Non-Structured Play

Date: February 10, 2009

Today I watched as the afternoon preschoolers participated in non-structured play or centers. As always they had a ton of different options to choose from. What I find most interesting as I watch this type of play is how truly different and unique each of the children are. I find it fascinating how they can all take the same activity and each of them does something completely different with it. None of them really seem to get out a hand during this time either. They don't have a need to get out of control because everything they are doing is a choice. They pick where they play and for the most part what they do.

My favorite memory of this day was watching one of the kids play on the computer. He sat there for a while and was playing his own Diego game. After a while the kid on the other computer got up and left, leaving that same Diego game still running. The next time I looked he had one hand on each mouse and he was controlling both games. It was so funny to watch as his eyes went back and forth from both of the screens. When the next kid came up and wanted to play he willingly handed over the mouse and went back to his original game.