The Art of Play

My family and I had a great summer. I was fortunate enough to get to go to New York and see the "bright lights, big city". New York did not disappoint, it was exactly as I had pictured it; amazing architecture, great shows, fantastic food...the city that does not sleep is a great description. We of course went and did all of the tourist attractions, but one that I absolutely wanted to do was dance on the piano from "Big". Sounds a little ridiculous but is a childhood memory, we watched the movie with our children before we went and I promised to bring back pictures and a video.
The piano is located at FAO Schwartz right off of Central Park. It is an unbelievable toy store with many items larger than life - picture a nerds box the size of a cereal box. What struck me here was not the amazing toys, or even the size of the store, it was the people who worked at the store. They seemed happy and were constantly playing and inviting people to play. While most adults stood back and watched, the kids joined in without a second thought; throwing airplanes around the store, jumping on the life size piano. As I was walking by to go to the piano, one of the workers said to another guy - I love coming to work everyday, there are not many jobs and companies that encourage you to play for work.
Dr. Stuart Brown recently wrote the book Play. I have not read the book yet, but I am looking forward to it. He sees play as essential in the development of intelligence and happiness. Often as educators, we get wrapped up in the tasks of the day, the curriculum to finish and need to value the play that our students engage in to facilitate learning to a deeper level. This also creates a culture of curiosity and wonderment in our students and engagement in the learning process.
As I jumped on the life size piano and giggled with all of the kids that were on with me, I thought, as adults we all need to jump on the big piano sometimes and remember how important it is for all learners adults and kids to play.