Customer Reviews

The Power of Play: How Spontaneous, Imaginative Activities Lead to Happier, Healthier Children

5 star:		(6)
4 star:		(2)
3 star:		(2)
2 star:		(2)
1 star:		(0)

 

 

The essense of this book can be stated pretty quickly.

Turn off the television.
Play games with the kid.
Encourage her to play with other kids.
Don't schedule every evening.
Carefully select toys/gifts.

Now all you have to do is understand each of these points and put them into practice.

Perhaps few points should leave you with a few questions like:
what kind of games to play?
What kinds of gifts/toys?
But I'm scheduling educational things?

Of course, reading this book will explain all these points and more. This book comes right after a major report on the importance of play by the American Academy of Pediatrics. It reflects on and expands the report to give specific suggestions, and explains why those suggestions are so important.

And I'm going to add one more of my own. Spend every moment you can with them. We have them for such a short time before they are gone off to live their own lives.

Elkind is my kind of guy. In this book he talks about balance, balance, balance. His book addresses play in children infancy thru the elementary years, for the most part. He talks about what play does exactly for children's intellect, social skills and imagination. I would suggest this book to parents of kids ages 0-7. Educators and the late elemantary set will get something from this book, but not as much as folks parenting and working with younger children.

What I have enjoyed so much about this book is that he is not extreme in his ideas. He endorses tv and video games mildly, and then leads parents into selecting the right kind of show or game. He talks about the pros and cons of these entertainment modes.

He talks about the balance of planned sports/activities, and free, individually motivated play. He offers some guidelines in this area.

He addresses his ideas developmentally, and explains each developmental stage. He will talk about kids in the "concrete operational stage" which usually happens around the age of 6, but sometimes sooner, sometimes later.

I think the American Public cannot read enough about the importance of play for children of all ages.In an age where recess is being eliminated from schools in order to raise test scores, we need work like Elkind's to remind us of the importance of not overscheduling our children.

This read, where I enjoyed it, isn't my favorite book. But I like the info within, I like how it is organized, and believe whole-heartedly in the point that David Elkind is making. It is an intelligent book, and doesn't "dummy-down" to the parent. I learned quite a bit, and as a mother and and educator appreciated that most of all.

Elkind, as always, makes a good case for slowing things down for kids. As a Montessori and Waldorf parent, it's always nice to read ideas in support of trusting a more organic approach to my children's development. However, I didn't feel this book had near the power of Elkind's earlier work, The Hurried Child. The book reads more like a pop psychology text. I was put off by the reiteration of his ideas regarding early childhood and left wanting more support of his theories. I also was hoping the Power of Play would suggest some examples of play and elaborations on "what comes naturally" to young children.

I firmly believe in the importance of free play. Essentially, I was looking for a book that would reinforce that belief. Instead, I found myself annoyed by the poor reasoning this book employs. In brief, the author seems to argue that things are different from the way he played as a boy and, therefore, they are worse. Different=worse is not a logical or valid argument.

For example, choosing teams the way they did when he was a boy and was always the last boy chosen made him feel ostracized. But it also prepared him for the real world. Electronic games deprive children of this sense of ostracization. Hmmm... I'm no fan of computer games for young children, but at this point in the book I'm feeling an urge to go out and buy some software for my little ones!

Aaahhh, the good old days when children were allowed to build campfires without supervision! So what if they got burned occasionally? It taught them to handle risk! The idea that there might be other forms of play that teach risk in a more constructive way is not addressed, and I wish it had been.

His argument is needlessly complicated. For example, he discusses the idea of hot and cool media, which is a powerful theoretical construct and which could have been very helpful in this book. (Hot media encourages passivity; cool media engages the child's thought and emotions). But his supporting examples entirely miss the mark. For example, he discusses a study which compared children who watched hot media (e.g., action shows) with those who watched cool media (i.e., educational shows) and found that those who watched hot media were less educationally gifted later on. Therefore, hot media is bad, and cool media is good. Ummmm... Did it never occur to him that maybe the children's educational achievements were related to the educational content they viewed and might have had nothing to do with the warmth of the media? That seems a far simpler and more parsimonious interpretation.

I expected a better quality of reasoning and more depth in this book. The only reason I'm not giving it one star is that it doesn't seem to be actively injurious. Unless, of course, some parent is swayed to let the children build a bonfire unsupervised after reading it...

This book helped me remember why I teach in early childhood. We need to provide experiences for children to explore, not give them set, rigid everything with specific outcomes. Children learn best by doing! Let's let them do it. When reading, I was reminded of what I had learned in college and what it means for this field.

Great information, very interesting, awesome information for early childhood educators, teachers, and Naturalists. Important for parents to read and understand the need to let our children develop at thier own rate.

I felt empowered to make changes in my parenting after reading this book. Elkind doesn't suggest this, but my husband and I decided to cancel cable TV. We have donated uninspiring toys and have gone outside. All things I've considered for a long time but got the courage to make real changes in our parenting after reading this book. I want to cherish our time with the children. This book motivated me to stop being a boring adult and PLAY!

This book helped me to realize that parenting young children can be a lot more relaxed than society would have us believe. I loved that it pointed out how expensive "learning toys" like leapfrog products are more about marketing to parents than anything else. A great read for anyone with young children.

The Power of Play: How Spontaneous, Imaginative Activities Lead to Happier, Healthier Children is a greatly written book by David Elkind. I chose this book because I was very interested in how play affects young children. I am working toward becoming a teacher for young children and someday wish to become a parent. This book has opened my eyes and will help me become a better parent and teacher. I realized through Elkind's writing that play is essential to young children's social and cognitive development. I will be sure to incorporate play into my children's daily activities. Elkind does a great job in presenting his points through his thorough research and great examples. This book is well worth reading for parents and teachers. It will completely open your eyes to the power of play! - OSU Comp Student 2009

I couldn't agree more with Elkind that play is important. As a parent myself I hear others concerned that their children aren't getting enough "education," even at tiny toddler ages. Many parents get stressed and competative over academic issues before their children are even school age. And, if you are a parent who does not enroll your children in this and that, you are looked at as neglectful...or unconcerned about your children's futures. A current concern I have is the push for all day kindergarten (not mentioned in this book) but I fear it will overtake our half day programs here in MN in just a few years. While these programs may benefit some children, they are certainly not beneficial to all, and I'd even argue they are not beneficial to the majority of children.

The problem I had with Elkind's book is not the message, but rather the delivery of the message. While the first 4 chapters were enjoyble, the rest of the book reminded me of a college textbook. I didn't really enjoy reading it and most of it was repetative as I went to college for el. ed. and took several ed. psych. courses. Now, if you have not heard all these things before, you may be more interested in this book. Personally, as a parent, I found John Rosemond's A Family of Value (read chapters on toys) to be a much more interesting in presentation. Be prepared, however, with Rosemond because he is much more strongly opposed to screen time than Elkind appears to be. Regardless, both books relay a valuable message.