Resources
initial Response
A Place of Play-
Construction of toys as designing toys. Mostly for boys in mind to start with some exceptions. There was the set geared towards girls with cribs and other stereotypical girl type things to build.
Lego as a construction and design toy later turned to a more narrative focus as it has evolved. Lego went from being a more creative toy with lots of options to build to having less options when sets were built with more preformed pieces for specific brands or themes. Sets could not be combined as easy and play was not as open ended as before. In 2005 lego focussed production back to include the classic product lines. Legos Mindstorm was created with MIT Epistemology and Learning
group and founded by Seymour Papert as Lego that allows you to create your own robots. They used lead users to help develop Mindstorms later generations. Lego company does not have to pay lead users to hack into the software. Users make the product better by modifying it to suit their needs. The users help develop the product line with little to no compensation other than making it better for their own use and the use of others. It is changed to a user driven innovative culture. The internet has allowed Lego fans and communities much easier ways to connect and share.
I’m an American Girl-Whatever that Means
This article discusses the identities explored and created by little girls who play with American Girls. They interviewed little girls and also their mothers about the identities of the dolls they played with. Most of the dolls are caucasian dolls with the exception of a few.
Where Happily Ever After Happens Every Day": Disney's Official Princess Website and the Commodification of Play
Disney portrays an image of a princess that is stereotypical. Princesses should be kind, have good fashion sense, be pleasing to the men in her life, fall in love, etc. Are these stereotypically girl roles the message we want to be sending to our girls? It certainly would not be the message I would want my daughters to hear. The Disney Princess website tries to act like a game but really is not. Not many options while “playing” and very simplistic activities available like playing dress up with a princess. The goal is to have little girls and their mothers make online purchases.
Construction of toys as designing toys. Mostly for boys in mind to start with some exceptions. There was the set geared towards girls with cribs and other stereotypical girl type things to build.
Lego as a construction and design toy later turned to a more narrative focus as it has evolved. Lego went from being a more creative toy with lots of options to build to having less options when sets were built with more preformed pieces for specific brands or themes. Sets could not be combined as easy and play was not as open ended as before. In 2005 lego focussed production back to include the classic product lines. Legos Mindstorm was created with MIT Epistemology and Learning
group and founded by Seymour Papert as Lego that allows you to create your own robots. They used lead users to help develop Mindstorms later generations. Lego company does not have to pay lead users to hack into the software. Users make the product better by modifying it to suit their needs. The users help develop the product line with little to no compensation other than making it better for their own use and the use of others. It is changed to a user driven innovative culture. The internet has allowed Lego fans and communities much easier ways to connect and share.
I’m an American Girl-Whatever that Means
This article discusses the identities explored and created by little girls who play with American Girls. They interviewed little girls and also their mothers about the identities of the dolls they played with. Most of the dolls are caucasian dolls with the exception of a few.
Where Happily Ever After Happens Every Day": Disney's Official Princess Website and the Commodification of Play
Disney portrays an image of a princess that is stereotypical. Princesses should be kind, have good fashion sense, be pleasing to the men in her life, fall in love, etc. Are these stereotypically girl roles the message we want to be sending to our girls? It certainly would not be the message I would want my daughters to hear. The Disney Princess website tries to act like a game but really is not. Not many options while “playing” and very simplistic activities available like playing dress up with a princess. The goal is to have little girls and their mothers make online purchases.
Post discussion response
Issues of play value and the diversity of the American Girl Brand came out in this week's discussions. At first I was thinking that the play value would be high because there are many different dolls, accessories and stories that girls can play with to create their text. At the same time there does not seem to be much cultural diversity in the line and the price point of these items makes them unaffordable to many families. When accessories are created to support very specific storylines that can in a sense decrease the play value. When girls have less accessories they would be forced to more imaginative and creative in their play. Some of my fondest memories are of creating houses from our cabbage patch dolls in the lilac tree in the back yard.
This week's discussion makes me realize that I have not really thought how toys allow kids to create their own text when they play with them. The video of the little girl playing with her dad and American Girl dolls to create a gymnastics meet exemplifies this well. In a grade 4 setting I have never thought of bringing toys into the classroom to create text. I have seen toys marketed with some books through Scholastic. For example, the Scaredy Squirrel Book can be purchased with a Scaredy Stuffy. I have see younger grades bring in toys like this when they are reading a book. This does not happen as often in older grades, beyond grade 2. I guess if I think about it my bucket of lego that the kids love to play with are encouraging my students to create text and stories through this type of play. Many do not consider this creating stories or text but merely play and it is not as valued in a older grade setting. Early education people get the importance of play but perhaps we encourage kids to stop playing too soon.
This week's discussion makes me realize that I have not really thought how toys allow kids to create their own text when they play with them. The video of the little girl playing with her dad and American Girl dolls to create a gymnastics meet exemplifies this well. In a grade 4 setting I have never thought of bringing toys into the classroom to create text. I have seen toys marketed with some books through Scholastic. For example, the Scaredy Squirrel Book can be purchased with a Scaredy Stuffy. I have see younger grades bring in toys like this when they are reading a book. This does not happen as often in older grades, beyond grade 2. I guess if I think about it my bucket of lego that the kids love to play with are encouraging my students to create text and stories through this type of play. Many do not consider this creating stories or text but merely play and it is not as valued in a older grade setting. Early education people get the importance of play but perhaps we encourage kids to stop playing too soon.