Literature - Mindful Mama: Happy Baby

Mindful Mama: Happy Baby by Maja Pitamic and Susannah Marriot (2016) 

This is another book primely geared towards parenting tools, but yet again I found some of it's content very enlightening, especially regarding the fundamental ideas of play.  

"As adults we often underestimate the value that play has in developing children both mentally and physically. Play is your child's way of engaging and making sense of the world and cannot be overvalued." 

In this quote (introduction, page 7) Pitamic actually describes play as a child's way of engaging. 

When considering the several definitions of engagement and the multiple versions of play that I have come across in my research so far I have yet to look at play in this way. 

So far I have been exploring the uses of play to encourage engagement but I had never thought of the simple fact that the child playing is engaged.

Much of the rest of this book is examples of activities and games that are used to encourage a happier child. I was interested to see if any of the activities suggested were what I would consider to be a 'drama' game and I believe a few of them most defiantly fit the description of 'play' activities and 'drama' games. 

For example, The Animal Game is listed in this book as a fun game to play after a trip to a farm or zoo. This game involves acting out and creating the noises of particular animals "for example, as an elephant you might use one of your arms to swing like a trunk, or for a penguin, put your feet together and waddle forwards." 

I found it very interesting that this activity was listed in this book, as my own memories of this game came from playing it in weekend drama classes. 

There are several activities listed within this book that I remember playing within drama class as games to promote confidence, imagination and creativity. 

So more examples are The Clapping Game, I Went To The Shops And Bought..., Making up Stories. 

Through most of my research in this topic I have been looking at drama and play as two separate subjects. However in my most resent literature and within some of my first interviews I have come to find that really they are much one in the same, perhaps with slightly different purposes but ultimately can been used in much the same way, especially when used for very early learning.