Creative Play Research Paper

The Playwork Principles (2006) state “All children and young people need to play. The impulse to play is innate”.

As an early years practitioner you will recognise that children’s play is closely linked to their learning and development. Children learn in so many different ways but you will notice that they learn mainly through play. When children are able to do many different activity’s that allows them to lean but have fun at the same time thy will find what they are doing fun and will engage the children. It is important that when in you your setting you set up a variety of educational activity’s this way the children will be able to choose freely what they want to do.

The idea of “play” is also discussed in this video and is important to babies and children’s development. When children and babies play, they are actually conducting a series of experiments. According to Gopnik, letting children and babies play is significant to their development because it allows for “counterfactual thinking, which is the idea of babies and children thinking of different possibilities.” (Gopnik, Alison. “Let the Children Play, It’s Good for Them!”

Play can be of several types and as practitioners we must plan and incorporate different kinds of play so that children can benefit from different kinds of development. Play can be broadly classified as physical play, creative play, imaginative play, sensory play and heuristic play. It is important for settings to provide the resources required to enable all kinds of different play.

Play is inevitable when it comes to children. Given the right environment and objects (of any sort), children will find a way to play. Jarvis, et al state that educators must offer inspiring, playful environments which include hands-on activities and interesting resources. This will empower children to educate themselves (2009). Along the same line, Wood and Attfield consider that an environment inclusive of varied resources will provide room for growth in their learning and will support the child’s “creativity, inventiveness and originally” (2005, p.231).

The terms “play”, “learn” and “teach” are commonly used in the early childhood sector. This essay attempts to define and interconnect these terms to produce a holistic understanding of how play can be used as a medium to help children learn.

Did you know that play expands a child’s learning and development? Once parents understand that play is crucial in their child’s life then they can begin to help their son or daughter be the best he or she can be. According to Lev Vygotsky “play shapes how children make sense of their worlds, how they learn thinking skills, and how they acquire language.” After spending time at the Bombeck Center I learned that children play in many diverse ways, thus learning numerous new things within each center in which they interact. Lev Vygotsky along with Jean Piaget researched the need for guided social interaction as well as the necessity for spontaneous, self-discovered learning. The Bombeck Center focuses on a play-based learning curriculum to ensure a child’s ability to access social interactions and self-discoveries at the tip of their fingers.

If he's coming to terms with a new sibling, for example, he may incorporate a lot of nurturing behavior into his play, mimicking your interaction with his new brother or sister. Imaginative play gives your child a sense of control as he interprets the dramas of everyday life and practices the rules of social behavior. How you can encourage imaginative play: Keep a box of everyday items that your child can use during pretend play. Kid versions of adult objects, such as play telephones and plastic dishes, help facilitate role playing, and open-ended objects (toys that can have more than one use), such as colored blocks, stretch the imagination with unlimited possibilities. Play promotes social skills As toddlers, children play side by side without obvious communication (this is called parallel play).

I strongly agree that helping children play creatively is the best thing for a child. I feel that organized activities is not good for a developing child.

Today, creative play is important in child development. Children need to express themselves before they can find an organized activity to do. This may possible through the creative play, because they use their imagination and creativity to find their own personality and interests. Later on, they will focused in that area that are most talented.

There are many stages of play, and each have their own role within a child and their development. The first stage is called unoccupied play. This is when children move a great deal, but they have no motive to be moving that much. As Allen implies, technology plays a role in this like having music playing in the background or playing it on headphones without a purpose. The next stage of play is solitary play, which is the stage where children tend to have no interaction with other children and they play alone most of the time. For example, in technology this ties in when a child is using a computer, or an iPad and play games that they like, but they are playing alone. The third stage of play is called onlooker play, this stage is described as just watching. They don’t play themselves, but they enjoy watching others play. Having an infant watch another play on a video game, iPad, or computer is an excellent example of this stage of play. Next, is parallel play, which is when children play around other children and try to mimic them, but don’t necessarily play with the kids around them, but they play in the same

Although creative play is the most essential part of a childs upbringing, having a well-organized support system in place for the child will also play a significant role. With creative play your child will more than likely become a proficent, logical, thinker and problem solver, who develops the abilty to express themselves without worry for

Play is the foundation stone of children’s healthy and productive lives (Oliver & Klugman, 2002) and is also a significant means of child’s learning and development (Zigler, Singer & Bishop-

One of the items that is helpful in the room of infants will be colorful hard and soft activity play

In the following article, I read two incrediably informative opinions about childs play. After reading the two arguements, ive come to the conclusion that free form, creative play is the way to go.