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A Child's Work: The Importance of Fantasy Play

A Child's Work: The Importance of Fantasy Play
By Vivian Gussin Paley

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Product Description

The buzz word in education today is accountability. But the federal mandate of "no child left behind" has come to mean curriculums driven by preparation for standardized tests and quantifiable learning results. Even for very young children, unstructured creative time in the classroom is waning as teachers and administrators are under growing pressures to measure school readiness through rote learning and increased homework. In her new book, Vivian Gussin Paley decries this rapid disappearance of creative time and makes the case for the critical role of fantasy play in the psychological, intellectual, and social development of young children.

A Child's Work goes inside classrooms around the globe to explore the stunningly original language of children in their role-playing and storytelling. Drawing from their own words, Paley examines how this natural mode of learning allows children to construct meaning in their worlds, meaning that carries through into their adult lives. Proof that play is the work of children, this compelling and enchanting book will inspire and instruct teachers and parents as well as point to a fundamental misdirection in today's educational programs and strategies.

Product Details

  • Amazon Sales Rank: #39663 in Books
  • Published on: 2005-05-27
  • Original language: English
  • Number of items: 1
  • Binding: Paperback
  • 111 pages

Features

Editorial Reviews

Review
"This irresistible book is Vivian Gussin Paley at her very best.... Paley's defence of fantasy play is fuelled by urgency and a passionate interest in children and everything they do.... [A Child's Work also includes] story after powerful story from Paley's magnificent anthology of the imagination, all collected from 'natural born storytellers who create their own dramatic literature.' The case she makes is convincing because, in generous moves of self-analysis, she shows us her own learning, her own coming to understand." - Mary Jane Drummond, Times Education Supplement; "America's children have in Vivian Gussin Paley an extraordinarily knowing and thoughtful observer - indeed, a resourceful teacher who has so much to tell us about how our country's young people live, learn, grow, in mind, heart and spirit. Here is a book brimming with brave wisdom that will help us parents and teachers understand how our sons and daughters, our students come to terms with life through their minds' activity." - Robert Coles author of The Moral Intelligence of Children; "Paley does children a great service by reminding us of the enormous value of fantasy play." - San Francisco Ghronicle Book Review"

Review
"This irresistible book is Vivian Gussin Paley at her very best. . . . The mixture in this book, of times and spaces old and new, is nothing strange; what''s different is the cold, critical eye she casts on the shape and purposes of early education today. . . . Her present insistence on the necessary relation between a rich variety of fantasy play and intellectual growth is represented as a hard-earned, precious insight, on which she will not negotiate."--Mary Jane Drummond, Times Educational Supplement (Mary Jane Drummond Times Educational Supplement (UK) )

"[A] richly detailed reminder of the enormously important role of imaginary play . . . Paley does children a great service by reminding us of the enormous value of fantasy play." (Elizabeth Corcoran San Francisco Chronicle Book Review )

From the Inside Flap

The buzz word in education today is accountability. But the federal mandate of "no child left behind" has come to mean curriculums driven by preparation for standardized tests and quantifiable learning results. Even for very young children, unstructured creative time in the classroom is waning as teachers and administrators are under growing pressures to measure school readiness through rote learning and increased homework. In her new book, Vivian Gussin Paley decries this rapid disappearance of creative time and makes the case for the critical role of fantasy play in the psychological, intellectual, and social development of young children.

A Child's Work goes inside classrooms around the globe to explore the stunningly original language of children in their role-playing and storytelling. Drawing from their own words, Paley examines how this natural mode of learning allows children to construct meaning in their worlds, meaning that carries through into their adult lives. Proof that play is the work of children, this compelling and enchanting book will inspire and instruct teachers and parents as well as point to a fundamental misdirection in today's educational programs and strategies.

Customer Reviews

A Child's Work: The Importance of Fantasy Play5
I enjoy all of Vivian Paley's books, but this one is especially timely and pertinent since I am part of a kindergarten readiness transition team for a school district in Pennsylvania. Ms. Paley is very clear about the importance of play during the early childhood years and brings her beliefs across in a simple and convincing format. I bought a copy for each member of our team with the hope that it will illicit thoughtful discussion and lead us toward some needed changes in our views of what is significant in our relationships, interactions and guidance of young children as we make policies, and set out to prepare children for elementary school and beyond.

geting in touch with your childhood5
Vivian Gussen Paley is one of the best advocates for children baing allowed to learn through play. She reminds us of how we used to learn, how we used fantasy play to calm our anxieties, and also the need for us to stop and really listen to what children are talking about. This book is a must have for parents, and teachers of children aged 0ne to eight, it offers an insight to the value of children learning to learn. Fantasy play encompasses every aspect of the curricullum and the value that should be placed in this type of play.

A Renewed Hope For My Career4
After reading this book, I realized just how much pressure must be on Kindergarten teachers today. There are expectations put upon them to prepare children academically for first grade when so many of them were not prepared for today's Kindergarten in the first place. From then on, it's a snowball effect in which each subsequent teacher is trying to catch every child up on academic standards. What ever happened to preparing them for life?

Einstein said, "Education is what remains after one has forgotten everything he learned in school.", and this book follows that train of thought. As more time passes, play is devalued more and more... then people wonder why children have to critical thinking and problem solving skills. It's evident that so much can be learned through fantasy play and storytelling... much more than simply learning what you need to pass a test.

Reading this book renewed my hope for what Early Childhood Professionals can do in classrooms to get back their roots in play. I highly recommend reading this if you work with young children or have children of your own!