I find this article in today’s New York Times extremely disturbing: When Dr. Michael Anderson hears about his low-income patients struggling in elementary school, he usually gives them a taste of some powerful medicine: Adderall. The pills boost focus and impulse control in children with attention deficit hyperactivity disorder. Although A.D.H.D is the diagnosis Dr. […]
Have you noticed Google’s doodle for today yet? It is in honor of Maria Montessori, founder of the Montessori style of learning, which focuses on open-ended, free-form learning, which involves a lot of play. From PC Magazine: Google on Friday honored Italian physician and educator Maria Montessori with a homepage doodle celebrating her 142nd birth […]
I came across an interesting commentary from the Telegraph in the UK anecdotally supporting a new study that claims it only costs 6 pounds (about $10) to keep kids entertained. A study by child development experts has concluded that the average family forks out £10,000 on toys and gadgets before their offspring turns 18. That’s […]
When I was a kid I loved to collect beach glass, shells, pretty rocks, leaves, feathers, or whatever cool stuff I found. I would take them home and want to display them somewhere to admire and study them further. My mom was gracious enough to give me vases to hold the feathers, and let me […]
I used to write about Science Gallery in Dublin, Ireland, a lot on my now defunct blog The Art of Science. They have now been open for a couple of years, and are huge proponents of hands-on science, art, and learning. This week they’re debuting their new MAKESHOP. MAKESHOP is a new collaborative workshop space […]
While summer may just be getting into full swing in my neck of the woods, it’s almost over for most everyone else (*sob!*). It seems everyone is trying to take advantage of a few last weekends of summer before school starts back up. But for some kids, that is a lot harder than it […]
Play Based Learning in Australia is sharing a poster that captures the play manifesto of its children; how awesome! After the overwhelming reaction to the success of the Australian Children’s Play Summit held in Melbourne on May 17th and 18th 2012 Play for Life Australia is kindly making available a copy of the Play Manifesto […]
Hi everyone. Just a little self-promotion, plus some promotion for a great organization: I have been asked to speak this Friday, July 20, at 7:20 pm about play and parkour, at the 3rd annual Parkour Summit hosted by Parkour Visions in Seattle, WA. As some of you know, I received my MA in Anthropology this […]
I posted last week about Jason Sweeney and his TED City2.0 plan to map out quiet spaces in cities. After doing some more poking around I found some other great projects all grouped under “Play in the City.” First, I commend TED and the participants of this project for recognizing the need for play in […]
I am a HUGE fan of Jonah Lehrer and his exploration of science and psychology, so I was thrilled to see his new article in the New Yorker about how important it is for us to daydream (which is a big part of make-believe play). Humans are a daydreaming species. According to a recent study […]
