Essay On Pretend Play

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Researchers, authors and other scholars have advanced research on general life construct of children. There is profound evidence that pretend play relates to coping and well-being. All the three aspects are vital for children cognitive development and overall well-being. What is pretend play? What is coping and subjective wellbeing? These are psychological jargons, positively related. They are multidimensional and similar processes occur in both Russ, 2004). For clear comprehension, there is need to note the dimensional meaning of coping skills, divergent thinking, pretend play, subjective well-being and cognitive development.
Research affirms that through play, children develop cognitive and affect, necessary for general functioning of human …show more content…

Pretend play links cognitive events, one thing leads to another, hence ‘as if’ element (Fein 1987). Through play, children develop cognitive skills such as ability to stream thoughts and organize it into cause-and-effect sequence. Through divergent thinking, children develop multiple solutions to a single problem (Russ et all 1999). How does it work? Russ (2004) presented broad perspective in understanding the concept, while playing; children access, learn about, and experience emotional thought. They are able to make decisions in real time; control emotions, pleasure, enjoy and creativity (singer 1990). There is clear relationship between play, affect, and creativity. Children who play demonstrate affect, and tend to perform better in life over ally. They tend to adapt to different life situations and express themselves …show more content…

A case of a child undergoing surgery or dental restoration is given to demonstrate the relationship between coping and divergent thinking, it is less likely less painful for the child who has undergone through broad pretend play and cognitive thinking than a child who has experienced narrowed pretend play and cognitive thinking (Curry and Russ 1985). Older children have more cognitive approaches, they tend to think and talk to oneself, rather than applying fewer behavioral strategy. Through play, children experience experiments, threats, and emotions, they learn how to control, how to adapt. Traumatized children express themselves through pretend play; it is through it that adults learnt and understand children. Through Affect in Play Scale (APS;Russ 2004), it is demonstrated that pretend play relates positively to good coping and excellent cognitive

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