Matt Damon's mom, noted educator Nancy Carlsson-Paige, on the power of play

 Matt Damon’s mom, noted educator Nancy Carlsson-Paige, worries when she sees a classroom full of kindergartners sitting on the floor repeating numbers and letters as the teacher leads a daily drill of memorization.

Rote learning, Carlsson-Paige says, is not nearly as complex or valuable as what a child learns naturally when left to play on his own or with a classmate. And it is much more beneficial for a child to come up with his own story, she says, rather than using commercially themed figures – like those from "Star Wars" or "Frozen" – to re-enact the script of a popular movie.

“Play is a phenomenal experience for kids. Playing rescue hero and saving others makes them feel powerful,” Carlsson-Paige says. “Kids make meaning out of their own experiences, and that’s how they work out things. That’s why it’s so vital that they do it every day.”

Beth Bommhardt, lead teacher in St. Peter’s Nursery School toddler program and community liaison for the school, says Carlsson-Paige’s work has affected how she teaches.

“I’ve even changed my curriculum to be even more play-based,” Bommhardt says. “We’re feeling the world. … Instead of sitting down with a chart to do the weather, we (talk about it) outside because that’s where the weather is.”

Bommhardt invited Carlsson-Paige to St. Peter’s, which has kids from 15 months to 5 years old.

An educator for more than 30 years, Carlsson-Paige is a nationally recognized expert on early childhood education. She has written a dozen books: The latest, from 2009, is “Taking Back Childhood: a Proven Roadmap for Raising Confident, Creative, Compassionate Kids.”

As professor emeritus at Lesley University in Cambridge, she advises on early childhood education programs and speaks to groups of teachers and parents around the country.

She is coming to St. Peter’s Nursery School in Osterville Tuesday. The event, which costs $20 and requires reservations, is open to the public.

In a 2013 TED talk ("When Education Goes Wrong: Taking Creativity and Play Out of Learning,") Carlsson-Paige illustrated the concept of play in a story about how, as children, her sons, artist Kyle Damon and actor Damon, responded differently to a crisis based on developmental age.

When a fireplace fire in the family’s apartment got out of control, single mom Carlsson-Paige tried to smother it with a blanket while calling for her sons to help. Kyle, 8, brought water, but Matt, 5, appeared in his red bathrobe, with a firefighter’s hat and a piece of hose attached to nothing.

“That was his rescue hero outfit, and he really believed it gave him power over situations that were out of his control. He really believed it would help,” Carlsson-Paige says of the incident, which happened more than 40 years ago.

In an interview with the Cape Cod Times this week, she said that both of the boys were good at playing alone or together. Matt made up stories while Kyle created props from recycled materials to bring the stories to life.

“When I see him (Matt) acting, I think of that. He has that confidence to really go into a role and become that person so comfortably,” Carlsson-Paige says.

Although she saw her son’s acting aptitude early on, the educator didn’t let Matt join a drama club until middle school. “I didn’t want him memorizing someone else’s words at a young age; I wanted him to keep writing his own scripts in his head.”

In 1997, one of those scripts,“Good Will Hunting,” written with friend Ben Affleck, won an Oscar for best original screenplay and launched the acting careers of Damon and Affleck.

While not everyone grows up to be an A-list actor or an acclaimed artist and sculptor, Carlsson-Paige says play is at the root of children learning and developing their own particular skills.

“Discovery learning, not just direct instruction, is so important,” Carlsson-Paige says. “In school, play develops cognitive, social and emotional skills, and it’s all happening at the same time.”

Carlsson-Paige sees clear barriers to play, but also ways teachers and parents can remove some of them.

Barriers include the 90 common core achievement goals with which early education teachers must contend; parents overscheduling children in activities; and, the one she’ll talk about Tuesday, the prevalence of technology that has tablets and smartphones in the hands of 1- and 2-year-olds.

To help, she says, parents can put away the electronics as much as possible; set up a place with clay, crayons, paper, etc.; and make time at home for free play in which your child or children, not you, decide what is going to happen. Third, be sure you are not overscheduling the kids.

“In some schools, kids are getting less down time for play than adults do in the workplace,” she says. “There is a crucial need for child-initiated play every day. It encourages them to work things out. Like sleep, it helps with integrating things.”

If you would like to learn more about Carlsson-Paige’s work, information is available through “Defending the Early Years” at deyproject.org.

Find Gwenn Friss on Twitter: @dailyrecipeCCT

If you go

What: Nancy Carlsson-Paige, early childhood education expert and actor Matt Damon's mom, speaking on the need for non-directed play

When: 6:30 to 8:30 p.m. April 24

Where: St. Peter' Nursery School, 421 Wianno Ave., Osterville

Cost: $20

Reservations: Required, call 508-428-8857, or email stpetersnurseryevents@gmail.com