The first time I heard that 'play is the work of children' was in 1949 from Rena Wilson, director of the Newcomb Nursery school in New Orleans and a lecturer at Sophie Newcomb College.
Miss Wilson promised us, as undergraduate students, a view into the very heart of early childhood. While observing children in the nursery school, she told us, 'You are watching the only age group in school that is always busy making up its own work assignments. It looks and sounds like play, yet we properly call this play the work of children. Why? That is what you are here to find out.'
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