, through the Alexander Technique.
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