Child Play Essay

Play is a very important part of a child’s social and cognitive developmental process. It is an entertaining way that will help children learn, engage in new experiences, gain self-confidence and mature emotionally while still keeping their attention. It is a way for children to use their creativity while building their imagination, physical, cognitive and emotional strength. It is how early aged children begin to interact with the world and engage within the environment around them. Having an early aged child involved in play education is very beneficial for their developmental processes. Infants explore their world through their senses, while adults foster their development and learning through playing games with them to get their

The first one is Onlooker behavior, which is when the child plays passively by watching or conversing with other children that are engaged in play activities. Next is Solitary Independent play which is when the child plays by themselves. Sometimes children will enjoy this form of play because not all of the time they will want to interact with others or share. Parallel play is a form that many toddlers enjoy. It is when a child will play next to another child but not interact with them, instead they will watch and observe the other child and imitate their actions. Associative play is when the child shares the materials and have verbal communication with the other child but do not coordinate play interests or objectives. Lastly, is Cooperative which is more common when children are a little bit older and actually puts some thinking into what they are doing when playing. The children will organize themselves into roles with specific goals in mind. Most team building and games that require working together to accomplish a goal. These are how children learn and interact in the environment through

When the child is at school is when they interact with others the most and build their social and cognitive skills. It is never fully known if the child engages in play activities at home or if they have a good environment to learn in but that is where school comes in. A teacher should make it their responsibility to include play into the day for young aged children. The teacher should provide appropriate indoor and outdoor safe play environments. Age and developmental levels should be taken into consideration when designing and selecting the activities. It is also the Teacher’s responsibility to assure that the outdoor environments are safe and appropriate. They can refer to the U.S Consumer Product Safety Commission’s Handbook, which states the guidelines for deciding whether the environment is safe or not. It can also suggest which materials are safe for the child age group. According to research, the critical social and emotional skills taught through play are a better indicator of long-term success, than early reading or other academic skills. Which is the main reason why adults should try and incorporate it in a child’s life as much as