The Role Of Play For Young Children's Development And Development

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This essay forms a rationale for how important an appropriate curriculum is. The rationale clearly states curriculum’s importance and is supported with principles and practices from attachment theory and the framework that guides educators.

Young children have a great desire and instinct to investigate and discover. By doing so they are gathering new understandings and building on what they already know (Hogan, Chisnall, & Culbreath, 2010). Young children’s intelligence has many elements including self-control, the desire to explore, inquisitiveness, creativity, and verbal and non-verbal communication (Medina, 2014). Some people have the perception that young children are not able to act in meaningful ways and because they are so young cannot verbalise their needs and interests in regard to a desire to learn (Kearns, 2010). Medina …show more content…

Play is a primary learning tool that allows children to develop, and is the key pedagogy used by early childhood educators to support and enhance development (DEEWR, 2009). These principles acknowledge the child as a capable, resourceful learner who plays a critical role in directing their own play (Kearns, 2010). Curriculum for infants and toddlers should be open ended and flexible so as to enable changes initiated by the children. When educators value play’s ability to encourage and combine a wide range of young children’s intellectual, physical, social and creative abilities, they follow the EYLF aims of empowering children to view themselves as competent and resilient learners (DEEWR, 2009). The framework is underpinned by the principles that play is a critical tool in promoting learning, children as producers of their own learning and educators as facilitators (Kearns, 2010). Play is not just an experience to engage in for their enjoyment; it is through play that young children’s deep learning occurs (MacNaughton,

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