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Reclaim the joy of play for yourself with Miriam Beloglovsky, coauthor of the best-selling, award-winning Loose Parts series.
Play is crucial in adulthood because it fosters adaptiveness, creativity, role rehearsal, and mind-body integration. Just Play specifically targets adults' play and explains how the adults' shift toward creativity can influence children. If adults can reharness their playful capacities and reap all of play’s benefits, they will be equipped to work with children, design effective curricula, understand children and increase empathy, create playful leadership opportunities, and make significant changes to their programs and organizations.
Just like children, when adults engage in play and creative endeavors, they can find that childlike center that cultivates happiness and joy. Play is affirming because it allows us to enter a natural, safe, and caring environment in which we freely explore our inner thinking and desires.
The book will guide educators, administrators, and faculty through a series of comprehensive steps that will shift their thinking surrounding adult play. It is designed to give administrators, associations, and community agencies a blueprint to redesign programs to increase creativity and innovation, and ultimately drive system change.
This should be required reading for any early childhood education student. For those teaching early childhood education, it should be an essential resource. If you provide professional learning, this book should be at your side at all times! Just Play: Inspiring Adult Play: In Early Childhood Education is a gift to all. We need more playful pedagogy in all teaching and learning experiences. I appreciate that Miriam’s work is grounded in research. It is rich in reflection possibilities and has transformative potential in creating more playful ecosystems. You can’t help but imagine possibilities and opportunities for playfulness when reading this book. It will inspire many aha moments as you connect with your own inner child and consider the importance of play for everyone. This book is a must-read for anyone who wants to cultivate a culture of playfulness. This is where friendships will flourish.
—Diane Kashin, RECE, EdD, author, Cultivating Professional Friendships in Early Childhood Education
Introduction
Chapter 1
A Call to Just Play!
Chapter 2
The Power of Adult Play
Chapter 3
Discover Your Childhood Genius
Chapter 4
Explore Your Playfulness
Chapter 5
Lead with Play, Lead to Transform
Chapter 6
Playful Professional Development
Chapter 7
Just Play! Conferences
Chapter 8
The Adult Place in the Early Childhood Ecosystem
Chapter 9
Designing Outdoor Spaces that Encourage Playfulness
Chapter 10
Just Play! with Families
Conclusion
Where I See Hope
References