Fun & Joy of Playing - Important Stages of Development

I’m Elmer Jacobs and I learned a lesson in maturation and competition in my first year of teaching Kiddy P. E. I was in a K-6 school so I had to be creative about my gym setups. One time I had the volleyball net up for the upper grades and, of course, the kindergarten and lower grade kids couldn’t play the regular game of volleyball. So, I invented a game for them that I called ‘Clean up Your Own Backyard.’

I got out all 15 playground balls and divided the kids into two teams. I put 7 balls at the back wall on each side and held one. I said to the kids, “When I throw this ball into the net, you start throwing all the balls on your side over the net to the other side. Clean up your own backyard. When I blow my whistle, stop.”

They went to work. They were throwing, chasing down, and fielding the balls, and getting good physical activity. Everyone was on his own, scrambling, throwing, chasing, and yelling. When I blew the whistle, they stopped and then – they all simply jumped up and down and hollered. They didn’t count how many balls were on each side of the net as I figured they would. The game was over and wasn’t it fun!! Which side won? Who cares? Let’s do it again!!

One day, the sixth graders were coming into the gym early and the game was still on. “Hey, Mr. Jacobs, can we play that game?” several of them asked me and the rest said, “Yeah, how about it?” So, I said O.K. and we went at it. The same game? Not in your life – it was a completely different game. We had to choose sides. The ‘Leaders’ said things, such as, “You play back and try to catch the balls.” “Throw the balls as far back as you can.” “Get rid of the balls quickly.”

When I blew the whistle after 5 minutes; the action stopped and counting began. The winners cheered and the losers said, “Let’s play again.”

Irrespective of winning and losing; they all wanted to play that game the next day - they really enjoyed playing it - so we played it for the last two days of that week.

Some observations:

For very young children - before competitive sports: ► Very young children are not concerned about whether they win or lose. ► The “Team” has little or no meaning to them. ► It’s FUN - just playing the game.

For older children (and thereafter) - sports are competitive: ► Winning and Losing are big issues. ► The “Team” and “Teamwork” are essential factors. ► The JOY of playing the Game must be maintained and strengthened. It must protected.