Play is an important part of emotional-social development. Play can act as a way for children to reveal their innermost feelings and express thought. As defined by the text, play is “voluntary activities done for enjoyment or recreation that are not performed for any sake beyond themselves.” Children move through different levels of play as they mature. One form of play which scientists have become increasingly interested in is imaginative play. With imagination children learn how to be creative. Many children between ages 3-5 create imaginary friends for themselves.
Explain the fundamental role of play for the social and emotional development of the child in the
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.
‘Play’ can be described as an activity children involve themselves in, which can be seen as insignificant or pointless, which is a part of the growing up process in order to mature into adults. However, although play may be considered unimportant, this essay will demonstrate what play can contribute to a child’s social and cognitive development in the future concluding that ‘play’ is an essential part of child development.
‘‘Play is the most ideally effective form of developmental aid because the child becomes familiar with the world, himself, and his limits’’ (Sutton-Smith, 2001)
Background: Play is a pivotal part of a child’s life. It fosters creativity, imagination, social connections, and learned behaviours. Play is the activity which can be defined as “a range of voluntary, intrinsically motivated activities that are normally associated with pleasure and enjoyment.” Play can also be considered a rehearsal for acting-out real life events- such can be seen when children play house or school. For children, play is a critical element of growing up. Ginsburg (2007), stated that childhood play is essential for helping children reach important social, emotional, and cognitive developmental stages. Play also helps children dispose of abundant amount of energy and excitement. Play is often undervalued
Jean Piaget was a theorist which “who” focused on people’s “children’s” mental processes (Rathus, S., & Longmuir, S., 2011, p.10). Piaget developed (words missing) how children differentiate and mentally show(tense) the world and how there , thinking , logic , and problem solving ability is developed (Rathus, S., & Longmuir, S., 2011 , p.10). Piaget analyzed that children’s cognitive processes develop in an orderly sequence or series (Rathus, S., & Longmuir, S., 2011 , p.11) . But each stage show how children understand the world around them. – sentence fragment; should be joined to the previous sentence. Every child goes through the same development”al” steps but some are more advance(d) than others . Piaget described four stages of child
Play helps to develop each of the five selves of the child by fulfilling the first self, physical development through the promotion of sensorimotor skills and improving fitness and health all around for the children to obtain lower children health diseases like obesity. It also helps develop the second self, cognitive/intellectual through allowing the children to experience their natural environment and develop skills like how to acquire information or skills by observation or asking others through language development. The last three selves social, emotional, and creativity are developed through the prosses of play like pretend play where it can allow the child to express his or her imagination and diverge thinking that can lead to rule
Research, past and present, clearly points to the importance of play for the healthy and full development of the young child. Piaget theorized that a child's mental models, or cognitive structures, are based on the child's activities: engagement makes meaning. Many children today are not benefiting from a balance of intellect and imagination. Play is declining in our schools and preschools to meet the social demands to have curriculum or academic instruction. "Play, Dreams and Imitation in Childhood is perhaps the most incisive and through analysis of linkages between play and intellectual development. Play follows development rather than causing it." (Frost, Wortham, & Reifel, 2008) My belief that free, unstructured play is healthy and, in fact essential for helping children reach important social, emotional, and cognitive developmental milestones.
Piaget proposed that play and imitation where important for a child’s development. Part of this idea was the notion that children play for their own enjoyment. However when they imitate, they do so to understand the world around them. Piaget’s theory of play...