In our rush to teach reading and math at younger and younger ages, are we pushing children out of an essential part of childhood—play?
The board of directors of Evergreen Garden Playschool think so, with enough conviction that they have invited renowned child psychologist and author David Elkind to speak to the community on “The Power of Play.”
The Evergreen Garden Playschool, located at the Harvard Unitarian Church Fellowship Building, enrolls 10 preschool students annually and offers an afternoon program, Magnolia Blossom, for toddlers and parents.
“We wanted to give a gift to the community,” said Amy Hilbert, president of Evergreen Garden’s board of directors. She explained that Elkind’s research and writings support the school’s philosophy.
Elkind, a child psychologist and retired professor from Tufts University, has long been an influential voice in early childhood education.
“Children’s play—their inborn disposition for curiosity, imagination, and fantasy—is being silenced in the high-tech, commercialized world we have created,” writes Elkind in the introduction to his latest book, The Power of Play. Elkind asserts that not only does play nourish cognitive, social, and emotional development, it also “contributes to healthy development at successive age levels.” He cites research showing that the cognitive skills necessary for math computation and learning to read are developmentally dependent and generally occur later than the 3- and 4 year-old preschool age.
Evergreen Garden Playschool, a Waldorf-inspired school, was founded in 2001 by Harvard residents Hellie Swartwood, Sarah Arnold, and Eva Cahill.
Cahill has since moved to Vermont, but Swartwood and Arnold are still very much involved, even though their youngest children are both elementary school students. Arnold, who is the lead teacher at the school, is finishing a master’s degree in Waldorf early education. Both are on the Evergreen board.
While teacher Sarah Arnold might be making a puppet, 3- and 4-year-old students may be playing elsewhere in the room, watching her, or making something themselves with her help. Adults being adults and children being children is fundamental to the Waldorf school philosophy in which teachers model behavior that the children, by nature, observe and imitate through play. Later, Arnold will use puppets she has made in the storytelling that is an important part of the school’s educational practice.
Arnold explained that the goal of Waldorf early childhood education is to “educate hand, heart, and mind, with a primary focus on developing imagination and physical skills as tools for education later.”
A large part of each morning class is given to free play, indoor and outside. Open-ended toys rely on the children’s imagination to give them meaning and purpose.
David Elkind will speak at Cronin Auditorium Thursday, March 13, at 7 p.m. Tickets are $5 in advance, ordered from Kate Lucey at 978-456-3104, or $8 at the door.