Relationship Between Play and Exploration
Because of the informal nature of the out-of-school setting, it can be interesting to consider the opportunities for play and exploration. When observing children manipulating materials, adults often categorize this type of behavior as play, without distinguishing play from exploration. Research done in the 1960s and 1970s suggests that these two kinds of behaviors are indeed very different. Studying the behavior of animals and young children, researchers found that there was a back-and-forth between two kinds of behavior, which were clearly but subtly different. The difference can be characterized by two questions the child might be asking: “What does this object do?” and “What can I do with this object?”
If a child asks, “What does this object do?” he or she might manipulate the object or material in order to discover more about its properties. The child may be wondering, for instance, “How does a ball roll down and then up a U-shaped track?” or “What kinds of bubbles can I make?” We would characterize such a mindset and behavior as exploration. The dictionary defines exploration as “a careful search for information.” While exploring something, the goal is to find out as much as possible about the object or material.
If a child asks, “What can I do with this object?” he or she might make up a game or pretend that the object or material represents something else. The implicit question might be, “How can I make up a game where balls bump into each other and points are given for guessing what will happen?” Or “Let’s pretend that the small marble is a motorcycle and the bigger marble is a truck; what happens when the truck crashes into the marble?” In the latter examples, the child’s attitude toward the object or material can be characterized as play. Play has multiple definitions, mostly associated with games and recreation, but in general, play has a goal of entertainment.
It is often assumed that children already know much about the familiar toys and objects of the world. For instance, blowing bubbles has been a popular childhood pastime for many years. One might assume that because children have blown bubbles a few times, they have picked up knowledge about some of the properties of soap film. What becomes clear during activities where children are using bubbles is that most children have not previously noticed particular properties, such as the fact that soap film has a tendency to shrink and to take on certain geometric configurations. A more focused and sustained series of activities can make these properties more visible to the children and bring about a greater awareness of how soap is different form other substances. As they try their hand at making bubbles of different sizes and shapes, children can also invent competitions and games: “Who can make the biggest bubble on the tabletop? What kind of animal shapes can we make with groups of small bubbles?” In this way, exploration and play can be readily mixed and integrated, with an underlying goal of learning about the properties of bubbles.
Out-of-school programs can provide a structure where this back and forth between play and exploration happens regularly. It may seem contradictory to associate structure with the behavior of play or of exploration, since play, especially, is associated with freedom from restraints. Yet, most games have rules and boundaries. Within these constraints, a variety of movements, actions, manipulations, and exercises of the imagination are possible. Part of the fun of play is to see what one can do within certain constraints. The same is true with exploration. Children can be given an open-ended challenge (such as, What will make the best bubble blower?) in order to focus their explorations towards specific kinds of discoveries. The content and sequence of challenges in many activity units have been designed so that there is a manageable complexity in leading the experience with children. Access to new materials, or the introduction of new problems, can move the overall project forward and stimulate further engagement. So that children do not become overwhelmed, play/exploration activities are presented in a way that provides continuity and a structure for building some comprehension of the phenomenon being investigated, as well as some opportunities for simply messing around.
