游戏是孩子们的天性

刊首语

游戏是孩子们的天性

我的孩子4岁多时曾经在巴黎的拉·维莱特公园旁住了两个月，几乎每天都去公园玩耍游戏。后来我曾问他，在他去过的所有地方中最喜欢哪里，他几乎未做思考就说出了拉·维莱特公园，再问他为什么喜欢那里，他说因为公园里到处都是玩的。

在孩子的心中，玩是最重要的。玩就是孩子的天性，所以孩子们应该都会喜欢拉·维莱特公园，它不仅仅是城市中充满活力的公共空间，更是孩子们的乐园。公园中到处都是孩子们游戏的空间，草地就是一个大球场，龙园、风沙之园、镜园等小花园是孩子们游戏的天地，奥登伯格的自行车雕塑也允许孩子攀爬，一个园艺花园让孩子们更好地接触自然，了解各种作物和花卉的生长。公园北部还有科学与工业馆，里面大多是互动性的展览，参观者可通过游戏的方式来了解各种现代科学和技术的发展，非常有创意，难怪公园中每天都汇集了众多的孩子。

不同时代的孩子们玩的内容可不一样，快乐也各不相同。我们这个年龄段的人小时候没有儿童游戏场，所以每当我看到好的儿童游戏环境时都会有些许冲动，真想和孩子们一起在充满诱惑的游乐场里玩耍。不过我们小时候也不缺少游戏，那时候我们可比现在的孩子们有更多的课外时间，大家都有兄弟姐妹，一呼百应，汇集起来就是一群，场面颇为壮观。当年我们的游戏并不需要复杂的器具，沙子、碎石、黏土、砖头、水、烟盒、糖纸、冰棍棒、杏仁、羊拐都可以成为道具，玩具是自己制作的，场地也是自己创造的。我们童年的大量时间是在户外度过的，除非夜幕降临，否则小伙伴们都不会回家。我们从来不知道什么叫孤单，也在这些自然简单的游戏中练就了丰富的想象力和创造力，激发了冒险精神。

现在孩子们的生活环境和生活状态都改变了，物质生活优越很多，几乎要什么都能得到满足，各种玩具琳琅满目，幼儿园、居住区和公园中也多建有儿童游戏场，幼儿的游戏活动丰富多彩。只是当孩子们一到学龄年龄，精力就要花在了课堂、补习班和各种作业上，很难有时间享用这些游戏设施，再加上放学后也没有邻里伙伴，许多孩子只能在家长规定的时间内，匆匆忙忙通过电脑、手机和平板电脑玩一会儿游戏。当然我们不能说这些电子游戏就没有乐趣，只是在这样的游戏中，孩子们失去了与大自然亲密交流、与小伙伴合作分享的机会，自我制作和搭建几乎没有可能，想象的空间受限，这不能不说是一个遗憾。

每个人都仅有一个童年，孩子们是社会的未来，具有幸福快乐的童年对人的健康成长和社会的和谐发展至关重要。游戏是孩子最大的乐趣，也是孩子们提高综合能力的重要途径。我们应该认识到，只要是为大众使用的公共空间，首先应该满足孩子的使用，为孩子提供游戏的可能，给孩子带去快乐。我们要尽可能多地为孩子们创造出优质的活动空间，在这里孩子们通过游戏可以更好地认识和探索世界，学习与别人合作相处的方式，获得自信和勇气，激发想象力和创造力，培养组织、策划和决策的能力，练就自己的个性。

儿童游戏场都是由成年人设计建造的，然而孩子们的心理、喜好和行为方式与成年人有很大差异，成年人未必了解孩子的所思所想，成年人创造的环境也未必能获得孩子们的喜爱。记得几年前参加一个硕士研究生的毕业论文答辩，论文题目就是有关儿童游戏场的研究。在评价他的研究成果前，我最想问的问题是，“你有孩子吗？你和孩子在一起生活过吗？你仔细观察过孩子吗？你了解孩子吗？你知道孩子的喜好与需要吗？”

儿童游戏场是成年人给孩子们的礼物，只有具备长期与孩子们生活在一起的经历，才能真正懂得孩子，只有懂得孩子，才能更好地研究孩子，只有在对孩子进行全方位研究的基础上，才能设计和建设好儿童游戏环境。

主编：王向荣教授

2017年3 月17 日

Playing Is the Nature of Children

My kid once lived aside La Villette Park in Paris for two months when he was four years old. Almost every day he went to play in the park. Later I asked him which place he liked most among where he had been, and he said it was La Villette Park without hesitation. He told me that he could play everywhere in the park when I asked why.

Playing is the foremost in children's world. Satisfying the children's nature, the park La Villette is their favorite. It is not only the vigorous public space in the city, but also children's paradise where they can play all around. Grass is a big court, small gardens such as the dragon garden, sand dune garden, mirror garden and the like are children's kingdoms. Children are even entitled to climbing up and down the sculpture 'Buried Bicycle' designed by Oldenburg. In the horticultural garden children are exposed to nature, having access to the growth of various crops and flowers. The museum 'City of Science and Industry' in the northern part of the park mostly displays interactive exhibitions. Visitors can get to know the development of modern science and technology by participating the creative games. No wonder a large number of children gather in the park every day.

Children of different times vary in playing games and contentment. People of our age rarely have exclusive space to play. So impulsive I was whenever finding a well-designed children's playing environment that I desire to join them in the alluring playground. Yet we never lacked games in our childhood, we owned much more extracurricular time shared with siblings than children today. Crowds of children would gather together by a call, the scene is quite spectacular. No complex facility is needed at that time. Sand, gravel, clay, bricks, water, cigarette cases, sweet wrappers, ice cream sticks, almonds, jacks made by goat knucklebone were all props. Toys could be handmade and the site could be created. Most time of our childhood was spent outdoor. Children are unwilling to go back home unless the night fell. Loneliness is far away for us, and the imagination, creativity were developed and adventurous spirit was inspired in these natural and simple games.

Nowadays, children's living environment and condition have transformed greatly, with the improvement of the material life. Almost all they need can be satisfied ranging from a variety of toys to well-equipped children's playground in almost all kindergartens, residential areas and parks, as well as colorful games. But they no longer have much time enjoying the playing facilities once they reach the school age, with most time occupied by school, cram schools and homework. Many children can only play games for a while through the computer, cell phone or tablet computer within the given time by parents. Few peers can be found in the neighborhood after school as well. We cannot deny the recreational function of these video games, but it is regretful that children is losing the opportunity to intimately communicate with nature, to share and cooperate with friends, and to manufacture and construct by their own hands with wild imagination.

Childhood turns up only once for everyone. Children are the future of our society, a happy childhood is vital for their healthy growth and social harmony as well. Playing is of the greatest fun for children, in the meantime an essential way to improve their comprehensive ability. It should be recognized that spaces for public use are supposed to satisfy the needs of children initially, give them access to a range of activities and bring them joy. We should create first-class spaces for children activities as much as possible, where children can better understand and explore the world, learn how to get along with others, gain self-confidence and courage, develop their imagination and creativity, and then cultivate the abilities of organizing, planning and decision-making hereby polish their own personality accordingly.

Children's playgrounds are designed and built by adults, but the children differ substantially in psychology, preferences and behavior from us. Adults may hardly understand children, thus the environment created by adults may hardly be favored by children. I still remember, a student presented his thesis research upon graduation on children's playground few years ago. Before commenting on his thesis, questions occur to me strongly: "Do you have a child? Have you ever lived with a child? Have you observed children carefully? Do you know children well? Do you know children's preferences and demands?"

Children's playgrounds are the gifts from adults. Only with a long-term experience living with children can we really understand them. Only by knowing them well, can we better study on them. Only on a basis of the comprehensive study of children can we design and create the favorable children's playing environment.

Translator: WANG Xi-yue

Chief Editor: Prof. WANG Xiang-rong

March 17th, 2017