The Wingham Advance-Times, 1974-05-23, Page 17in The Liftow I Barmor, The, WiHngham Advarsco-Times
orest ortfoclarate by Wenger Bros. Litritiods,
111
•
(00
FLYING HIGH—The civative
Child who has not had theopportunity
explore his environment, is deprived and
ventures into the world.
playtheory
to
allows
meet his
children
fellows, to
•
to try
take
out
part
•
Mr. Iron gave no quarter lzi igidity of the traditienal play
forcing, his pupils to toe the line. Iorms is relaxed greatly and chiil.
Memory bas etched a Pertraitet ren are allowed to create,
'him; be will live etOnkilY In my magine and be constructive
mind.He Stands forever on. the through play. There has been a
second storey fire escape of iny, remendous thrust in just the past
old two-storey, red -brick ache* wo or three years in the creative
house; his jaw rigidly Set eye, play system with many play
'darting to every corner of the tiny grounds being converted to con.
piasygronnd to make sure no tow ain creative play equipment as
foolery is going on or even, *nit pposed to. the traditional.
to go on, * But, the training of the creative
:stalwart mob, a noble MI;)lay leaders had been ever-.
responsible, respectable and; #'. . �ked. Mount Forest's recrea-
bard to take. Yea, thishandsoqie, on director, Ebner 'Wick, has
six-foot-tWo giant in the ed4C•aik. 4evised a summer: leader train -
Hon field' was envied for hi ibg course Which, has been
strictness, his discipline, and he adapted by the Lake *von' Zone
was very respectable:, Recreation Association of which
But, respected? Or feared? The, is a member. •
truth is this man sMethet „ Objective of the course is to de.
essence of constructive' a playleader with the,
imagination. We couldn'tbettabe characteristics and skills re-
Ruths when we played baseball basebalL juired to administer a creative
As long as he was around we. progrm, To achieve this goal,
couldn't be anything but Mere themethOds Used include plenary,
children, burning off a little sessions, role playing, tasks—
energy during a, 15 minute recess group. and • individual, brain
so we could get back into the.. storming, small group discus -
classroom and hig onto everY, Slops, a resource centre, and on -
word he had to say: evaluation based on input
And maybe we have the same::, from participants. •
attitude as a result of oar con- The,creator of the course says
stant encounters with Mr. Iron ''.;there are•three traditional types
throughout the school System; of plarleaders: the autocrat, the
play for the sake of play. Play .4( ,democrat and and the laissez faire
play and work is work. and the '. ''1„(easy-going). "We're looking for
twain shall never Meet. Is that „a good mix between these three
how you feel? types. Either one wOuld, be ap-
Not long ago .play's ‘411,11Tilier. 'When00itsituatiens
tance in a child's' deftlePinent bttwe've .been
was not 0700101.• MatiOrAtakand asking
was frowned upon as frivolous, themtb be democrats.
unnecessary and a manifestation "Maybe the leader doesn't
of idleness. always need to be in the \leader -
Today, the term "creative ship role," says Mr. Wick, "but,
play" is fast becoming.as accept- • he should always be ready to take
the lead.if the group wants it." He
says creative play leaders should
be "catalysts and facilitators;
unobtrusive.
"Leadership within the group
of children must change hands
regularly to have good creative
play," he adds.
To prevent boredom and lack of
participation on the part of any
individual within the group, there
is constant "group mainte-
nance": "We're always working
to keep each child actively in-
volved and interested in what-
ever project we're undertaking,"
says the recreation director.
Some of the projects include a
able as doll houses and :trucks
used to be. (Those toys are now
thought to be sexist instruments
used to instill role-playing In the
child at an early age.)
various roles. The Creative play means different
in their games Or to things to different people, but it
being deprived, he is at a disadvantage when he could be best described as a free-
form style of play in which the
HIGHEST EXPRESSION-4HE educationallat, Froebei,
• was on of the tint 00)0 to recognise the irriportance of
play when he said, over fifty year's Igo, "Play is the highest„
expretslon of human development in childhood." Jamie
Swath, of Mount Forest, is exprossifig.
free program in which watered-
down gym sports are used to
provide fun, exercise and "no
competition?.
When it comes to crafts,, "we
decide wliat we want to make
with.just the material provided.
The material costs almost nil. We
base the construction of the
crafts on odds and ends around
the home," says Mr, Wick.
_ Last year, the Mont Forest
recreation clepartme4t was able
to extend its creative play, pro-
• gram -with a larger staff and bet-
ter salaries through the assis-
tance of a Youth In Action grant.
"Because • it, proved success-
ful," says Mr. Wick, "and.
because our recreation commit-
tee andtown council are aware of
the need for such a program, they
are willing to continUe•with the
same number of staff Members
and salaries this year, even if we
do not get the YIA. grant we ap-
plied for." He says that in many,
cases, "municipal authorities
consider play altivial thing. For-
tunately, our authorities do not
think that war."
The summer training program
for leaders will be held June 24
this year. at a United Church
camp about three miles north of
Goderich.
Mount Forest play leaders
Rocca, a Mount Forest'. high,
stachkivinig.‘ti4the4ent .wb9 is Olgato
iri g
•Matta,' alle 'a file high
school who excels in sports and
has ,worked in recreation for two
summers, and, Mike Orr, a
student with one year's experi-
ence on student council and who
coached a Squirt House league
team for some time.
Others on the creative play
staff of eight include Debbie
Weber who, through her efforts in
sports, has gained many awards
from . track ' and field work;
Rosemarie Hieber, a high school
student who has aspirations of t
becoming a nursery, school '
teacher; Mary Ellen Eckert, a
University. of Waterloo student
with experience as a .volunteer
with the Children's Develop;
mental Centre, Waterloo; Paul-
ette Le Blanc, a Mohawk College
student majoring in recreational
leadership, and Heather Stoner, a
Grade stthrlent worked
with the Tot Lotgroup comprised
Bef.,AC0:11,bledr,rere:yeraryeaig edsogy:t.so 5years and
ed
Who wishes to obtain her Honors'
fied with ,the staff
sembled,"'sayi Mr. WI*. 'Ve
want more than just bahysitisra.
We're „looking for people who
know about children, about
• Please Olin to Pai‘e
THINKING BLONDE THOUGHTS—Andrea Deverell of
Mount Forest plays in a swing at the town's day care centre
and imagines she is . . oh, let's say, Goldilocks? Creative
play puts the emphasis on *imagination.
A PEEK AT THE WORLD—Jamie Smith and Denise Penes
lake a peek at the world through a play tunnel at the Mount
*rest Day Care Centre. Elmer Wick, town recreation
director, says creative play is thought to be trivial by many
municipal authorities, but, "fortunately, not ours.'