Play Based Creative Play

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.

All KU programs emphases play based learning programs recognise the importance in a child’s development particularly in building relationships, problems solving, collaboration, inquisitiveness and individuality. The implementation of a play based learning environment emphasises the importance of social interaction in child development. Social constructivist theorist Lev Vygotsky highly valued the role of social and cooperative life experience for children with

When learning becomes fun the teachers find it less challenging for trying to keep the child engaged in the activity at hand. The job of the educator working with a play-based curriculum is to facilitate play, to draw out and extend what children learn through play (Play Based Programmes, 2015). Children have a variety of play spaces available that mimic their regular world around them, each space can be intertwined with another centre such as combining the truck centre with the block centre, or adding in some zoo animals to the area. The play based approach can be used by children of all abilities, it allows children to play independently or as a small group, and allows the children the opportunity to bring their home life into their play.

Play is the way children learn and is a word that is used to describe the different activities behaviours that children participate in, this would concur with “Vygotsky’s (1978) social constructivist theory that suggests that play promotes both mental and social development for children” (cited in Goulding, 2016, p16). Early childhood educators such as Froebel and Vygotsky have always promoted the importance of the outdoor learning environment. According to Vygotsky (1978), children learn through interacting with the environment and through social interaction with others. Social constructivist theory, believes play is important for the growth of a child’s cognitive emotional and social development and

There are numerous theories of play and countless theorists, from Freud and Spencer to Piaget and Vygotsky, who have studied play in relation to what it is and what it does for the child. This essay will outline the definition and value of play and the importance of how it can foster the child’s learning in regards to these theorists who studied the effects in great detail. It will discuss the how the environments constructed by educators can impact play and the theories of learning relating to the quote “play and learning are inextricably woven together ...” Ebbeck and Waniganayake, 2010, p. 5).

Contrary to the popular belief that play-based curriculum isn’t sufficiently academic, play isn’t just fun, leisure, and games. In fact, there are several different types of play that children engage in, each of which help them grow in a different way. Play is a key factor in a child’s cognitive, social, and physical development, as well as the development of important communication skills. As an instructor, my role is to be a facilitator of play by providing children with appropriate materials and sustaining a safe and ideal environment where children can play comfortably.

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.

Play is important in a child’s development. Play allows the child to be creative in their own way. Children engage in play activities every day. The article, Assessing and Scaffolding Make-Believe Play, discusses the value of play. Through play children are able to enhance their language development, cognitive abilities, positive social interactions, problem-solving skills and participate in imaginative play with their peers. Pretend and Make-Believe Play are great areas to observe during child’s day. As you are observing the play something’s you may notice are; the child using objects in a make believe way, creating imaginative play with their peers and is there any interactions going on between the children?

Play is the perfect setting for applying scaffolding techniques, however many different areas of learning are centered around approaches that are directly aligned with using scaffolding as a means to move forward with more difficult educational material.

Open ended play is where children are not given any goals to achieve and they are not given any set of rules to follow. In this kind of play children are given a number of resources that are open ended which means the children can use the given resources in a number of ways based on their imaginations and creativity.

Even though both excerpts provide great reasonings for their opinions, I agree more with creative play. Although, I do believe children should have some sort of organized activies as well.

There is often debate as to whether it's more important to provide children with free time for creative play, or to ensure that they participate in more organized activity. In the first article the author refers to creative play as a way to help children learn how to express themselves and promote independent thinking. Whereas in the second article it states that organized activities are more important in the sense that they teach children things like commitment, teamwork, and devoloping healthy attitudes towards themselves. I believe that each of these methods have their own merit, and that a combination of both is best for a childs development.

Play is usually a natural activity in early childhood and has significant importance in early childhood special education. Play assists in enhancing the children social competence, creativity, language development, and their thinking skills. Play is usually the key vehicle for the developing of language, social skulls in young children (Rogers ET all. 2009). Moreover, it serves as a functional behavior which contributes to the life quality of the children. .

Practitioners can support children’s learning through play by becoming the role of a facilitator. By being a facilitator practitioners can find many strategies which has an impact on children’s learning. For example; scaffolding is one of the methods which is used regularly in settings to benefit children’s learning.

Play is very instrumental to young children’s learning. The design, layout and physical environment play a definitive role in the quality of children learning. To introduce play to young children through props and materials and the possible roles that children may play. Free play is the best way to make sure children are learning through play. Free play also provides an extended conversation that will lead to language literacy. Creating a play environment in the classroom to tailored to the interest, experience, and needs of young children. Some of the play environment a teacher can create to facilitate to the students can be, grocery store, pet store, post office, school, or weather