Playing with Time
Dig up a Treasure Trove of Playful Childhood Memories
During the first ideation activity, Playing with Time, Moderators asked participants to imagine back to their own childhood play experiences and speak about memories of their favorite games, toys, and play experiences. Excitement and enthusiasm grew as the memories poured out and people started seeing connections between their own memories and those of their fellow participants.
Many participants remembered play as a group activity involving large numbers of children both in school and at home in the neighborhood. Others remember impersonating adults or taking on adult roles in make believe worlds. And many also remember inventing characters and storylines or adapting those from television and movies. The most common memories involved imaginative group play in familiar environments including the outdoors, the home, and on playgrounds.
A Complex Picture of Play
The goal of Playing with Time was to use positive memories of play to identify the underlying value of this important childhood phenomenon. What was really going on in these memories? What was play really about? Was it about learning and skill building? Was it about social development? Was it about discovery and creativity? Was it about health and wellness? Or was it just about having fun?
Of course, as participants discovered, their memories of play often included all of these things. To capture all aspects of this complex subject, Graphic Facilitators used illustration to create memory maps of childhood play as depicted by participants. These would form a basis for comparison of how children’s experience of play has changed over time with the introduction of new technology and media.
