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Iii. Play in early childhood education: influences on child development
Iii. Play in early childhood education: influences on child development
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Scenario) You are working in an Early Years setting and within the team there is conflict about the nature of play and its role in the curriculum. Demonstrate your knowledge and understanding of the nature of play, explain what it is, why children engage in it and how it contributes to children’s development and learning. Critically engage with the literature and include the views of key theorists about the significance of play
‘Early childhood education is underpinned by a strong tradition which regards play as essential to learning and development’ (Wood& Attefield, 2005: 1). This view is derived from educators such as Vygotsky, Frobel, Bruce, Isaac and Moyles who have carried out various research and observations on the effects of play. Despite this, the nature of play and its role in the curriculum continues to be critically analysed and debated, particularly beyond the early years of school. This essay seeks to outline the importance of play by analysing what it is, why children engage in it and how it contributes to development and learning.
In society today, play is associated with childhood as many hold the belief that children are the only people who engage with play however Moyles (1989) states otherwise, she begins to explain that ‘play is undoubtedly a means by which humans and animals explore a variety of experiences in different situations for diverse purposes’ (1989: ix). This is evidently true, as when adults receive a new gadget their initial reaction is to play around with the different components. It is through frequent use of that same object that individuals begin to familiarise themselves with the object and its components: ‘in a child’s play this is known as functional play’ (Moyles, 1989). A hand o...
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... deprived of play, the outcome of such situations leads to adverse effects in learning and development. Hence this holds a strong argument as to why play, plays a central role in the early years curriculum.
Works Cited
Bruce,T (2001). Learning through Play: Babies, Toddlers and the Foundation Years, London: Stoughton Educational
Hoorn, J, Patricia, N, Scales, B and Alward,K (1993). Play at the Centre of the Curriculum, United States of America: Macmillan
Moyles, J (1989). Just Playing?, Philadelphia: Open University Press
Smidth, S (2002) A Guide to Early Years Practice, London: Routledge Falmer
Tassoni, P and Beith, K (2002) Diploma Child Care and Education, Surrey: Heinemann Educational
Wood, E and Attfield, J. Play, Learning and the Early Years Curriculum, Devon: Paul Chapman
Eyfs 1 2
http://www.playwales.org.uk/downloaddoc.asp?id=1&page=67&skin=0
Interestingly it was through this process of sharing our professional experiences that we established the central idea of our exhibition. We had determined that the importance of play in the Early Years was a theme that was often debated by parents, colleagues and policy makers. By choosing this as our topic we hoped to have an enhanced understanding of the historical implications of play in Early Years Education, resulting in professional competence and the ability to guide and mentor others on the significance of play. Rodd (1996) endorses this importance of Early Years Professionals having the skills to build, establish and maintain credibility in the fast-changing sector of Early Years.
Early Childhood is marked by a time in children’s lives when they develop “a confident self-image, more effective control over their emotions, new social skills, the foundations of morality, and a clear sense of themselves as boy or girl” (Berk, Kauffman & Landrum, 2011, pg. 45). According to Erik Erikson, early childhood is a period of “vigorous unfolding,” one where children have a sense of autonomy and a new sense of purposefulness or initiative (Berk, Kauffman & Landrum, 2011, pg. 45). Play is a means for children to learn about themselves and they begin to adopt the moral and gender-role standards of the society in which they live (Berk, Kauffman & Landrum, 2011). A negative outcome of early childhood is the guilt children feel as a result of excessive punishment and criticism by the adults in their lives (Berk, Kauffman & Landrum, 2011)....
Sayeed, Z and Guerin, E (2000). Early Years Play: A Happy Medium for Assessment and Intervention. London: David Fulton Publishers Ltd.
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.
..., J., & Garzoli, E. (2007, November 11). The Effectiveness of a Play-Based Curriculum in Early Childhood Education. Retrieved from http://teachplaybasedlearning.com/8.html
Play is such an important part of the learning and growing, especially for children. Children engage in many different types of play, but the play I saw the most when I observe the children of my daycare is sociodramatic play. The book Understanding Dramatic Play by Judith Kase-Polisini defines sociodramatic play as “both players must tacitly or openly agree to act out the same drama” (Kase-Polisini 40). This shows that children play with each other and make their worlds together as equal creators. Children also work together without argument. There is also some personal play involved in their sociodramatic play. The children involved in the play worked to make a family having dinner, which is great example of how this will prepare them for
Play helps build sturdy learning foundations because later levels of learning are built upon the earlier ones. All types of play, from fantasy to rough-and-tumble have a crucial role in the development of children. It is the lens through which children experience their world and the world of others. If deprived to play, they are at bigger possibility for atypical development and deviant behavior. Without play, self-control does not develop satisfactorily Goldstein, J. (2012)
My desire for children in my care is that their learning journey would be meaningful as they explore the ideas and activities they are interested in. This means that I believe that children are naturally motivated learners and should have the opportunity to learn through their own explorations and through collaboration with other children and educators. I believe this can be done through both teacher-initiated and child-initiated activities and supported through play. I also believe that play is a natural and enjoyable means through which children learn. In my practice I aim to encourage children’s natural ...
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
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/
Drake, J. (2005) Planning Children’s play and learning in the foundation stage, 2nd ed. London: David Fulton Publishers Ltd.
I am very much the type of person that prefers hard copies such as books, magazines, or newspapers so I started there. I looked at past textbooks I have used during my time in school and found two that were extremely helpful; the first titled Play, Learning and the Early Childhood Curriculum by Elizabeth Wood and Jan Attfield, and the second titled Crisis in the Kindergarten: Why Children Need to Play in School by Edward Miller and Joan Almon. After finding two books, I decided it was time to look on the Internet. Instead of using the normal Google search, I decided to use Google Scholar as a way to find dependable sources. I used the key words pay based learning, childcare, and teaching styles. From those key words alone I found many scholarly articles and experiment papers. One article I really liked was by Ageliki Nicolopoulou, a professor from Lehigh University located in Pennsylvania. What stuck out about her article was that she also used the text by Miller and Almon. Another source I reference in this paper is How Dramatic Play Can Enhance Learning by Marie E. Cecchini, which I quickly mentioned above. Dolores A. Steglin wrote the last article I used. Her article Making the Case for Play Policy: Research-Based Reasons to Support Play Based Environments was really helpful when I started to link the NAEYC Code’s and Early Childhood Educator Competencies to play based learning strategies. I also used
My topic links to the curriculum for Excellence as it emphasises that children learn through active play such as spontaneous play, planned, purposeful play along with investigating and exploring. (Scottish Executive Education Department,
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
In Kindergarten school, some parent believes play is the best way for young children to learn the conceptions, skills, and set a solid foundation for later school and life success. In the other hand, many parents disagree and believe play is a waste of time, messy, noisy, and uneducationall. I believe play is not waste of time, but it something worth to fight for, in this presentation I would show parent the main importance of some of the numerous kinds of play, and why play is a fundamental basis for improving children’s ability to succeed in school and life.