‘Play’ is occasionally compared with ‘work’ and characterised as a type of activity which is essentially unimportant, irrelevant in any serious purpose; it is seen as something that children do because they are immature, and it is seen as something which they will grow out of as they grow up and become adults. ‘Play’ is necessary to development because it contributes to the physical, emotional, social and cognitive well-being of children. Play also allows an opportunity for parents to engage fully with their children and grow a deeper connection with them. For young children play is the same as work and adults can build on this to structure play opportunities and support children as they learn. This report will touch upon the importance of enhancing learning through play, including a closer look at social and emotional development ,intellectual development in the early year, how play helps children to understand other people and, also touch upon understanding why children find it difficult to play.
Key words: Children learning play development early year adults
Everyone wants children to be healthy and happy and to make the most of the opportunities that come their way. In the early years, families, teachers, nursery nurses and possibly other carers work together to achieve these hugely important goals.
‘For young children play is the same as work and adults can build on this to structure play opportunities’ and support children as they learn’. Playing is one of the most important things you can do with a child. The time spent playing together gives the child lots of different skills to learn.
Play is more than just enjoyable for kids. It is how babies and children learn, and how they explore and work out who they are and where they exactly fit in the world, Play is also fundamental part of every child’s life and is vital for the enjoyment of childhood as well as social, emotional, intellectual and physical development. Play in play groups and nursery has its own set of demands and learning possibilities. Children learn to cooperate with others, and learn what others can do. They develop language skills; they interact with children who have been bought up differently to them and so they learn to appreciate each other and respect the certain customs and perspectives which affect different childhoods.
They learn the routine of school and come to understand the rules of this new community. All of this helps them develop the planning and organisational skills which underpin so much of learning. And all of this happens through play.
This is why play is such a critically important part of an early years’ curriculum. Teachers set up learning opportunities learning opportunities based on the children’s interests, often in the form of play corners. One of the aims of this report is to reflect upon the learning which can be incorporated into this kind of plan, for although children might be seen to just be ‘playing’, all the time they are learning, just as fast as they can. But not all children actually like playing. Some find it impossible to play.
Dividing this study into different aspects, i.e. intellectual development, perceptual-motor development, social and emotional development, would ensure that all various and varying intricacies of how each child develops can be explained. Growing and learning is a journey each child must take. Easing the path and trying to ensure that each child travels smoothly, is surely a worthwhile thing to do.
Most young children love to play and love to learn although the things they like to play at, and the things they like to learn, change as they mature. Some informal research were carried out by student teachers at Edinburgh university had a surprising outcome. It found that children at primary schools had nominated ‘the best times of the day’ as ‘time to play’ and ‘ time to go home’. If this the case, then as children do spend many hours in school, we must discover why these adult- free times are the children’s ‘best choices’. The children explained that they ‘really preferred play to work’, although they were less able to say what the difference was.
Reading a book Play Work
Selecting a book Chosen by reader Imposed on the reader
language The reader chooses level of difficulty, readily understands the meaning May be too
Difficult, e.g. with specialist terminology
purpose Enjoyment, relaxation
To deepen interest in the chosen topic Extend knowledge
Deepen understanding
pace Chosen by the reader Must meet deadlines set elsewhere
Additional action None. Can skim over text or miss parts Memorising; analysing; criticising; linking theory to practice; evaluating
Tension Can abandon book if unfinished Must finish the set task and try to do it well.
From the table you can see that ‘freedom’ and ‘choice’’ i.e. to continue reading or not to trouble, are key characteristics of play. Important too are ‘outside’ expectations and the pressure which would result from their fulfilment.
In play there is no end product, no time pressure and so there is no fear of failure.
Additionally, because the activity is chosen by the players themselves, you can assume that it is pleasing to them; it is fun.
Play then is said to be:
• Enjoyable, freely chosen by the player,
• Can be abandoned without blame,
• Has no preconceived outcome; the agenda can develop as play goes on,
• Gives pleasure and often counteracts stress,
• Develops skills which are important in non-play, i.e. work situations.
This sounds ideal. But is play always fun? Do children and adults always prefer to play? Of course not. There are children who are often left out of playground games and those who find it very difficult to follow the rules of someone else’s games. For them, playing is seen as an ordeal much harder perhaps than the activities they think of as work. Children who are ‘not allowed to play’ are unhappy children. Not getting to play is a heartrending state of affairs which impacts cruelly on the self-esteem. The different reasons people give for playing is;
• fun reasons- for enjoyment
• skill reasons- to improvise some aspect of performance
• social reasons- to make or meet friends
• fitness reasons- to maintain or increase health
• challenging reasons- taking risks; seeking thrills
• vertigo reasons- activities which involve almost losing control.
This list shows very different reasons for playing and they could apply to both adults and children. From this it is not difficult to see why tensions could arise if a player who has come to play badminton primarily to meet friends and have a pleasant social round is confronted by someone who wishes to advise on technique. And while the adult can explain or walk away, children can be left bewildered or confused or resentful that their play has been spoiled. There is only one reason for these characteristics of play i.e. the developing skill reason, that overtly suggests that learning is part of play.
Isaacs’ (1933) claimed that,’ play is a child’s life and the means by which he comes to understand the world he lives in.’ She considered that play was the crucial component in children’s development.
As babies become toddlers and toddlers children, they gain competence in all aspects of their development (intellectual, social, emotional and perceptual motor). These developing capacities together with their various and varied experiences of the environment allow them to increase the number of things they can do. And so it is with play. And as they grow children play at different things.
Researchers who have studied these differences (Piaget and Inhelder 1969;Rubin et al. 1983) have found that free play progresses in a pre-determined way.
Physical play
This type of play was the earliest to develop and can be observed in some reptiles and most, if not all, mammals (power, 2000). In human children physical play is a. type of play which engages children in physical activities such as running, jumping and playing hide and seek and tag and bike riding and play fighting. It is a form of exercise that not only improves the physical well- being of children but also provides an outlet for their limitless energy.
This type of play begins to emerge during the second year of life and occupies around 20% of children’s performance by the age of four to five year olds. The evidence suggests that this type of play is related to children’s developing whole body and hand-eye co-ordination, and is important in building strength and endurance (Pellegrini and Smith, 1998).
The most broadly researched piece of physical play, however, is ‘play fighting’ which includes kicking, wrestling, chasing and appears to have evolved as a mechanism through which children actually learn to control aggression and it is mostly typical amongst nursery children. However, like most types of play, it continues to be enjoyed, usually between friends and family members, right into adulthood. It is easily distinguishable from genuine violence by the actual enjoyment of participants and can seem to be beneficial. In children, it is associated with the development of strong emotional bonds between children and their parents or friends.
A study by Mellen(2002), for example, looked at father- son play fighting behaviours that would involve direct body contact in 157 suburban families in the united states and found that it related very strongly with three year old sons’ social ability, as demonstrated in nurseries.
Fine motor play refers to a wide range of activities which support young children’s development of their fine motor hand and finger co-ordination skills. These activities are often solitary, can be usefully supported by an adult and, due to their absorbing nature, it can help children develop their concentration skills.
Symbolic play
Humans are individually equipped to use a wide variety of symbolic systems including spoken language, number, visual media(drawing, painting), reading and writing music e.t.c. During the first five years of life, when children are beginning to master these systems, these aspects of their learning are an important element within their play. This type of play supports their developing technical abilities to express and reflect upon their experiences, emotions and ideas.
Play with language starts very early in life with children under the age of one year old playing with sounds, and, as they grow older,