Free Play Behaviors

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Albert Einstein believed that “play is the highest form of research.” For a small child there is not an exact division between the things that are educational and the things that he or she does for fun or play. Through living and playing a child is learning and developing in many ways. Through analyzing the play episodes of a four year old girl named Noelle, I was able to relate my observations to research and theory regarding the development and benefits of play that influence the social, emotional, and cognitive development of children. The different types and classifications of play occur throughout different stages of a child’s development. Indications of social, emotional, cognitive, and language development in a child can be seen when analyzing the different aspects of pretend play or make-believe play that he or she engages in. Pretend play occurs when objects and actions are transformed symbolically. Catherine Garvey (2000) and Angeline Lillard (2006) emphasize that role-taking, balancing of social roles, testing of the reality- pretense distinction, metacognition, and numerous non-egocentric capacities that reveal exceptional cognitive skills that are hidden in young children’s pretend play narratives (Santrock, 2010, p. 342). There are three different levels that make up pretend play: make-believe regarding self, meaning throughout time a child’s play shows increasing focus away from the self; make-believe regarding objects and beings, meaning a child’s play becomes less dependent on objects that look like the items being represented; a child’s ability to craft a story, meaning an increase in ability to plan and maintain stories with multiple steps (Lesson 14 commentary). When analyzing each aspect of pretend play, I ob... ... middle of paper ... ...o choose a more feminine color for his cup, which none of them did, it might have challenged Noelle and help advance her and the other childrens thinking. When Albert Einstein stated that “play is the highest form of research,” I believe that from a child's perspective he could not have been anymore right. Through analyzing the play episodes of a four year old girl named Noelle, I was able to relate my observations to research and theory regarding the development and benefits of play that influence the social, emotional, and cognitive development of children. As children play they learn which helps them to progress and develop their minds and social skills. Play is one of the most influential exercises to progressively develop children. Works Cited http://www.childsplaymagazine.com/Quotes/ Santrock, John W. 2010. Children. New York, NY: The McGraw-Hill Companies

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