Playing with Books

In his book, “Play: How it Shapes the Brain, Opens the Imagination, and Invigorates the Soul,” Dr. Stuart Brown, MD, insists that at any age, regular play time is good for all of us. Indeed, play is critical for the cognitive development and mental health of children and adults.

Daily interaction with books

At Unite for Literacy, daily shared reading with children from birth forward is a tenet to which we hold firm. We also believe that children should be allowed and encouraged to interact with books in other ways. Specifically, we believe that children should be given permission to play with books.

Books as toys

Board and cloth books that invite the awkward, rough-handling and abundant saliva of little ones, should be categorized as playthings—as toys. Why? Because it’s in the opportunities for puzzlement and validation in play that the strength of creativity, problem solving, and cognitive structures across all domains of life are formed.

Too often, books are presented to small children, shared with them, and then put on an out-of-reach shelf. Wouldn’t it be great if children also were offered the opportunity to use books like they use other toys, learning that books provide them with a mental sand box, an invitation to make up things for themselves, to spur creativity based upon their conceptions of what books mean to their family and what books can mean, even when they only contain pictures?

To play and to be playful in all things, even our work, clearly creates a foundation for a good life. Books and reading should be established as sources of such delight from life's very beginnings.