The Work of Play: The Progressive Child

boy and cat playing

http://gallery.lib.umn.edu/archive/original/83a43e2dc3ae0ba03ca87c67b5fe13ad.jpg

Lucy Sprague Mitchell

The rise of child psychology around 1900 inspired "progressive" educators to reimagine schooling from a child's perspective. What if, as John Dewey proclaimed, "learning by doing" better suited a child's natural capabilities than rote memorization? What if play, said Maria Montessori, was not idleness but "the work" of childhood?

At New York's progressive Bank Street School, Lucy Sprague Mitchell's pioneering language-development studies prompted a vigorous challenge to the common wisdom about books for the youngest ages. Her Here and Now Story Book asserted that preschoolers craved not fairy tales, but stories about the world they knew, as well as books that invited their playful, collaborative participation.

Mitchell's literary protégée Margaret Wise Brown led the charge in putting her revolutionary findings into practice, most famously in Goodnight Moon. An impressive array of artists lent their talents, too: Edward Steichen, Jean Charlot, Maurice Sendak, and Crockett Johnson, whose unflappable doodler Harold gave Mitchell's movement its poster child.


Click on image to enlarge

Click on titles for more information

http://gallery.lib.umn.edu/archive/original/9232ba05871cc0d09bf9dddd8186ad3f.jpg

Cover of Here and Now Story Book 

By Lucy Sprague Mitchell,  E. P. Dutton & Co., Inc. , 1921

Here and Now Story Book

Written by Lucy Sprague Mitchell

Illustrated by Willem van Loon

1928

http://gallery.lib.umn.edu/archive/original/27e734e210a22878e88e19bc1de70d1b.jpg

Cover of The First Picture Book

By Mary Steichen Martin, Harcourt Brace and Co., 1930

The First Picture Book

Written and Photographed by Mary Steichen Martin and Edward Steichen

1930

http://gallery.lib.umn.edu/archive/original/2f30659f02e0f59393301d9c34ef6176.jpg

Cover of The Noisy Book

By Margaret Wise Brown, William Scott, 1939

The Noisy Book

Written by Margaret Wise Brown

Illustrated by Leonard Weisgard

1939

http://gallery.lib.umn.edu/archive/original/543fd582b73dc603b985e94e9b0c51c6.jpg

Cover of Goodnight Moon

By Margaret Wise Brown, Harper and Brothers, 1947

Kerlan Features

Goodnight Moon

Written by Margaret Wise Brown

Illustrated by Clement Hurd

1947

http://gallery.lib.umn.edu/archive/original/f48ed88df69946ece8bffb461a076859.jpg

Cover of A Hole is to Dig

By Ruth Krauss, Hamish Hamilton, 1963

A Hole Is to Dig: A First Book of First Definitions

Written by Ruth Krauss

Illustrated by Maurice Sendak

1952

http://gallery.lib.umn.edu/archive/original/e60edce65186275badd2ad09e0780d67.jpg

Cover of Harold and the Purple Crayon

By Crockett Johnson, Harper and Brothers, 1955

Harold and the Purple Crayon

Written and Illustrated by Crockett Johnson

1955

http://gallery.lib.umn.edu/archive/original/45f6307cd7dfa3c91a456e356472459b.jpg

Cover of The Phantom Tollbooth

By Norton Juster, Epstein and Carroll, 1961

The Phantom Tollbooth

Written by Norton Juster

Illustrated by Jules Feiffer

1961

Visions of Childhood
The Work of Play: The Progressive Child