Children have real understanding only of that which they invent themselves, and each time that we try to teach them too quickly, we keep them from reinventing it themselves.
Jean PiagetRead
Children's games constitute the most admirable social institutions. The game of marbles, for instance, as played by boys, contains an extremely complex system of rules - that is to say, a code of laws, a jurisprudence of its own.
Interpretation
What this quote means
Children's games are valuable social structures that reflect complex rules and systems.
Jean Piaget highlights the sophistication inherent in children's games, such as marbles, as they embody organized systems of rules that reflect social norms and laws. This complexity indicates that even in play, children engage in significant social learning, suggesting that these games serve as foundational institutions for understanding social behavior and moral principles.
Themes
ChildrenGamesSocial InstitutionsRulesLawLearning
In practice
Example use cases
During a discussion on childhood development, one might say, 'Just as Jean Piaget noted, children's games are rich with social learning opportunities.'
More from Jean Piaget
All quotes →Logical activity is not the whole of intelligence. One can be intelligent without being particularly logical.
Jean PiagetRead
Everyone knows that at the age of 11-12, children have a marked impulse to form themselves into groups and that the respect paid to the rules and regulations of their play constitutes an important feature of this social life.
Jean PiagetRead
Play is the work of childhood.
Jean PiagetRead
The goal of education is not to increase the amount of knowledge but to create the possibilities for a child to invent and discover, to create men who are capable of doing new things.
Jean PiagetRead
Education, for most people, means trying to lead the child to resemble the typical adult of his society . . . but for me and no one else, education means making creators. . . . You have to make inventors, innovators...not conformists
Jean PiagetRead
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