The Fay School Partners with Childhood Play Expert Jill Wood

• We invited Jill to our campus to conduct a Play Audit in December of 2022. During her two days with us, she carefully observed and recorded how your children played in our backyard and specifically how they played on the old playground. In December of 2023, she will return to conduct another Play Audit so that we may demonstrate, with data, the impact of our Bienenstock Natural Playground.
• As educators, we know that there are 16 different types of play in which children engage. We know that play is central to your child's learning and development. Play helps your child build confidence, develop creativity, and feel loved, happy, and safe. Additionally, they understand more about how the world works, develop social skills, enhance language and communication, learn about caring for others and the environment, and develop physical skills. We know this at Fay because a few of us read "Play in the Early Years" by Kay Owens and spent time discussing, reflecting, and presenting what we learned as part of our August in-service.
• As part of our August in-service, we welcomed Jill back to campus for two days for a deep dive into the benefits of self-directed play. Essentially, children are in charge of their own time, and they can figure out what is important to them and what is worth compromising in a shared space; they have the opportunity to make mistakes and learn from them because play is about the experience and not the outcome; they can work from their strengths while also being motivated when play is challenging; they have the freedom to try new things without the timeline and structure of a classroom; they have a platform to learn about how they need other children because the adults have stepped back and they can recognize the strengths in others.
• In December, we will serve as a host site for the Texas Children in Nature Network's Winter Summit, where Principal Sherman, Lead Teacher Ozden Ozkanoglu, and Adam Bienenstock (founder of Bienenstock Natural Playgrounds) will host a Wednesday Workshop titled "In the Forest or on the Playground: A Case Study of Nature Play at The Fay School" to over thirty educators who hail from all over Texas.

We are extremely proud of our ambitious work to advance practices in teaching and learning, especially as we lead the way in early childhood and elementary school education.