Importance Of Childhood Play And Cognitive Development

Childhood play behavior is an important part of every child’s life. Starting in infancy, children begin to explore their world through play. This behavior can serve as an indicator of the child’s cognitive and social development. The research on play and development is a key to helping caregivers understand the importance of childhood play. This paper will focus on the psychological aspects of childhood play behavior and its relation to cognitive development.

According to the cognitive development theory, the purpose of play is to develop intelligence. While children play, it is theorized that they are able to learn to solve problems (Wyver & Spence, 1999). One of the most influential contributors to understanding play was Jean Piaget.

This stage of development is categorized by imagination and symbolic language. During the beginning of this stage, toddlers spend most of their playtime using their imagination and playing pretend. This helps them to decipher the difference between reality and fantasy. Between the ages of five and seven, these children transition from parallel play, to associative and cooperative types of play behavior. These new play behaviors increase their social skills as they interact with peers, siblings, and parents. During this period, children also start engaging in dramatic play with others. This helps them explore different social roles, such as pretending to be a mother while playing house. Dramatic play opens up an entirely new world to children as they use their imagination with others (Hughes, 2006). By playing in a world that does not provide the child with any negative consequences, they are free to play without

For example, this theory relies heavily on Piaget’s stages of cognitive development, which does not consider cultural differences. According to the contextual approach, when studying children across cultures it must be done in the context of their “family history, economic circumstances, and degree of comfort in the current social setting” (Hughes, 2006, p.23). The cultural influence on children must be accounted for when interpreting their play behavior. For example, cultures differ on the importance of independence and interdependence on the group. In Euro-American society children are encouraged to be unique individuals and to think for themselves. When children demonstrate this behavior during play they are reinforced. In contrast, Eastern societies encourage a collectivist mentality that stresses group cohesion and interdependence. These cultural differences greatly impact the development of children as well as their play behavior (Hyun, 1998). The cognitive development theory does not account for these differences and suggests that children develop in the same way across cultures, which is not necessarily