Throughout my 20 years in the field of early childhood development, in the classroom and as a kids’ show host, I have observed that a young child in focused, self-guided, open-ended play is like a lucid dreamer. Consider how our subconscious processes the experiences of our daily lives during our dream cycles. When adults pay attention to children’s verbal and non-verbal play, we are, in a way, able to look into their subconscious, and with some careful observation and analysis, gain a pretty good idea about what they are experiencing in their daily lives. From there we can begin to figure out how we can best serve their specific needs.

I remember vividly the first time I saw this in action. I was a rookie preschool teacher working in Chicago. It was the morning of Sept. 12, 2001, the day after the attacks on the United States known as 9/11. We combined classrooms as our attendance was very low and the director of the school said that it would be best for the children if we allowed as much free play as possible that day. Beyond it being the children’s favorite activity, I didn’t fully understand why play would be so important on that particular day.

As my peers quietly compared updates on the chain of events happening in the adult world, the most experienced educator in the room, who the children called “Ms. Cathy,” was intensely watching the children play in the block corner. I took her cue and started to look too, but I didn’t see anything unusual for that area. They were building structures and knocking them down just like any other day. I asked Ms. Cathy what we were looking at. “Just watch and listen,” she said, and I did. It was quieter than usual. In fact, there was no talking at all. No tracks were being made for the cars to race on. No little ramps to jump. Just the repetition of building up structures and knocking them down. No laughing. No fighting. Just serious little faces building up structures and knocking them down again and again and again.

After a while, I watched Ms. Cathy carefully walk over to the group playing. She sat down next to one little boy, criss-cross-applesauce, as he was starting to build up the blocks again. She didn’t say a word. She was just with him. After he knocked his structure over again with his car, she gently put her hand on his back. The boy stopped and rested his head on her lap. She stroked his back, and from there, with some gentle prompts, she was able to talk with him about what he had seen the night before on TV.

I recently shared that story with Dr. Chip Donohue, founding director of the Technology in Early Childhood Center at Erikson Institute. He explained that, in a way, the events of 9/11 happened multiple times for young children at that period because of the ‘round-the-clock television news coverage and continuous replays of the tragedy, including the planes hitting the towers.