Whose Play Is It?

“Yes, we remember all the benefits [of play], but we have to remember that it’s fun!”

This was one of many phrases that I loved and took from the “Whose Play Is It?” conference on play in Scotland. Yes, I got to attend a conference ON PLAY! How freaking cool—right?! The conference was a wonderful experience. I got to meet a lot of passionate educators, members of organizations, and people who really just want to support children. The coolest thing about the conference though was the fact that when I told people about my project, they did not have a weird look on their face. We were all dorking out about play together—understanding its merits and challenging our perceptions of childhood. It was so great!

The conference was called “Whose Play Is It” because of the adult invasion over play. The keynote speaker, and rockstar, Bob Hughes, spoke of the adult world that we have tried to create for children’s play. We want play to look like one thing—something that will educate and benefit children, something with an end result. We think that we know what is best for children, when really, evolution has allowed children to receive the skills that they need through play. Without letting children play freely, they are unable to access what evolution has selected for them. When we, as adults, intrude a space, whether literally or figuratively, we interrupt the natural connection between free play and brain development. This got me thinking about my role in play and my project and the different philosophies that I am looking at. Is my project intrusive? Am I being realistic when I want to understand play? After all, it is not my world, but the world of a child. It also got me thinking about what play looks like to different educational philosophies. Each philosophy creates their own idea of what play should be and what it should look like. This idea is constructed and carried out in the structure and content of the classroom and the daily schedule. I would like to further explore this idea in each place that I visit. I think that it would be interesting to look at what play looks like to different school settings and cultures.

In addition to attending the conference, I have also been able to meet with some organizations that support play. Surprisingly, Scotland has a decent amount. I have no idea whether or not these types of things exist in the States or not, but if they do, I sure want to be involved in one when I get back. The organizations that I have talked with do all sorts of fun stuff with neighborhoods, schools, organizations, and government projects. This ranges from advocacy to play space construction to funding to training. Cool beans—huh?! But really, all of these guys are fantastic! I have had a great time learning from them!

Alrighty, so besides nerding out about play, Scotland has been a wonderful adventure! I have been in Edinburgh for two weeks now and although it is kind of chilly and it gets dark a wee bit early, it is lovely here! Here are some of my favorite Scotland happenings...

Hiking in the highlands. Last week, two Sewanee folks were randomly in town and when they said that they rented a car and planned on hiking the next day, it did not matter to me that I had the stomach bug, I was going on that trip. So, we headed up to the highlands past Stirling to Ben A’an, our hiking destination. We were told the night before from a drunken Scotsman that Ben A’an was “a hill,” well, I’m sorry Scotland, but you need to change what you consider to be a “hill.” This was a mountain. A large, steep, lung sucking, mountain. A snow covered mountain. These things considered, it was a fan-freaking-tastic climb! The views were stunnnning. I was constantly stopping (NOT because I was out of breath) to admire my surroundings. The hike overlooked a gorgeous lake and was surrounded by snowy peaks. All I have to say is I know why John Muir was inspired by the Scottish landscape. It is beautiful.

Seeing The Black Keys in Newcastle. I went with my host here to go see them and man, was it an incredible evening! Not only was the concert fantastic, but what happened afterwards was equally remarkable. So, we had originally booked a bus back to Edinburgh for 4:30 am (I know, ouch!) but since the concert finished earlier than we thought it would, we decided to try our luck at catching the bus that was at 11:30 pm. While trying to figure out if we were at the right stop or not, we met the other two people standing there, because there is no better way to bond with strangers than over a confusing bus schedule. They were waiting for people who were on the bus and confirmed that we were in the right place. The girl who was waiting there had an accent from the States, so naturally, I had to ask where she was from. Turns out she was a fellow Southerner—woohoo—from Mississippi! We hugged, because that is what happens with you meet a Southerner in England, and began to chat about what we were both doing on the other side of the pond. Turns out, we had a few friends on common. One of which was also a Watson Fellow!! Crazy?! Naturally, we quickly became new friends! Once we had stopped jumping up and down and shouting at each other (which did merit A LOT of strange looks), her friend came walking down the street. Turned out that the bus didn’t stop where it was supposed to so we were sticking around until the 4:30 one. Thankfully though, our new friends let us come and hang out with them! We had an amazing evening that was spent talking about linguistics (what she was studying), swapping funny stories, drinking tea, and eating bad take-out food. It was absolutely perfect! I could not have been more thankful for the hospitality of two wonderfully kind strange strangers! So Jane and Kirt, Y’ALL ARE THE BEST, THANK YOU! J

One funny thing that I have noticed from being away from home are the weird things that make me nostalgic. Random, strange things.

-The smell of Christmas trees.

-The song “Country Roads.”

-Seeing a picture of rolling mountains. And these mountains don’t have to be from the States, they could be rolling through any country.

-Seeing Jack Daniels memorabilia. This one is particularly funny to me, because the distillery is really not THAT close to Sewanee.

-Smelling fried foods. 

Ya, they are pretty weird, huh? 

I’ve tried haggis (really tasty if you don’t think about what it is), developed an appreciation for Scotch whisky, and tried a deep fried Mars bar (which is a Scottish thing, strangely enough). Scotland has been a great adventure and I am amazed with its beauty. I’ll be here another week and then head down to Londontown! To get you in the holiday spirit, I will leave you with this classic UK Christmas tune from my favorite 80’s band Slade J