Embracing Rough-and-Tumble Play by Mike Huber

Author:Mike Huber
Language: eng
Format: epub
ISBN: 9781605544694
Publisher: Redleaf Press
Published: 2016-09-23T00:00:00+00:00

Sometimes you can join the play. It is important not to join the play until you are ready to follow their lead. You may offer ways to expand the play, but not until the kids have had a chance to really follow their story line. Too often teachers get to this step and then suggest scenarios they are more comfortable with, such as eating dinner after saving the day. There is a time for playing Dinner, but not before there has been a lot of action. Part of the appeal of this type of play is to move quickly and be loud. Sitting at a table does not meet these needs. Finding a reason to crawl under the table might. Perhaps you could suggest going to your secret hideout and then head under the table (I can usually only fit my head and shoulders under the table, but they can fit). You may have to drive to the scene of the crime. You can set up chairs and grab a steering wheel (anything round will do). Of course whoever is driving will have to go so fast that you’ll have to lean to one side when they turn and then lean to the other side when they turn again. This is a great way to engage several muscle groups, as well as address their sense of balance.

Once you have let them play boisterously for a while, you could introduce a scenario that might involve less movement or volume, such as having dinner or going home. There may be resistance. “No, there are still more bad guys.” Then you need to drop your idea and follow theirs.

The other baby step you might take is in relation to aiming the guns. If you have been banning warplay (or at least attempting to), you may not be comfortable with kids pretending to shoot each other. I don’t think there is anything wrong with kids pretending to shoot one another as long as all the children are okay with it. They all know it’s pretend, and it can be fun to have a melodramatic death before finally falling to the ground. It is part of the game. Young children certainly don’t have the same understanding of death that adults do. Even children who have witnessed shootings may be the ones who want to pretend to die, knowing they can get up again. It can be a way to feel in control of a situation in which they were powerless. At the same time, adults or other children or adults in the room who have witnessed such tragedies may have a hard time seeing this type of play even if they know it is pretend.

In either case, if your classroom is not ready for children to pretend to shoot one another, you might have them shoot at objects. Perhaps you can make targets and have a firing range (Slack and Martin 2015). You could also have toy animals and go hunting. You could have drawings of monsters (or bad guys).

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