Play and Choice - Based

Rebecca Godfrey

Art 133

Play and Choice - Based

Play is an important aspect in a childs life. When children are playing they are focusing on

having fun, but they are also learning. According to Pink (2006), a play ethic can strengthen and

ennoble the work ethic (p. 204). Through play children can develop social and cognitive skills,

mature, and become more self-confident and engage in new experiences and environments. A

choice-based teaching style will encourage the students to learn through play. Freyermuth

encouraged the idea of a choice-based learning style by discussing how she gave her students

freedom to create what they wanted and how they wanted to. She noted how the students were

hesitant, but excited. She also mentions how the students were still learning through this

approach. They were asking questions that naturally occurred and she then taught them how to

obtain the knowledge (p. 49). Freyermuth also stated how the students, wanted to learn because

they were ready (p. 50). When children are playing it helps by strengthening their skills and

expose them to new experiences.

In the future I would like to be a primary school age teacher. When teaching my students

about the importance of play I would recreate the free choice project we did in class. There was a

wide variety of materials for the class to use and create with. I enjoyed this activity because it

gave me the opportunity to create whatever I wanted without having to live to an expectation. I

thought it was wonderful how the professor walked around to each of the students and asked

what they were created and how it made them feel. In the future I would ask my students similar

questions to see their different answers and understand them on a new level. I feel that my future

students would enjoy this activity as much as I did.

 Play and Choice - Based

References

Freyermuth, V. K. (2012). One teachers search for a holistic approach. In L.H. Campbell & S.

Simmons III (Eds.), The heart of education: Holistic approaches (pp. 266 -269).

Reston, VA: National Art Education Association

Pink, D. (2006). A whole new mind: Why right-brainers will rule the future. New York, NY: The

Berkeley Group.