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Sifaan Zavahir's avatar

I want to share something that I wasn’t aware of when I first read this article. The UN Convention on the Rights of the Child recognizes a Child’s Right to Play; in their General Comment #17 in 2013, they define Play as follows:

Children’s play is any behaviour, activity or process initiated, controlled and structured by children themselves; it takes place whenever and wherever opportunities arise. Caregivers may contribute to the creation of environments in which play takes place, but play itself is non-compulsory, driven by intrinsic motivation and undertaken for its own sake, rather than as a means to an end. Play involves the exercise of autonomy, physical, mental or emotional activity, and has the potential to take infinite forms, either in groups or alone. These forms will change and be adapted throughout the course of childhood. The key characteristics of play are fun, uncertainty, challenge, flexibility and non-productivity. Together, these factors contribute to the enjoyment it produces and the consequent incentive to continue to play. While play is often considered non-essential, the Committee reaffirms that it is a fundamental and vital dimension of the pleasure of childhood, as well as an essential component of physical, social, cognitive, emotional and spiritual development.

I believe it is useful to refer to this as it gives further credibility to your arguments

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Helena Handcart's avatar

I was interested to see you define a difference between play and being playful. I use the two words to talk about learning to write. When we explore an idea using prompts then we write in a "playful" explorative way. When children pick up materials for themselves and make books/signs/menus then that is writing "play". Many teacher have only learned to teach writing in a structured manner so bringing in both "playful" and "play" is important to instilling a love of writing. Thanks for your informative newsletters.

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