1
Week 1 Journal: Changes in Play Over Time-Interview and Reflective Journal
The University of Arizona Global Campus
ECD415: Foundations of Play and Learning
2
Part One
I was born 1979 in Jamaica where I spent my childhood. I remember playing outside a lot. After
school, all the neighborhood children of similar age and gender would meet at a particular spot
because we knew it was time to choose our teams for hide and seek or an agility game, we called
dandy shandy or Chinese skip. Being late to the spot means you were more likely to be part of
the weaker team so it was a rush to do everything our mothers required before we could go
outside to play. Girls and boys never played together in our group games. For more one-on-one
games, we would play with dolls and other toys and recreate scenarios we had witnessed at
home, in the community, in school, or church. We would sometimes adopt the names of
individuals and act out scenes of how we thought they would react given a particular situation. I
enjoyed the outside group games or being creative in our smaller games.
, I interviewed my daughter, who is 20 years old. She spent her childhood in England. She
remembers play being planned where she would visit her friend or the friend would come over,
and they would also engage in pretend play where they would pretend to be an adult at school or
even a child and build a game around that. This sort of pretend play was sometimes done as a
solo play but it was more enjoyable with a friend. She also spent time coloring or playing video
games. Outside time was also structured; we would go to the park, and they would spontaneously
form a game of tag with the other children or show their agility on the climbing frames.
The similarities between play in both our generations are given the right environment, children
will form a group and play games involving chasing and agility. Also, children of every
generation incorporate adult roles in their games, whether as mothers, teachers, or other
community members with whom they have come in contact. Although play seemed more
spontaneous in my generation, there was still an element of planning from the parents because
Week 1 Journal: Changes in Play Over Time-Interview and Reflective Journal
The University of Arizona Global Campus
ECD415: Foundations of Play and Learning
2
Part One
I was born 1979 in Jamaica where I spent my childhood. I remember playing outside a lot. After
school, all the neighborhood children of similar age and gender would meet at a particular spot
because we knew it was time to choose our teams for hide and seek or an agility game, we called
dandy shandy or Chinese skip. Being late to the spot means you were more likely to be part of
the weaker team so it was a rush to do everything our mothers required before we could go
outside to play. Girls and boys never played together in our group games. For more one-on-one
games, we would play with dolls and other toys and recreate scenarios we had witnessed at
home, in the community, in school, or church. We would sometimes adopt the names of
individuals and act out scenes of how we thought they would react given a particular situation. I
enjoyed the outside group games or being creative in our smaller games.
, I interviewed my daughter, who is 20 years old. She spent her childhood in England. She
remembers play being planned where she would visit her friend or the friend would come over,
and they would also engage in pretend play where they would pretend to be an adult at school or
even a child and build a game around that. This sort of pretend play was sometimes done as a
solo play but it was more enjoyable with a friend. She also spent time coloring or playing video
games. Outside time was also structured; we would go to the park, and they would spontaneously
form a game of tag with the other children or show their agility on the climbing frames.
The similarities between play in both our generations are given the right environment, children
will form a group and play games involving chasing and agility. Also, children of every
generation incorporate adult roles in their games, whether as mothers, teachers, or other
community members with whom they have come in contact. Although play seemed more
spontaneous in my generation, there was still an element of planning from the parents because
