by Gail Troussoff Marks

Silver Stars Gymnastics, Preschool and Special Needs Director

GymmieMotion, Inc., President

In my role as a Play Dr. at Baltimore’s Ultimate Block Party, I spent the majority of my time in the Imagination Playground area.  As a Play Dr., I was serving as an advocate for the benefits of play, helping facilitate play, and discussing the scientific evidence that play is essential for children’s development.

To set the scene: Imagination Playground is a new playspace concept. It consists of a collection of large foam pieces, noodles, balls, and some fabric squares that come packed in rolling carts. Some of the foam shapes remind me of overgrown Tinker Toys. The shapes include solid blocks and blocks with holes that noodles or larger bolsters will fit into, plus other connector shapes.  There are straight and curved pieces with one side hollowed out like a gutter, making it possible to create a track to roll balls down.

The day was unseasonably cold with several spurts of drizzle and wind, but the Imagination Playground area was never empty.  Kids kept building and playing even as the drizzle came down.  A gust of wind blew over a tower of blocks and the kids immediately started to re-build. Playing with giant blue foam blocks was irresistible.

A boy (perhaps 4 years old) and his parents were among the first to arrive in the play area. The boy stood frozen with his eyes darting around until his mom scooped him up and commented that he was over-stimulated by the sea of blocks and music coming from the nearby stage.  Within a few minutes however, he was back down on the sand and had picked up a block and was tentatively starting to build.  Before long he was building a structure with another child and exploring the whole area to find the perfect block for their creation.

Structures were created and then morphed into new forms.  Collaboration and sharing happened fluidly and in only a few cases was adult intervention necessary.  Building, creating, and imagining came easily to most children as they entered the area. Handing a ball to the smallest, most unsure kids was all the invitation they needed to engage in some sort of activity with the blocks. Only one child was so timid that she would only take a piece I handed her and put it in the most obvious place. Perhaps she was cold or nervous about getting her church clothes dirty.

A sword fight erupted, complete with blocks being used as shields.  The sword fighters jumped and spun around through the area, but managed not to crash into anyone’s structures. Over the six-hour span only a couple of kids seemed intent on knocking down other’s work. One kid repeatedly crashed into a pile of blocks, but no one else was playing there. In one situation, I wished I had intervened more quickly. Zach (not his real name) fended off Tommy (not his real name) with a noodle when Tommy came over to the blocks Zach had arranged.   Tommy retreated, and then came back again and Zach again shook the noodle at him.  Resigned, Tommy walked away.  I went over to Zach and commented that Tommy had only wanted to play. Zach said “But I didn’t know his name. ”  I suggested that Zach could have asked the boy what his name was.  Zach thought for a moment and then looked wistfully at Tommy who was now far away.

It took a toddler four attempts to successfully place the last block on top of his stack. He surveyed his work and then asked his Dad to help to build it taller.  Another kid came over and stuck some noodles through some of the pieces. Before his son got upset, the toddler’s dad explained that the new boy was just helping. Then another child passed by and inadvertently knocked down the tower.  The toddler looked mad, then sad.  I went over to him and praised the great tower he had built.  His face reflected many thoughts; tears were just below the surface, and then with an emerging resolute expression he exclaimed, “I’ll just have to build it better.”

Face-painted “Spider Dad” and “Spider Son” arrived at the play area with mom a few steps behind, holding a baby.  Dad immediately grabbed some blocks and Spider Boy found a ball and noodle.  They were having a blast playing but mom was hungry and not filled with the same enthusiasm. Some negotiation must have occurred because the next time I looked over, mom had gone off for awhile.  Dad had made a molecule shape and was making another, while another boy crawled into the first molecule.  It was a shape the staff had never seen anyone create before.

Many of the kids visiting the area were under seven years old, but quite a few older kids stopped by as well.  Some pre-teen boys turned jumping on an unbalanced block into an extreme sport.  Two sisters, between 8 and 13 years old, created a fabulous sculpture with multiple tracks for cascading balls.  It could easily have been converted into a beautiful fountain. By the end of the day the blue blocks had been turned into many creations.  There had been airplanes and cars and many mazes to roll balls through. Kids has wobbled on arched blocks and balanced on flat paths. Very few kids were ready to leave when their parents told them it was time to go. There was creativity, collaboration, and communication going on throughout the play area as kids put their knowledge and critical thinking skills to work.  It was the essence of play. All that mattered to the kids was that they were having fun and their zeal and interest was insatiable.