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Documentary Film - Where Do the Children Play
Showing At Mandala Tearoom:
Documentary Film on Modern Childhood
Asks ‘Where Do the Children Play?’
A new documentary film, Where Do the Children Play?,
examines an issue of growing concern among pediatricians,
mental health experts, educators, and environmentalists:
more and more children are growing up today with little or
no opportunity for unstructured play, especially outdoors.
The film will be shown at Mandala Tearoom (SE corner of 5th
Avenue & Goldwater in Oldtown Scottsdale) August 24th,
September 7th and September 14th @ 6:00pm. Participants
must RSVP, as seating is limited; RSVP @ 602.432.3707.
This event is free to the public and is sponsored by The
Cultural Wellness & Family Enrichment Center with
assistance from the U.S. Alliance for Childhood, a
nonprofit research and advocacy group that works for the
restoration of play in children’s lives.
Where Do the Children Play? grew out of Elizabeth
Goodenough’s work on “secret spaces of childhood” at the
University of Michigan. The film was written and directed
by Christopher Cook and produced by Michigan Television.
“Children need free time every day to discover their own
abilities, desires, and limitations,” says Goodenough, who
also edited the film’s accompanying study guide.
“Open-ended exploration and play in woods, fields, vacant
lots, or other semi-wild spaces enhances curiosity and
confidence throughout life.”
A marked decline in children’s spontaneous and creative
play is a key factor in their increasing mental health
problems, according to a recent statement from an
international group of educators and children’s advocates.
They called for “a wide-ranging and informed public
dialogue about the intrinsic nature and value of play in
children’s healthy development.”
Their letter echoed a recent warning from the American
Academy of Pediatrics (AAP): children have far too little
time for unstructured play, which leads to increased stress
in their lives. Causes of the demise of play cited by the
group include parental fears of “stranger danger” and the
explosion of electronic entertainment—to the point of
addiction for some—in the lives of today’s children. These
and other issues are explored in the film.
The lead author of the AAP report, Dr. Kenneth Ginsburg of
the Children’s Hospital of Philadelphia, appears in the
documentary, along with Richard Louv, author of Last Child
in the Woods, British “playworker” Penny Wilson, and other
experts in child development, psychology, and urban
planning.
Most striking, however, are the scenes of children
themselves engaged in the rapt state of self-directed play
and then talking about the importance of time and
opportunity for free play in their increasingly hectic
lives.
For more information about this screening of Where Do the
Children Play? Call, 602.432.3707.
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