Part A-Background: Literature Review
Theories of play, both traditional and contemporary views
Traditional views usually look at the driving forces of children’s play and focuses mainly on its physical and instinctive aspects.
• Surplus Energy Theory- Humans play when they have excess energy where they have a finite amount of energy that is mainly used for survival and work. Similarly for children, by discharging this excess energy in play, balance is actually restored to their bodies. As children usually play more they have greater amounts of energy to expend.
• Relaxation Theory- Is seen to be essentially distinct from play. It is similar to the surplus energy theory where it relates energy levels to work. Looking from the Recreation perspective,
…show more content…
Such play helps your pre-schooler learn the do's and don'ts of getting along with others, the art of sharing, encourages language development, problem-solving skills and cooperation. There is no formal organization, groups of children have similar goals, although they all want to be playing with the same types of toys and may even trade toys, yet they do not set rules.
• Social Play- At around the age of three, children are beginning to socialize with other children of which children learn social rules such as give and take and cooperation by interacting with other children in play settings. The beginning to learn the use of moral reasoning to develop a sense of values by sharing toys and ideas and in order to be prepared to function in the adult world, children need to experience a variety of social situations.
• Motor-Physical Play- Examples of such play happens when children run, jump, and play games such as hide and seek and tag. This offers a chance for children to exercise and develop muscle strength as well as teaches children social skills while enjoying good exercise not forgetting that they learn to take turns and accept winning or
…show more content…
Coming from the teachers view could probably be the ability to share and learn to take turns when playing as well as the development of fine and gross motor skills as well as social emotional skills like sharing and allowing others to have a chance to play with the ball.
The curriculum experience that was reflected in their play
Children learn language through their communication with one another, vocabularies such as dribble, pass, me and a lot more. Besides that, ball playing is a form of physical activity which helps them develop their fine and motor skills. Children also actually learn mathematics where they learn how to count 1, 2, 3, and etc. through the amount of times they are able to dribble the ball. Number sequence including nominal numbers as to who gets the ball first, second and so on. They also learn rhythm when the ball bounces; they learn to hit the ball with rhythm.
Spontaneous or pre-planned
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
The second section will evaluate the importance of play on different aspects of social development and in various stages of an individual. The third section will analyze how viewpoints on function of play on development are shaped by historical and contextual factors such as culture and economy. Developmental psychologists use various research methods such as naturalistic observations, interviews, experimental research and examining the natural context of children’s everyday interaction within the family to study the role of play in children’s development. They apply different approaches to study different types of play. Play by nature, creates a natural learning environment for the child.
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.
At age four to six children show they want to explore the world by doing play and activities. Through play children are able to excel in their cognitive and social development. In the observation the children did three activities that showed Piaget’s and Vygotsky theory. The children were able to learn new skills by using their imagination and being guided by an adult. Above all, play has the power to prepare a child for the real world.
An Article by Dr. Leong and Dr. Bodrova (2016) stated that play is beneficial to children’s learning especially when it reaches a certain degree of complexity. When they engage in play activities most of their early years, they learn to delay gratification and to prioritize their goals and actions. They also learn to consider the perspectives and needs of other people and to represent things significantly to regulate their behavior and actions in a cautious, intentional way.
The word “play” has numerous meanings to different people in different contexts. Therefore it cannot have one definition and is described in a number of ways. Smith (2010) describes play as involvement in an activity, purely for amusement and to take part for fun. That play is “done for it’s own sake, for fun, not for any external purpose.” (Smith, 2010. P4) Therefore, as one precise definition cannot be presented for the word ‘play,’ it is described in a number of ways such as social dramatic play. Briggs and Hanson (2012) portray social dramatic play as the building blocks of a child’s ability to accept the possibility to step into another world, building and developing on children’s higher order thinking, accentuating the child as a social learner. Another example of play is exploratory play, which is described as children being placed in an explorer or investigator role, to identify the cause or affect a resources that is presented to them has. (Briggs, M and Hanson, A. 2012) Games are also another example of play. They are included on the basis that playing games with rules, regardless of age, can develop a child’s intellectual capabilities along with their physical, behavioural and emotional health. (Briggs, M and Hanson, A. 2012).
Play supports children’s physical development as when they are playing they are being active and exercising their body. It is important that children develop strength and stamina from a young age and through
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.
This social interaction is crucial because it improves a child’s communication skills. “At age three, your child will be much less selfish than she was at two. She’ll also be less dependent on you” (Social). By the age of three or four, children are beginning to mature and understand different concepts. The children begin to use their words to explain what is wrong and how they are feeling.
In life, no action is absent of a reaction. Every effect is linked to a cause, whether seen or unseen and play is no exception. As adults, play is not a foreign concept to us, we just chose not to engage in it and have diminutive space for it reserved in our day-to-day schedules. However, it is essential in the lives of young children. In the moment, the benefits to play are invisible, yet they are there working. Play, like a Newton’s cradle, remains stationary while not in use and the energy remains in a potential state waiting to be activated. Now, imagine the Newton’s cradle as you are pulling back the first ball. The first ball is play in a child’s life, and the other balls are potential benefits.
Children develop normally when they are exposed to different types of play that allow them to express themselves while using their imaginations and being physically active. According to the Center for Health Education, Training and Nutrition Awareness, “Play is child’s work”; this is true because it is a child’s job to learn and develop in their first few years of life, in order for them to do this, they play. Not only is playing a child’s full time job, the United Nations High Commission for Human Rights listed play as a right of every child. Through their full time job of play, the children develop emotionally, socially, physically, and creatively. Children need to participate in child-led play in order to facilitate healthy development of their minds, body, and creativity.
Play is thought to be of central importance for young children. The idea of play has developed along with the history. It is necessary for the early childhood teachers to know some theoretical perspectives on play in order to further understand play and better working with children. This essay will introduce two theories of play, one of the traditional theories of play, which is The Recreational or Relaxation theory and one of the contemporary theories which is The Psychoanalytic theory. In the essay, these two theories of play will be compared and contrast, the implications for practice in the early childhood setting will be explained and the role of the teacher would be classified.
By interacting with others in play settings, children learn social rules such as, taking turns, trade, cooperation, sharing, rules, and mixing with other. They discover scenes and stories, solve problems, and negotiate their idea through social barriers. They know what they want to do and work conscientiously to do it. they learn the powerful lesson of pursuing their own ideas to a successful conclusion. Also, support most children progress from an egocentric view of the world to an understanding of the importance of social skills and rules, they learn that games such as follows the Leader, baseball, and soccer cannot work without everyone obeying to the same set of rules. It teaches children life has rules (laws) that we all must follow to function effectively. Research shows that children who involve “(in complex forms of socio-dramatic play have greater language skills than non-players, better social skills, more empathy, more imagination, and more of the subtle capacity to know what others mean. They are less aggressive and show more self-control and higher levels of thinking”.
A very wise man; Charles Schaefer, once said “We are never more fully alive, more completely ourselves, or more deeply engrossed in anything than when we are playing.” To begin with, there is no one explanation about what play really is, other than the fact that it holds infinite numbers of definitions according to every single individual. Play is just not a physical body movement involved in an activity, but more than that if you look outside of the box. For centuries, play has been practiced in its own unique way with not only children, but adults as well.
Children are naturally driven to play and just like animals, where lion cubs play fight to test their strength, baby monkeys are inquisitive, enjoy exploring their surroundings and are very playful. Without these traits they would not learn the skills they need to survive. It is the same with children, the more experiences they gain through play, the more life skills they will acquire.