Monday, November 02, 2009
Learning to have fun - part one - starting with the fun that is already there
In response to learning about The Fun Theory (see my post), Joanna Young wrote her own post, called: How to add fun to the learning mix. In her post, she asks:
My first suggestion: start with the fun that is already there. Before trying to add more fun, slow down enough to see the fun you are actually already having. When you were a kid, you didn't need to have anyone make a set of steps into a piano. Stairs were just as much an invitation to fun as escalators and elevators and sidewalks and subways. You could have fun going down stairs on your bottom or rolling a ball down the stairs or trying to bounce a ball up the stairs or trying to go up the stairs backwards or walk down the stairs two-at-a-time. Same with reading and running and counting and painting and dancing and hugging. That fun never goes away. What goes away is our willingness to choose to have the fun that is offered us. We have too many other things to do. We're not in the subway because we want to play. We don't take the escalator because it's more fun. We are there because we want to get somewhere else. So we aren't, in fact, totally there. And because we aren't, we don't see the fun.
Making the steps into a piano keyboard made us pay attention to where we were. It was an invitation to fun, and it worked. And it will continue to work, but only for a while. And only for those who are not in too big of a hurry, or too tired, or oppressed by the noise and the crowds and the smells. After a while, even the piano stairs won't be able to compete for our attention. Or jar us from our inattention. After a while, the fun will fade into the background, and get lost. And no one will notice that the stairs look like a piano or sound like a piano. And we'll need to make the steps into something else.
Or, you could find other ways to remind yourself. Keep a ball in your purse. A super ball, just in case. Or a yo-yo. Or better yet, a paddle ball - you don't even need the paddle, just the ball and elastic.
Or make yourself a list of games you could play on the way - on the stairs, in the subway, on the sidewalk. Like The Walking Game.
from Bernie DeKoven, funsmith
If fun changes the way that we do things… how can we add more fun to what we do?There were many valuable responses to her query. I added mine. But it became obvious to me that her questions were deeply felt, and deserved a much more considered response. Or maybe several.
What more could I do if I looked for ways to add more fun to the everyday?
How can I learn to have fun?
How can having fun help me to learn?
My first suggestion: start with the fun that is already there. Before trying to add more fun, slow down enough to see the fun you are actually already having. When you were a kid, you didn't need to have anyone make a set of steps into a piano. Stairs were just as much an invitation to fun as escalators and elevators and sidewalks and subways. You could have fun going down stairs on your bottom or rolling a ball down the stairs or trying to bounce a ball up the stairs or trying to go up the stairs backwards or walk down the stairs two-at-a-time. Same with reading and running and counting and painting and dancing and hugging. That fun never goes away. What goes away is our willingness to choose to have the fun that is offered us. We have too many other things to do. We're not in the subway because we want to play. We don't take the escalator because it's more fun. We are there because we want to get somewhere else. So we aren't, in fact, totally there. And because we aren't, we don't see the fun.
Making the steps into a piano keyboard made us pay attention to where we were. It was an invitation to fun, and it worked. And it will continue to work, but only for a while. And only for those who are not in too big of a hurry, or too tired, or oppressed by the noise and the crowds and the smells. After a while, even the piano stairs won't be able to compete for our attention. Or jar us from our inattention. After a while, the fun will fade into the background, and get lost. And no one will notice that the stairs look like a piano or sound like a piano. And we'll need to make the steps into something else.
Or, you could find other ways to remind yourself. Keep a ball in your purse. A super ball, just in case. Or a yo-yo. Or better yet, a paddle ball - you don't even need the paddle, just the ball and elastic.
Or make yourself a list of games you could play on the way - on the stairs, in the subway, on the sidewalk. Like The Walking Game.
from Bernie DeKoven, funsmith
Labels: having fun
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