Flint Hill's Day of Play gives students the opportunity to learn through unstructured play. Head of School Patrick McHonett talked with Lower School students about their experiences at 2022's Day of Play.

Watch the video or read the transcript below.

TRANSCRIPT:
Mr. McHonett: Hello, Flint Hill community. Welcome! It's good to see you. I hope you all had a fantastic time at our Homecoming events just a little while ago. We were so excited in our Lower School. This past Friday was the Annual Day of Play. Did you guys have a good time?

Fifth-Grade Students: Yes!

Mr. McHonett: I'm here with some of our fifth graders who helped really just drive the incredible day. What was your favorite experience? What was your favorite part to play?

Abby C.: I loved building and playing with other people's creations.

Connor M.: This was my first Day of Play, so it's really fun to do it.

Mr. McHonett: It's my first one, too. It was a lot of fun. It's neat to be able to see this because you hear all the hype about it and then you actually see it and it's like, “Oh my goodness."

Now, it wasn't all play. There was absolutely learning happening. What did you learn in your day of play experience?

Jacob S.: I learned that even if you have this great idea that you think is better than everybody else's, other people might have good ideas too, and you just have to work with other people's ideas.

Mr. McHonett: It's that collaboration and that give and take where you say, “Hey, I have an idea. You have an idea. How do we make this thing better?” And sometimes it requires that we take a step back and listen to others, which is good. Good life skills right there.

Diyar F.: Sometimes things come out differently than how you suppose it works.

Mr. McHonett: Being flexible, being adaptive, and going through that iterative process where we come up with those ideas, and we continue to refine them. That's hard stuff. So it's a day of play and it's also hard work. I bet you all were exhausted when it was all done.

Well, I tell you what. Thank you all so much for sharing your day of play experiences. Thank you to all the volunteers that helped us with those experiences. We look forward to doing it again next year. In the meantime, have a wonderful week!
Say it with me, on three. One, two, three.

Students: Go Huskies!