Are They Really Playing...?

Do children really play at Playcentre? Play is an adult word, as it must be if our language was devised by adults. Therefore, surely at Playcentre children are much more seriously occupied with their various activities than adults give them credit for. As these pre-schoolers have none of life's real pressures yet leaning on them, then any activity exercises their naturally curious minds and they explore every happening avenue — and enjoy doing so. Ergo: Isn 't the success of the “playcentre” movement the fact that children have a naturally keen desire to learn but are under no pressure to do so! The hard fact of life comes, of course, when freedom clashes with discipline — but that's another story. August 4 through 10 was Playcentre Publicity Week and if you don't think that children have a naturally curious and serious intent then take another look at these pictures taken at the Patutahi Playcentre. This still doesn't mean, however, that they have no capacity for enjoying themselves.

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Grant Keen certainly thinks it is more of learning by doing than by playing.

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Painting some completed woodwork are Nicholas Rodgers and Blair Cooper.

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Learning to communicate is Christine Tumanako.

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Mrs Kay Tomlinson assists Christine Tumanako on the trampoline