Big Body Play: Why Boisterous, Vigorous, and Very Physical Play Is Essential to Children's Development and Learning

by Frances M. Carlson

Overview

"Big body play”—the sometimes rowdy, always very physical running, rolling, climbing, tagging, jumping, grabbing, and wrestling that most children love and many adults try to shut down—can and should be an integral part of every early childhood setting.

Drawing from evidence-based practice and the latest research, this book explains the multitude of benefits of big body play for young children's social-emotional, cognitive, and physical development.

Learn how to organize the physical environment, set rules and policies, and supervise the play to balance children’s fundamental needs with our responsibility as teachers to keep them safe.

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9781928896715
Publisher:	National Association for the Education of Young Children
Publication date:	06/01/2011
Edition description:	New Edition
Pages:	112
Sales rank:	629,170
Product dimensions:	7.50(w) x 9.50(h) x (d)

About the Author

Frances Carlson teaches early childhood education in an associate degree program at Chattahoochee Technical College. Carlson has worked as center administrator for child care programs in Oklahoma and for the Department of the Army in Italy, the Sheltering Arms, Internal Revenue Service, Wachovia Bank, Turner Broadcasting Systems, and the child development lab school at Chattahoochee Technical College. She has led four child care programs successfully through the NAEYC Accreditation process.

Frances has a bachelor’s degree in English from North Georgia College & State University, a certificate in Italian from the Defense Language Institute/Foreign Language Center at the Presidio of Monterey, and a master’s degree in education from Concordia University–St. Paul. Frances authored the NAEYC book Essential Touch: Meeting the Needs of Young Children (2006) and directed and produced the DVD Expect Male Involvement: Recruiting & Retaining Men in ECE (2009).

In her free time, Frances enjoys riding her bike, cooking for her family and friends, and going to movies.

Read an Excerpt

Young children play vigorously, boisterously, and even roughly with their and with other children’s bodies. Like most adults, I have often questioned whether I should stop this rough style of play for fear a child will get hurt, or whether I should allow it because I remember playing this way as a child. Let me tell you how I have come to believe strongly that, when properly supervised, children’s big body play can and should be an integral part of early childhood settings.

Table of Contents

• How I Came to Write This Book . . . and Why It Is Needed
• Chapter 1: What Is “Big Body Play”?
• Chapter 2: Benefits of Play, and Big Body Play in Particular
• Chapter 3: Strategies for Implementing Big Body Play
• Frequently Asked Questions about Big Body Play
• Appendix
• References

Editorial Reviews

"We love big body play in our program! It allows children to gain an understanding of their spatial boundaries, test their physical limits, and explore risk within a safe environment. We’ve seen our students gain tremendous self-confidence and self-control through big body play."

—Mary Shallenberger, prekindergarten teacher

"In her ever-clear style, Carlson covers topics from safety considerations, to teaching children to read body language and recognize limits, to communicating with families about the educational and overall human benefits of very vigorous play. Frances Carlson has once again written The Book."

—Dan Gartrell, author of A Guidance Approach for the Encouraging Classroom

"Everyone benefits when big body play is accepted as developmental and is supervised by knowledgeable adults. Big Body Play is a wonderful resource, a straightforward guide to assist teachers in understanding and promoting rough-and-tumble play. Such play is one of the first steps children take in development of the physical skills they will need to be physically active throughout life."

—Stephen Sanders, author of Active for Life: Developmentally Appropriate Movement Programs for Young Children

"[Carlson] masterfully uses scholarly research to paint a picture of what this big body play looks like . . . and to catalog the potential benefits for children of engaging in physical, active play. . . . I recommend this book wholeheartedly to my fellow early-childhood educators."

— Review by Brenda Boyd, Washington State Universityin the American Journal of Play, Spring 2013

From the Publisher