Summary

Review

There are certain authors in this world I trust implicitly. Over the years, they have given me no reason not to trust them, and they have given me countless reason to do so. Michael Rosen is one of those authors.

In his new book “Michael Rosen’s Book of PLAY!” he tries to tackle big questions like “how do we play? How does it work? What constitutes play?”

“play” is a word you’ve maybe not thought too deeply about. The first twenty pages of this book will change that. It throws up a lot of questions to really get your brain thinking about this incredible thing we call “play”.

Rosen takes an in depth look at a from of play near and dear to my heart – wordplay. He recounts a hilarious song from his stepdaughter, which on face-value might appear as the thoughtless word-soup of a child we have all heard before. But Rosen provides analysis and it really makes you think about the reasoning. It’s far from thoughtless. It’s a careful exploration of words based on prior knowledge and experience. It’s an experimentation. Most of all its playful!

This chapter, as well as all the others, contains some great little games you can use in the classroom or with your children at home. Or just to play on your own like I did!

He goes on to talk about improvisation, role-play, the use of toys and finally, playful learning.

This book itself is a game, one Rosen encourages you to play with while reading it. This does in no way diminish its message. It’s a thoughtful, insightful, cleverly-put-together romp through the world of having fun and learning. A good pick for anyone interested in understanding the importance of play.