Emi's+Playhouse

Welcome to Emi's Playhouse! Please, relax, sit back, and play!

**A BRIEF INTRODUCTION** media type="custom" key="9756070"

[|Emi's Classroom]

**EMI'S DREAM LAKESHORE CLASSROOM**

**THE PLAY QUOTE** “Play is the highest form of research.” ~ Albert Einstein

This is a brilliant quote. It seems to me if someone as incredibly insightful and intellgent as Albert Einstein said this, more people should take note. If we all approached our work as play, in other words, as an exploratory, exciting quest for the truth, we would all love our jobs all of the time. This is why I love early childhood! We are all playing as we research and learning as we play.

**THE ROLES OF THE TEACHER IN PLAY, RATED E for EVERYONE!** media type="custom" key="9560140"

THE VIDEO THAT, TO ME, EXEMPLIFIES PLAY media type="youtube" key="zlfKdbWwruY" height="349" width="560"This video exemplifies the freedom, creativity, cooperation and delight that spontaneous, social play can bring. This whole thing started out very small, and became a sensation, as you can see from the video. Talk about communication! This sensation spanned the entire globe. What I think really makes this about play is the sheer joy and freedom that the children and adults display as they dance. Nobody is telling them what to do or how to do it (except for that one Indian excerpt where they are dancing the same way with Matt). You can truly see the liberation and freedom of expression, without limitations that infuse each person with such exuberance. That is what play truly is. It also reminds me that adults need to play more, too!

THE GLOGSTER media type="custom" key="9649720" width="200" height="200"

**THE OBSERVATION** **A five year-old girl who plays with others but not for any sustained periods of time. She also has some trouble sharing, and displays a desire to play with others and use her imagination. **

THE TECHNOLOGY REVIEW

1. I’ve chosen to review ANIMOTO.
==2. Young children can manipulate images, sound and text through this intuitive program for making free 30-second films (or longer ones, if you pay for them). The play can begin at a fairly basic level and advance as the child learns how to upload from her own computer. The child does not need to exit the site or import anything from anywhere if she does not know how or does not wish to. I showed this to my son who is in second grade, and he immediately understood it and began making movies about travel that were whimsical, quirky but coherent. A child can make movies about anything with this application. == ==<span style="font-family: 'Comic Sans MS',cursive; font-size: 90%;">A teacher could work with small groups of much younger children and assist them in making simple choices as to what they’d like in a movie. Also, if the topic is “butterflies”, for example, the teacher could let the children listen to the different types of available music and view the images and then create a movie with the children’s selections and input. This could encourage group discussion and creativity. == ==<span style="font-family: 'Comic Sans MS',cursive; font-size: 90%;">3. It would be inappropriate to just have an adult do all of the work while the child passively watches it without having any activity or input into the final product. == ==<span style="font-family: 'Comic Sans MS',cursive; font-size: 90%;">4. As long as the child is not uploading from unknown websites, there is no risk of using this technology. Animoto is completely self-contained and all aspects of the film product (sound, images, text) can be used within the site. As long as the child does not have credit card information (to buy the more expensive, lengthier video options) there is little to worry about. == ==<span style="font-family: 'Comic Sans MS',cursive; font-size: 90%;">5. For children aged between 6-8, I would give this a 4. It is a fun and creative way for a child to merge aesthetic sensibilities with information in an engaging and appealing format. With support, it is also appropriate for 4-5 year olds. ==

<span style="font-family: 'Trebuchet MS',Helvetica,sans-serif; font-size: 200%;">Final Words﻿ on Play <span style="color: #ff00ff; font-family: 'Comic Sans MS',cursive; font-size: 220%;">"You can't say you can't play."--Vivian Gussin Paley This has become my mantra in work and at home with my children and their friends. It really is a layered statement, because not only does it mean that you can't exclude anyone, but ALSO that you **CAN NOT** tell someone that they can't engage in the act of PLAY, because we ALL need to play. Children, especially, need to play, and to deprive them of that is to deprive them of a vital part of of their development and their joy. Vivian Gussin Paley is my heroine in all the work she does to make sure that play is kept in the classroom. I hope to be like her one day.