A child's job is to play. I've heard that line from teachers and parents over and over since I've been in Finland. The amazing thing is that the Finns really believe it and put it into practice all the time. It's quite amazing how much of childhood is reserved for play time for the young students in the Finnish education system. From the frequent breaks during the school day for outdoor recess to shorter school days, children simply have more time to play...yet they continue to outperform many other countries on tests like the PISA.
In my post about my daughters' first days of pre-school in Finland I explained a bit about the Finnish education system. Now that I've been here for almost two months, I've thought a lot more about play and the role it has in education and in my children's lives. My children have had more time to "play" here in Finland than they have had at home in a long time! It's been amazing to see them grow as sisters...and problem solvers...through this process.
Recently when I was speaking to a colleague I realized there were several days a week when my children, only two years apart, had NO time to play at home in Connecticut, and excluding weekends they rarely played together. On Thursdays my daughters went off to school, I quickly picked them up at 3:30 and drove half an hour to gymnastics. At 4:00 Talia went in and did her gymnastics thing while I tried to get Tea to focus on her 1st grade homework and spelling words for her Friday test while also eating a quick piece of pizza for dinner. At 5:00 my husband took Talia home and Tea did two hours of gymnastics. At 7:00 we drove home, unpacked and Tea got ready for bed. No free play with her own toys! On Wednesdays Tea had a few minutes to play between getting home and then hopping in the car for ballet class. After ballet it was back home to eat dinner, clean up, and get ready for bed. Of course these activities were all great for their development physically, socially and musically, but it limited her time for free play.
I have loved watching my girls have so much time to play together here in Finland. They are done with school every day at 1:00 and then come home with Adam to play! Most of the time they are playing pretend together. They pretend they are at school; they pretend they are mommies taking care of babies; they pretend they are princesses, birds, butterflies, puppies, kittens or dancers. They create dialogues; they choreograph dances; they put on shows for us. Yes, this also means we have more laundry because the girls put on multiple outfits a day. And yes, cleaning up at the end of the day takes a little longer because all the furniture is out of the dollhouse, the Legos are all over the floor, baby dolls are "sleeping" all over the house in their "beds" and markers, crayons and pencils are all over the table. Once bedtime rolls around the girls are exhausted from another day hard at work...well, play!
This trip to Finland for seven months has been amazing in so many ways. But one of the most touching parts has also been so simple. My girls are getting time to play together. They are becoming the best of friends. At times they are the worst of enemies; they are sisters after all! But most of the time they are playing nicely and playing with toys that allow for creativity. Blocks, Legos, dolls, markers, costumes and stuffed animals all allow for so much discovery. It also has given me keen insight into what they are thinking, hearing or learning. When they pretend to be mommies I hear my own words coming out of their mouths - for better or for worse! When they play school I can hear what they are learning in their classrooms. Sometimes I can jump in and seize a "teachable moment," but most of the time I just let them play.
So what? They get a lot of time to play. Big deal. Yes, actually, it is. The biggest deal is that they are learning some really key skills through play. First, they are learning problem solving skills. If the blocks don't fit together the way they want, the costume isn't staying on, or there isn't the exact toy they want they have to solve the problem. Tape comes in handy a lot in this process! But so does patience, perseverence, trying again, and self-advocacy. These are real life problems that they are invested in solving, not contrived scenarios set up by a teacher to try to teach problem solving. They are also learning about interpersonal relationships. Sharing, compromising, and even fighting and making up, all are important skills that they develop through play with each other. They are learning to ask to use a toy "in two minutes" and then can wait their turn. They play games together and learn to follow rules. It's really pretty fantastic to see how much they learn through play. This has been an unforseen and incredible benefit of spending time in Finland!
How does this all apply to my high school students? They aren't playing dolls or building with blocks or playing teacher and school. But they are still playing. All of my students participate in a sport and they come across many opportunities to work together and solve problems in a natural situation that is valuable and important to them. Our most popular class is robotics - a Lego based class where students learn to build different projects and then program them - problem solving at its finest. I hope that when I return home I can remember the joy of watching my girls play and can remind my high school students about the importance of play for themselves.
Here are some pictures of the girls doing some of their best "work."
Here they are playing my favorite game...spa!
Sledding down our driveway.
Climbing trees in the winter!
Building a snowman and using all sorts of things to decorate him.
Climbing up huge mountains of snow is their favorite thing to do on the walks home.