We all know that children need lots of free time to play, but sometimes it’s nice to hear it again. Here’s a compilation of quotes through the centuries about the importance of play…
“You are worried about seeing him spend his early years in doing nothing. What! Is it nothing to be happy? Nothing to skip, play, and run around all day long? Never in his life will he be so busy again.”
~Jean-Jacques Rousseau, Emile, 1762
“Play is the only way the highest intelligence of humankind can unfold.”
~Joseph Chilton Pearce
“Play is not only our creative drive; it’s a fundamental mode of learning.”
~David Elkind
“The activities that are the easiest, cheapest, and most fun to do – such as singing, playing games, reading, storytelling, and just talking and listening – are also the best for child development.”
~Jerome Singer
“Play is the beginning of knowledge.”
~Anonymous
“Play builds the kind of free-and-easy, try-it-out, do-it-yourself character that our future needs.”
~James L. Hymes Jr.
“The most effective kind of education is that a child should play amongst lovely things.”
~Plato
Children need the freedom and time to play. Play is not a luxury. Play is a necessity.
~Kay Redfield Jamison
Pausing to listen to an airplane in the sky, stooping to watch a ladybug on a plant, sitting on a rock to watch the waves crash over the quayside – children have their own agendas and timescales. As they find out more about their world and their place in it, they work hard not to let adults hurry them. We need to hear their voices.
~Cathy Nutbrown
“Play is the highest form of research.”
~Albert Einstein
Happy Tuesday!
I love this post! Thank you! I often fill my child’s day with activity and I need to remember that play gives her the space to understand her world without my mediation. Needed to hear this today.
This is awesome!
That was lovely. And so true! Every day is a delight when I watch my grandson play and learn from what he sees and does.
Love the quotes! These were just the things I was looking for when I wrote about the same topic: http://sonyaterborg.com/2012/06/23/the-power-of-play-why-we-should-just-do-it/
I have since linked to your post! Thanks!
Found you blog a few months ago and pop by occasionally because I can never forget your awesome ideas and fun loving family. Thank You very much. Sending happy healthy thoughts for you and your family.
I love to play and I foster that with my kids. It nourishes the soul and grows imaginative children.