Children's right to play

A child’s right to Play

My book CATCH A DREAMER, began when I created ten tapestries celebrating the ten rights of the child. The very first tapestry I created in this series related to a child’s right to play, the essence of childhood.

Maybe it was the child within me, (possibly an overused phrase, but still valid nevertheless), that drew me first to that particular right.

Childhood is play. That some kids don’t have a chance
to play is beyond belief. Play is so much part of being
a child it seems that denying the experience of play
to a child is close to denying a child her life. That children
find a way to play when they have almost nothing, gives
testimony to the miracle of a child’s spirit.


Play is the soul of childhood.
It is magic and imagination
mixed together in a fairy tale brew.

It is chalking lines on a sidewalk
and hopping between them.
It is running in a field or a park
and thinking you are a super being
who can fly,and swim in a cloud.
even if you’re running in a field of garbage.

Play is when you are the queen of the whole wide world
and the world is wider than the street, the house
the back yard, wider than the sky, bigger than all the school rooms all put together..
even if you haven’t ever been in a schoolroom because you have to work in a field or a factory



Play is when you are the magician, you are the doctor,
you are the teacher. Play is when you swish your wand and all bad things disappear.
even if your mother is so sick she can’t take care of you and you are afraid she will die and leave you.

Play is tumbling and wrestling,
and skipping and throwing a ball higher than the highest mountain
and battling the monster with your
silver sword which is a stick you found
in the street,
even if there are soldiers with real guns all around you, and you are afraid of them.

Play makes dreams become real.
Play is the game of I win, I am strong
I am brave, I can ride an elephant
Play is the game of who can giggle
the most,
and who can laugh the loudest.
even if I am homeless.

Play is jumping rope with a rainbow.
Play is the jump rope game of life.


click here for information about an organization
that takes play seriously:

http://www.ipausa.org/index.html