The Importance of Play in Early Childhood 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. …show more content…
Cognitive development in retrospect is the building of thought processing, decision making, problem solving, and critical thinking skills (Merriam-Webster). By engaging in imaginative play, children are forced to imagine make-believe scenarios and maintain a single roll captivating that roles thoughts and actions. Such situations make children express both positive and negative feelings as well as work through problem solving scenarios where they may be led to critically think their actions and what each outcome could lead to. As children are forced to integrate emotion with cognition, the mental growth occurs at the hands of the child (Jent, Niec, & Baker, 2011; Seja, & Russ, 1999; Slade and Wolf, 1999). The building of cognitive skills at an earlier age will encourage children to explore the world around them making the world their eternal classroom leading them to …show more content…
However, despite the unquestionable link to a brighter future for the children who engage in it, less and less time is being allotted for play in the classrooms. As standards for what children are expected to know at younger and younger ages continues to rise along with the demand for standardized testing from the state, time for play is being sacrificed. Adults are choosing to get rid of time for unstructured play and recess to make time for this new testing interfering with the time allotted for children to learn independently through play. Cutting play and recess is a mistake, and here is why: “recess gives students time for social interactions: for students must be able to initiate, negotiate, cooperate, share, and build relationships with one another--skills that are highly valued in the adult world but that often are quite different from work or play under adult supervision and control” (Chang). Those skills learned through play, are often not the sole purpose of a classroom lesson and could potentially be the only place they learn those needed skills. Play is an affective measurement in the classroom as well as outside of the classroom and children can learn so much from it if only given the chance
Lahey states that “young children develop social skills, such as negotiation, social dynamics, and the use of subtle verbal and nonverbal communication cues” through recess. Students should be familiar with all of these qualities, so that they can apply them to the real world. Negotiating comes into play when there are oppositions, group projects, or team sports. Children learn how to negotiate with each other by reaching an agreement. This is seen when children first begin to play games or sports with one another at recess. Negotiation is a significant quality that teaches students that they do not always get their way. Social skills can be formed through interactions with people. Recess provides students with the opportunity to interact with other children in order for them to learn different behaviors. This time that is set aside for recess teachers children about acceptable and non-acceptable behaviors. Students utilize their social skills to create special bonds with others at recess time. These bonds are friendships that teach children how to improve upon their social skills. Friends are the people who bring out the best in people. Misbehaving children will miss out on learning proper socializing skills if their recess is
Over the years, kindergarten has become less play oriented and more academically focused. While some believe that this is good for the students because they will be learning more and will be more prepared for 1st grade, others believe that the play time they are eliminated is doing more harm than good. In the essay, “Kindergartners get little time to play. Why does it matter?”, Christopher Brown believes that by eliminating this play time, the students are missing out on chances to grow not only academically but also socially and emotionally. Brown states, “Giving children a chance to play and engage in hands-on learning activities helps them internalize new information as well as compare and contrast what they’re learning with what they already
The recess project has become a well renowned program. The recess project's goal is to advocate structured play among today’s children. “Recess leaders help the older children on the playground become leaders themselves, guiding younger children as they learn how to juggle or make crafts or do Zumba, the dance like exercise regimen set to fast-paced music”(Paul Par 5) . This is important because recess leaders from the recess project felt the need to help the older children on the playground. Recess leaders proved that with guidance and structure the older children gain the responsibility to guide the younger children in complex activities. Structured play drives strategy and following directions because with structured play children are given a specific set of guidelines and rules. After receiving rules and guidelines it is then up to the child to go from there and play(Nelson Par 1). There are numerous activities involved with structured play. The varying activities teach children how to follow and understand directions. This also helps children complete tasks. Various structured activities include board games, puzzles, and arts and crafts(Nelson Par 3). Anyone who has ever dealt with a child or children know things may become very messy, what if there was a way children can be taught life skills such as cleaning? In fact that is what structured play can do. As children are
In the “The Crucial Role of Recess in School” (2012) article it explains, many schools are beginning to replace physical activity, like recess, with more attention to academic subjects. What these schools are forgetting is that well-supervised recess also has benefits that surpass academics. They help make a well rounded student because recess offers cognitive, social, emotional, and physical benefits to the student when they are young that they carry with them into adulthood.
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.
Numerous sources have concluded that it is a necessity for children to have time to play for countless reasons; this includes the development of their mind and bodies. When observing a young child at the age of 4 on November 1st, 2016 I found information that supported why play was essential to children 's development. When conducting this observation I was unable to participate in the children 's classroom activities, but only allowed to watch and listen. During this observation, we were asked to pick one student to observe for this observation. I chose a student whose name was Wyatt, he demonstrated that play is a crucial part of their learning in terms of mood and interactions.
Recess holds great potential for promoting positive playground and school experiences among children. According to Pellegrini and Glickman, “Recess is one of
“More than 40 percent of school districts across the country, … have done away with recess or are considering it” (Mulrine). This is a ridiculously high number when considering all the benefits that recess has on young children. Children develop and improve so many basic skills, as well as just simply getting a brain break. Educators, however, believe they need more time in the classroom in order to learn more information. What they need may be just the opposite. Researchers of Albert Einstein College of Medicine have found, “ ‘Recess may play an important role in the learning, social development, and the health of children’ “ (“Let Them Play”). Specifically, fourth grade students and younger should be required
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 book, Exploring Your role in Early Childhood Education, defines play as, “any activity that is freely chosen, meaningful, active, enjoyable, and open-ended.”(pg. 140) Play has many positive characteristics such as freedom to explore and create. Suppose when a child enters his/her classroom and has various self-selection activities available, the child can become engaged in something of interest specifically to that individual child. The book also states, “Play is active and is natural process of mentally and actively doing something.”(pg. 140) When children can act out or explore experiences they are having hands on experience and learning by actually doing. Without knowing it, children are practicing body movements as well as mental processing though acting imaginary games out.
...ctive. Play is an essential learning tool and one that must not be ignored within the classroom. It is a catalyst to help children develop socially, emotionally, physically and cognitively. It is not only an important part of a child’s development as a pupil but also a child’s development as an individual.
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.
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.
All day in the classroom, kids are being told: “Be quiet. Sit still. Be quiet. Sit still,” says Nelly Torres, a parent of a first and fourth grader in the Chicago Public Schools. “That’s because they need their recess,” or look at it this way: “Think about how grown-ups would like it if their bosses took away their lunch hours and dictated how they spent it” (Adams). According to kids, recess is just a time out of the classroom to play on monkey bars or the tire swing. What students may not realize is that it actually helps them grow in many ways. Teachers can also utilize the time recess provides to complete tasks such as grading homework or revising lesson plans. Elementary students should continue to have recess because
In Kindergarten school, some parent believes play is the best way for young children to learn the conceptions, skills, and set a solid foundation for later school and life success. In the other hand, many parents disagree and believe play is a waste of time, messy, noisy, and uneducationall. I believe play is not waste of time, but it something worth to fight for, in this presentation I would show parent the main importance of some of the numerous kinds of play, and why play is a fundamental basis for improving children’s ability to succeed in school and life.