Eric Hoffman Discusses Bringing Play into The Curriculum - Cdl

I've been teaching a long time and working with children around Super Hero issues trying to figure out how can I bring their play into the curriculum in a safe way, and help them find some positive answers to what I see as some of the questions they are asking. I had a particular child who helped me out with this in a child's inevitable way. He was very much into Power Ranger play, and he was very charismatic and a play leader in the classroom. So he got everybody involved, and we were able to keep it pretty safe, but then he saw one of the Power Ranger movies and his play just escalated and we couldn't keep him safe. It was one of the few times when I thought I would have to ban the play in my classroom. I can't keep it safe. I really struggled to figure out and observe this child, and say, "What is he looking for in this type of play?" Because my job is to be his ally in getting what he wants in a positive way. My experience has been that, when children go through some of this, they actually have a much greater understanding of what it means to be nonviolent and to solve problems. It seems like a paradox, helping children through it rather than ignoring it, because ignoring these kinds of issues gives children the idea that it's not safe to talk about it. Banning it gives them the idea that you know you can't even talk about it, and that the answers they get from the violent culture are the best that we have for them. So, one of the ways this helped me was to help look at children's play and say, "What questions are children asking about the world and about themselves?" My job is to be their ally in getting positive answers to those questions.