Play is Education (1962)

Neville V. Scarfe

The purpose of this essay is to show that play is vitally important to childhood and that the spirit of play is an essential component of mature adulthood. At the same time, we hope to show that play is the most complex educational process of the mind and that it is a clever mechanism of nature ensuring that each individual attains knowledge and wisdom. Special attention will be given to the role of the teacher in supporting play.

Definition

Play can be described as a spontaneous, creative and desirable activity performed for its own sake. Because it is entirely natural, it is not necessarily moral if judged by the cultural or social standards of particular people at a given time. A desired, spontaneous and creative activity may appear to some as asocial, even though it is not unnatural, and for this reason people hesitate whether play should be directed or left to free choice. To what extent, then, should the teacher guide children's activities?

Theory

Play is not a simple phenomenon and cannot be explained by one or two criteria. It is as complex as the human being itself. For this reason, many theories of play have emerged, as have many critiques of these theories.

Groos's exercise theory, derived from the study of animals, deserves attention because it understands play as a means of growth and development. Groos observed that play differs according to the evolutionary level of a given species. Higher animals have longer childhoods and correspondingly longer and more extensive periods of play. However, his theory is insufficient for the human child because practice of complex adult activities is clearly impossible. It also does not explain adult play. Nevertheless, his idea that play is a mechanism of growth remains fundamental.

Hall's recapitulation theory also offers a partial explanation, but both childhood and adult play contain an important creative element alongside repetition.

The surplus energy theory is the weakest – children do indeed "let off steam" while playing, but the energy expended is only a side effect of pleasure and enthusiasm.

The only satisfactory theory is one that understands play as an educational research activity. Before developing it, however, we need to clarify the confusion around the concepts of "play" and "work". It is not relaxation, amusement, or noisy entertainment. It is not frivolity or joking. The play described here is serious effort devoted to an absorbing and desirable activity.

Work

The word "work" refers to the expenditure of energy, to effort and physical labor. It can be measured – from minimal expenditure during sleep to extreme performance of athletes or thinkers. It can be represented as a scale from zero to almost infinity.

Play

Play cannot be measured in this way. However, it can be conceived as a scale ranging from ecstatic pleasure through a neutral point to boredom and aversion. The measure of play is the measure of pleasure, or more precisely, the measure of desirability.

Some forms of play require great effort, others almost none – and yet they can be equally desirable and valuable. The same amount of effort can be pleasure for one person and aversion for another.

Work and play are thus measured by entirely different criteria. Work by the quantity of effort. Play by the quality of emotional engagement.

In public language, work is perceived as a serious and important activity, whereas play is seen as a frivolous waste of time. This is a fundamental misconception.

Some forms of play associated with great effort have enormous value for personal development. An amount of work may benefit physical fitness, but has no clear relationship to emotional satisfaction or mental growth.

What matters is freedom, absorption and concentration. It has also been found that when an activity takes on the character of desirable play, people perform more work in it. Work and play are not opposites – true education occurs when great effort is expended in the spirit of "serious play".

Morality

Neither play nor work are moral in themselves. A thief can be perfectly concentrated, creative, engaged and greatly enjoy their activity. Elements of play and work can appear in both prosocial and antisocial behaviors.

Different societies have different moral standards, sometimes even opposite ones. Therefore, a child needs some guidance even during play to understand what is socially acceptable. Even more so if we were to accept Freud's notion of innate sadistic tendencies.

However, many argue that people have a natural tendency to grow and incline towards goodness. Whitehead said: "In this fact about the instability of evil lies the moral order of the world." Plato believed in the innate goodness of children, although he emphasized regulation. He said: "Our children must from their tenderest years come into contact with lawful forms of play, otherwise they will not grow up to be well-guided and virtuous citizens." Aristotle was more cautious: "Play should be introduced under proper regulation, like a medicine." He acknowledged its value but also the necessity of guidance.

Therapy

In the past, too much emphasis was placed on the therapeutic value of play in emotionally disturbed children. This led some to the mistaken notion that play is needed only for disturbed children. They overlooked that children often become ill precisely because they have been denied freedom and the opportunity to play. Play is as essential for a child's mental health as food is for bodily health.

Education

This essay therefore focuses particularly on the positive values of play for the healthy child – its enormous value in education and the importance that the teacher should place on it as a natural tool for self-education.

Play is the highest form of education. As Dr. L. Frank of the Caroline Zachry Institute in New York says: "It is essentially the creation of personality, the process by which an individual becomes a human being willing to live in the social order and symbolic cultural world." Through play, a child builds a relationship with the world and with themselves, learns to learn, masters life tasks and gains self-confidence. Through play, they build their inner world of meanings and emotions.

Play allows conflicts, fears and angers to be released and at the same time allows the child to discover acceptable ways to express them. It is a non-verbal language that expresses needs. It is educational because the child is independent in play, fully engaged and completely absorbed.

No other activity stimulates such concentration, imagination, initiative, interest and personal growth. None utilizes internal abilities and energy as completely as play.

Creativity

Experimental research, creativity and emotional maturity are the basis of quality education – just as quality play and quality work are. Therefore, it is essential to address the creative aspect of learning.

If we accept play in preschool age, we must ensure that its spirit persists in later education. Learning is lasting only if new knowledge is creatively expressed. This is not mere imitation – it is always about original expression.

Children after visiting an airport often immediately begin to "play out" the airport at home with boxes, modeling clay, or drawings. For learning to be lasting, the original experience must be re-embodied, expressed, replayed. Thinking selects, rearranges and refines experience according to its own emotional experience. Emotions are key – without them, learning is shallow.

Research

Play is not merely practice, repetition or energy expenditure. It is the essence of research – an adventure, an experiment, a transactional process. It is motivated by innate curiosity. It is the joy of discovery and the satisfaction of creativity.

Artistry

Play is nature's research mechanism, and at the same time it is spontaneous, creative and independent of external need. It is free because children's activity is non-binding, exploratory, open to change and replacement. A child can manipulate objects and people more freely than an adult.

However, work can have the same qualities as play if it is spontaneous. Both art and play require freedom.

Thinking

Piaget emphasizes the intellectual value of play. Symbolic play, according to him, is egocentric thinking in pure form. A child naturally creates a private reality protected from forced adaptation. All play is associated with intense mental activity and rapid intellectual growth.

The highest form of inquiry is essentially play. Einstein said: "The desire to arrive at logically connected concepts is the emotional basis of all vague playing with fundamental ideas. This combinatorial or associational play seems to be the essential feature of productive thinking."

Teacher

If play is the natural tool for self-education, how should the teacher proceed? Where is the line between direct instruction and discovering moral order through one's own experience? How can discipline be achieved within play?

Teaching must support intellectual play, experimentation and the development of specific forms of self-expression. The child must find the path to adulthood at their own pace.

The teacher's task is not to direct play, but to remove obstacles to constructive freedom. They provide materials, space, opportunities and experiences, based on knowledge of children's abilities. They should work by suggestion and example, not by command.

Sir Percy Nunn said: "The teacher is the permanent president in the school, and must therefore be all the more mindful of civic duties given the extraordinary power of his position."

The teacher thus provides building sets, modeling material, colors, water, sand, paper, time, space, freedom and kindness. They create conditions in which children want to learn and want to play. They encourage spontaneity, exploration, curiosity and creativity and at the same time create a moral atmosphere through their example.

Conclusion

The spirit of play is vital for all humanity. It is the basis of most human happiness and the means by which people move forward creatively, scientifically, intellectually and socially. Play is essential not only in childhood but throughout life.

If we understand children's play, we understand the key to the processes that educate the whole person. And because we live in a civilized world, all play activities need a kind, understanding teacher who provides materials, stimuli, kindness, freedom and space – and through their example sets standards of behavior and discipline with which children can creatively learn to engage.