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The importance of play essay
Conclusion to the importance of play in learning and development
Effects of play on holistic development
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Play What is play? Play is defined as engaging in activates for enjoyment & recreation rather than a serious practical purpose. Playing is a disorganized voluntary spontaneous activity, which may include objects, one’s body, symbol usage, and relationships. Play is flexible, individualize, grouped, motivating, self-directed, open-ended, or self-directed. (Smith, 2013) (Saskatchewan Ministry of Education, 2010) While playing, children are gaining creative skills for creative development, which enhances the ability of creativity, learning techniques, and academic success. The most important development is cognitive. This development is vital for school success. Cognitive development enables a child to solve problems, mentally plan, self-monitor, remember, and evaluate. (Isenburg & Jalongo, 2010) Types of play Mildred Parten classified social play/behaviors into six categories: unoccupied, onlooker, solitary, parallel, associative, and cooperative. Unoccupied behavior is a non-play behavior, in which the child is occupied by looking at anything that is interesting at the moment, but does not engage in any type of play. The child may entertain him/her self by moving around, getting on and off furniture, playing with their body, or by glancing at their at surroundings while remaining in one spot. (Wortham & Reifel, 2010) Onlooker behavior is described when a child spends the majority of their time watching other children play. Unlike unoccupied behavior, onlooker behavior observes a specific group of children regardless if the children are doing anything exciting or not. The observant child frequently talks to the observed children, gives suggestions, or asks questions. The child is not involved ... ... middle of paper ... ... 3, 2014, from http://www.child-development-guide.com/stages-of-play-during-child-development.html Encyclopedia on Early Childhood Development | Home. (n.d.). Retrieved from http://www.child-encyclopedia.com/pages/PDF/play.pdf Frost, J. L., Wortham, S. C., & Reifel, S. (2010, July 20). Characteristics of Social Play | Education.com. Retrieved March 3, 2014, from http://www.education.com/reference/article/characteristics-social-play/ Isenberg, J. P., & Jalongo, M. R. (2010, July 20). Why Is Play Important? Cognitive Development, Language Development, Literacy Development | Education.com. Retrieved March 3, 2014, from http://www.education.com/reference/article/importantance-play-cognitive-language/ Isenberg, J. P., & Jalongo, M. R. (2010, July 20). Why is Play Important? Social and Emotional Development, Physical Development, Creative Development | Education.com.
Many theorists have tried to define play as a concept, however, no two agree on a set definition. Their backgrounds and induvial lifestyles influence the way they see the importance of play. Reed and Brown also believe that there isn’t an agreed definition of play because is something that is felt rather than done (Reed & Brown, 2000 cited in Brock, Dodd’s, Jarvis & Olusoga, 2009). In spite of this, it is clear that most theorists uphold the ethos that play is imperative to a child’s learning and development. There is a wide range of different studies and theories which helps us develop our own perception of what play is. In my personal experience I have found play to be a way of expressive our emotions, exploring and learning new things, thus
During each observation, the kind of social context in which the child was interacting was recorded. This included A: alone, S: With same sex peer, O: With other sex peer and M: With same and other sex peers. In addition to recording the kind of social context, the type of social behavior (e.g. Aggressive-Behavior, Rough and Tumble Play, Prosocial Cooperative Play and Gender Stereotyped Play) was recorded. Aggressive behavior was defined by either verbal (name calling, teasing, tattling excluding others) or physical (hitting, pushing throwing something, grabbing away toys). Rough and Tumble Play consisted of forceful physical action done in a playful, happy way (e.g., chasing or tackling during a game). Prosocial Cooperative Play consisted of sharing toys/materials with a peer, cooperating, working on a common activity. Lastly, gender stereotyped play consisted of boys playing with trucks, balls, sports and girls playing with dolls, house, kitchen. These social behaviors were logged in a sheet used by the observers. This coding system was developed in order to measure the play patterns among preschool
Play is instrumental in the healthy development of children. The development of play throughout an individual life is essential in providing the necessary methods to foster growth and development in critical developmental areas. According to Davies (2011), play is instrumental in providing a bridge for the child to transition from a toddler with a limited capacity to understand the world into a child in the middle years who can think logically. Play is also important in fostering cognitive development, social development, language and communication, moral development, self-regulation, and sense identity.
Unlike some of the more dated articles, this article is recent and takes into account some of the past findings about theories of play. As a limitation, the authors stated that instead of just focusing on one small population, it may be helpful to explore the life circumstances of other marginalized groups, such as African American, and observe the differences between those groups with relation to Mexicans who have migrated to the United States. Overall, I think the authors tried to tackle too many things in their research. For example, the authors talked about the use of play in learning English and gender differences in play. For the sample size, it would have been helpful to only focus on one aspect of play instead of formulating three hypotheses and expecting a sample size of 41 students to answer such complex
54). This engagement ensures that students are interacting with subject matter and materials in a variety of ways, forming life-long relationships with learning and the strategies one might use to do so (Ackerman, 2011). Play in the classroom includes a surplus of supplies and materials, along with a network of connected student workers who share ideas, becoming independent learners. Once an educator, much like the fifth grade teacher, recognizes the negative connation they associate with a word that is not negative, they can explore the importance and role of play in the
Play has been essentially described as the primary occupation of children. Within this occupation, children are given a platform to develop cognitively, physically, and most noticeable, socially. In regards to the developmental benefits of play, sociologist over the years have lent their knowledge to further analyze distinct types of play in which children engage. One such sociologist was Mildred Parten whose work on play later became a regularly cited source for the various types of play children typically engage in at various stages of development. Within her play model, Parten categorized play into the six categories of unoccupied behavior, onlooker behavior, solitary play, parallel play, associative play, and cooperative play (Text citation). In accordance with the actions and behaviors defined by Parten, children who were present at the time of the observation explicitly exhibited similar conduct.
An Article by Dr. Leong and Dr. Bodrova (2016) stated that play is beneficial to children’s learning especially when it reaches a certain degree of complexity. When they engage in play activities most of their early years, they learn to delay gratification and to prioritize their goals and actions. They also learn to consider the perspectives and needs of other people and to represent things significantly to regulate their behavior and actions in a cautious, intentional way.
The article states Play time is important for kids because, it increases original thinking and emotinal health as well.
All children play and it is something that most children do because they are having fun, but without realising children are developing and learning skills when they are engaged in play. Play helps stimulate the mind as it is practical and gives children the chance to explore and experience new situations. It can also ensure that children get to think by themselves and be spontaneous as they control their own play. Children get the chance to be creative and imaginative which develops independence for children. Play is vital for child development and helps children develop five main areas of development:
In reference to Locke I believe that children need to play in order to develop to their fullest potential because play creates creativity, confidence, and overall well being. Feeney also concluded that play is beneficial because it increases physical competence, increased physical fitness and decreased health risks, representational competence, oral language competence and narrative understanding, positive approaches to learning, skills in logic and self-regulation and social negotiation. These are all of the characteristics that children develop through play and I agree with Feeney because children develop an array of skills and characteristics through play and I also believe that play helps shape an individual and help them discover who they are and what they are passionate about. When playing you discover what your likes and dislikes are and this is crucial to know during self discovery because you need to know what your passions are and what you disapprove of in order to find what your purpose is in life. After Wyatt returned from playing outside with his friends he became very cheerful and also involved in classroom activities. When the class breaks up into groups for corners Wyatt becomes increasingly active and talkative when it comes to participating and cooperating with his classmates. He demonstrates that with play comes only great things, including: greater participation, increased confidence, alertness, more active, and also a more positive attitude. All of these attribute back to play and how it can influence a child 's development and daily
...ctive. Play is an essential learning tool and one that must not be ignored within the classroom. It is a catalyst to help children develop socially, emotionally, physically and cognitively. It is not only an important part of a child’s development as a pupil but also a child’s development as an individual.
Onlooker Play is when children watch other children play but do not participate or engage in any of the activities going on. They will also make suggestions or even ask a question about what the children are playing.
The book, Exploring Your role in Early Childhood Education, defines play as, “any activity that is freely chosen, meaningful, active, enjoyable, and open-ended.”(pg. 140) Play has many positive characteristics such as freedom to explore and create. Suppose when a child enters his/her classroom and has various self-selection activities available, the child can become engaged in something of interest specifically to that individual child. The book also states, “Play is active and is natural process of mentally and actively doing something.”(pg. 140) When children can act out or explore experiences they are having hands on experience and learning by actually doing. Without knowing it, children are practicing body movements as well as mental processing though acting imaginary games out.
Before diving into my research, I reflected on the knowledge I already knew regarding play and play based learning. From experience, I know that play is an enjoyable activity for children, and even some adults. I know that there are different ways one can play. For example, playing with others is known as cooperative play and playing alone is considered solitary play. There are different types of play. For example, there is dress up or pretend games, which is considered dramatic, play and there is playing with building blocks which is constructive play. After my reflection I realized that I was more knowledgeable on the action of playing rather then the benefits of it.
Holistic development of young children is the key determination and through play they are able to survive and become physically healthy, able to learn, and emotionally secure and into where they progress into responsible and productive adults with positive reinforcements in the future. When there are societal issues that are barriers such as “technology, childhood obesity, culture, etc.” (Gaston, A, Module 1, Unit 1, 2016), children are then unable to revel in freedom of movement in where play is adventurous and brings out positive behavior. “Play supports the holistic development through the development of intellectual, emotions, socially, physical, creative and spiritual” (Gaston, A, Module 1, Unit 2, 2016), signifying that holistic development is an important factor to be aware of as the child grows. An example would be when in Workshop 1 of Social and Cognitive Styles of Play, we had to play in the given activity for the time being and observe our members and distinguish what kind of cognitive play it was. And one of the assigned question to