Preschool and the Role and Value of Play

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Recommended: An investigation into the impact of parental involvement in early childhood education

In today’s preschool culture, the role and value of play is very important for children; a rich environment filled with playmates, opportunities to learn how to share, take turns, self-regulate, and make life-long friends only scratches the surface of why play is central for children’s development. Parents aren’t seeing what is happening: what they see as random play is actually being utilized to help the child grow socially, emotionally, and physically. Parents believe that children should be spending more time working at an academic level instead of spending their time playing with blocks, puzzles, or being with friends.
Parents don’t realize that their child’s play is indeed their work; it’s just different than what people see happening in a typical classroom setting. Playing helps children grow and develop socially, physically, emotionally, and mentally; it wouldn’t hurt for older children and adults to play once in a while as well. Docia Zavitkovsky, a lifelong advocate of play, says “Discovering and questioning the world…gives children the tools to become creative, knowledgeable, integrated human beings ().” When a child plays with blocks, he isn’t just playing; he is learning how to use his imagination by building a house with an attached garage. The child is learning how different shapes go together and about the color of each shape. The child will even go through the process of destroying what he has created so he can start working again; every child you meet will enjoy that process.
Play is a wonderful asset for our children and can benefit them in many ways: physical, language, self-concept, and social development are four examples of the different areas that massively impact a child’s development. The different play...

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...s imagination. I also plan on saving this essay and using it in my preschool classroom in the future; unless the district or supervisor calls for it, all technology in the room will be controlled by me and will be used strictly for teaching purposes. My children will not only know the value of play, but will get to experience it hands on.

Works Cited

Nilson, Barbara Ann. Week by Week: Plans for Documenting Children's Development. 6th ed. . Belmont, CA: Cenage Learning, 2012. 114-115. eBook.
Gelman, Pam. "How important is play in preschool?."greatschools. greatschools. Web. 26 Jan 2014. .
Snow, Kyle. "Research News You Can Use: More Threats to Preschoolers' Play." NAEYC. n. page. Web. 3 Feb. 2014. .

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