Turning into ...

There’s the act, the thing we can see … putting on the crown, scraping at the dirt, climbing the tree, tracing the pencil across the page, constructing the (zoo? bridge? fort? poem?), throwing the ball, filming the scene, moving across the (stage? field?), fitting together the (shapes? relationships? puzzles?), opening the book …

But it doesn’t stop there. More is going on. When these things are done, something turns in the mind of the doer. They are acts of transformation.

This is where the learning is.

And this is why play is so important for all ages. It brings a sense of freedom to the doing, which elevates the nature of the transformation and, by extension, the tenor of the learning.