How Does Play Influence Social Development

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Play is defined as an activity of enjoyment or recreation, rather than an activity of serious or practical purpose. Whilst play has a number of developmental benefits, they are often delayed and do not show light until later years in a child's life, which reinforces the definition of play having no immediate goal or aim; play merely satisfies an individuals creative and explorative desires for their own sake. Play offers a multitude of opportunities for social development, allowing children to discover the norms and conventions that govern human interactions. Through play, children learn values, knowledge and skills that enable them to relate to other individuals effectively, eventually contributing to their family, school and community in a positive way. Play is essential for developing social and emotional ties from an early age and the concept of the influence of play on children's social development will be explored throughout this essay.

Engaging in play allows children to learn socially acceptable behaviour and social norms within society, which benefits their social development. Bandura's study in 1961 suggests that children learn through observing a role model and imitating their behavior. He investigated whether social behaviours were observed and imitated through playing with a …show more content…

Kisler, Bate, Maslin and Bayles (1986) observed mother-infant relationships and interactions naturalistically, with the mothers either interacting in an unresponsive or "low-key" manner. Infants were more securely attached at 13 months to mothers who were more engaging, interactive and entertaining. Moreover, infants later rated as securely attached were more interested in maintaining social interactions. These findings suggest that parent-infant play is a vital aspect of promoting attributes needed for secure attachment relationships, which make up social

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