Explain How Play-Based Activities Support Child's Development

Play is essential to every part of children’s lives and is important to their development. It provides the children with different ways of doing things children will want to explore and learn new things.

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 is to learn and develop in their first few years of life, in order for them to do this, they play (CHETNA). 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 (Ginsburg). 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

The purpose of the study was to see if play will enhance the cognitive development of the child or children. We want to find out if play really shows us that the child or children is thinking or using problem-solving skills. The aspect of cognitive development the is the focus of the study is classification and symbolic play.

It's the aspect of all children's development. (Essa, 2014 p.36). Play helps children socially practice verbal and nonverbal skills and respond to peer feelings. This can be done by negotiating different role playing and help the child understand the feelings of the role they are playing and the person(s) they are playing with. (Smith, 2014, para 2) It also can teach them to take turns, share their materials and experiences. (Smith, 2014, para 2) Play can also help understand the point of view by working through conflicts of materials or rules in the classroom. (Smith, 2014, para 2) Play can help emotionally cope a child who is afraid of something. By creating an imaginary character who is not afraid of the dark, for example, can show them what that character does to overcome their fears and can create the idea in the child's mind of what to do when they are scared. Play is the way the child will understand the world better. (Essa, 2014

Play is the most important way children develop physically, intellectually and socially. The fast-physical change and growth on the life of a child happen during the preschool years while the child interacts and play with other kids. Kids’ grow taller and heavier developing active and healthy bodies. Play help the growth of kids’ gross and motor skills. For example, while throwing a ball or jumping higher the child can stay active and move with confidence.

Now, play is understood not as a waste of time, but as an activity through which education and development happens. Playing is essential for children because they learn from each other and they can correct each other. Children benefit a great deal from playful learning and they achieve higher levels of cognition, literacy, and social skills. Children benefit from play because they interact with other children and be social. Play helps children to make friends and interact with their peers easily.

Play is considered one of the best Developmentally Appropriate Practice (DAP) for children to learn. Through play, relationships are built, minds are challenged and creativity enhances. It is best to expose children to play during the early years of childhood in a learning environment for as a child gets older the desire of wanting to play lessens. Children who are given more opportunity to learn through play are significantly more creative and have higher self-esteem. In the early stages of life children usually shows many signs of being body smart, which means they learn best from activities that uses the body and involve movement.

We recognize that through play children experience social, emotional, and intellectual development. We value the spontaneity, creativity, and love of learning that is generated through child-initiated and adult-supported play experiences.

I am going to say that play does play an important role of toddler’s development; the reason that I say this would be because they learn and explore their environment. By letting children to play it gives their brain stimulation and this also helps them develop skills like motor and their cognitive development. Toddlers experience during play allows them to be taught how things are used and what they might be. Every toddler receives benefits from interacting with other children. For the majority of toddlers you will see that they like pretend play. Pretend play helps toddlers to develop their cognitive development. “Playing allows children to use their creativity while developing their imagination.”(Ginsburg, K. (2013) when having toddlers

Play is the ideal tool to use to foster the five selves of a child because it aids the child’s physical, intellectual, emotional, social, and creative areas of development through a wide range of experiences. For example, play encourages physical development through the promotion of sensorimotor skills during play activities like sports which help children with coordination and strength control. Physical development can also be enforced through the improvement of the child’s fitness levels and health. Next, play helps promote intellectual development through the construction of symbolic thought and language development with play activities like pretend play, which allows children to express their ideas, communicate with other individuals, and

The Role of Play in Child Development It may seem naïve or slightly purposeless, but play time is an essential tool when concerning a child’s development. From blocks to Barbie dolls, the imagination of a young human is always spinning and paving the way for not only neurological development, but also emotional growth. As children mature their overall intelligence and cognitive ability can be measured through symbolic play sessions where what they see is essentially what they get. I sat down with my little cousin Ellie and observed her silly play antics and learned quite a bit from the sassy little girl.

Well organized play engage children in effective ways to learn about themselves, other people and the world around them (Bickart, Colker, Dodge, & Heroman, 2010). Play provides meaningful hands-on learning experiences that allow children to learn various aspects of life if appropriate play activities are arranged. Quality learning environments encourages children’s engagement, curiosity, problem solving, independent exploration and appropriate risk taking behaviour and provides them better opportunities for in-depth and meaningful interactions between educators and children.

By reading the article, I learned that as children grow up they start getting along with their classmates and people around them, they start learning how to communicate emotions, to think, be creative and solve problems. I strongly believe that learning through play helps them discover how to act in society, develop language and socialization skills. Children also start developing great cognitive thinking, social and motor skills which are essential for them to learn and grow.

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-

Play delivers an opportunity for students to explore, identify, negotiate, take risks and create meaning. Academic and cognitive benefits of playing have been documented. Children who engage in play-based learning in the early years children are more likely to develop memory skills, have improved language development, and demonstrate the ability to regulate their behaviour. This leads to to enhanced school adjustment and academic learning (Bodrova & Leong, 2005).