Play Psychology

The practitioner in an early years setting supporting children’s play learning and development is extremely important, as play helps stimulate the child’s brain, supports their needs on an educational level, as well as helping them with social difficulties such as building relationships, developing them and helping them gain confidence. Many people believe that a child learns best when they are motivated, such as Fredrich Froebel. He believed that children benefitted from all types of play. The McMillan sisters believed that outdoor play was extra important as they studied children who played and slept outside and discovered that they were the happier and healthier children in comparison to those who only played inside.

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.

The relationship between play and learning seems obvious to many child professionals and parents, and yet there are still lack of understanding surrounding the importance of children's play. Some people believe that children need to "work" not play, and that playing serves no useful purpose in a learning and development environment. This is surprising considering that play, with its high levels of motivation and potential enjoyment empowers children (as well as people

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.

“Current theories about inclusive play revolve around the idea that play is important for life and that all play workers should be committed to creating play environments that are inclusive and that offer multi-sensory experiences for all children. Play environments should ensure children and young people can become involved in imaginary play and can help develop motor activity. They should also allow interaction in a safe environment. Play is seen as the language that can bring children of all different abilities together. All children and young people have the same basic needs and go through the same development stages, even though they may not all go through them at the same pace: some go through some stages more quickly than most, while others may become static in their development for a while. None of this should prevent access to any setting. Through play with other children they develop social skills and learn about behaviour, communication and friendship. Play is the tool for practical learning

The Early Years Learning Framework relates the importance of play to notions of belonging, being and becoming. It states that children make sense of their social worlds through playing with others (DEEWR, 2009). Article 13 of the UN Convention reads that every child has the right to rest and leisure, to engage in play and recreational activities appropriate to the age of the child (Connor, 2010). It is important to note that play has multiple approaches and that children’s play varies greatly according to culture, interests,

Gross Motor: Easton climbed up and down stairs while holding on to the railing. He rode a tricycle outside while keeping both feet in motion. Easton ran and jumped while outside and in the large motor lab. Easton climbed on and off the tricycle with ease and peddled as a teacher assisted to start.

These skills need to be constantly used and refined in development so that they’re maturing at a steady rate. The development of these skills is of upmost importance because these are the muscles a child will use all day every day, when walking around the house or when playing with friends at school. These muscles will be continually engaged and having a good solid foundation of these working muscles will improve the early stages of a child’s life. The development of gross motor skills will generally speaking grow from inside to outside as well as head to toe, which is consistent of an infant’s same develop in the mother’s womb. As a child is progressing through the first two years of life, many changes will occur. The child will first learn to balance the body and move towards controlling the muscles of the body, then on to crawling and supporting itself, and by the end of that second year of life the child will have mostly refined skills that allow for play and overall being more mobile in moving around and navigating through day to day movements. Along with this increased mobility, a child will be able to get different places like on furniture, or up stairs but getting back down will be the hard part. As well as, the infant’s muscles’ may be progressing but the ability to stop and switch direction in movements is however not fully developed at this point.

People tend to think that play and game is considered as similar types of leisure. Gaming is sometimes expensive and resources are required; there are rules, structures and even involvement relies on the selected strategy. However playing is free to practice, safe, without any rules of commitment and no equipment needed. According to some Educational theorist, gaming is behaviorist, whereas playing is constructivist. But what is the relationship between play and game? This essay’s aim is to clarify the understanding of this relationship, by basing some example on the angry birds game. At first a definition of play will be discussed, secondly a definition of game will be analyzed, thirdly the concept of immersion and interactivity will be pointed out and finally the relationship between play and game will be identify.

Play contributes to children’s “physical, emotional and social well-being” (Else, 2009, p.8) and through play, the child’s holistic development and well-being is being constantly accounted for as is it led by the individual. The child decides what s/he wants to do and does it; it is

Play is a way for children to learn about their environment and how interaction occurs within. It is through trial and error that children are able to create options; follow their own interests and show “independence in thought and actions” using their knowledge and understanding (Moyles, 2005, p.3). Children develop resilience though play. However for a number of children can experience stressful occurrences during their lives and play can often be restricted. Therefore the play worker’s role in supporting children’s play is a crucial measure towards children's development. For those that work with children require the dexterity to prompt and contribute to children’s play, which can be seen as a principle aspect of therapeutic alliance.

Matt scored above average in reading , reading fluency, spelling and visual spatial ability. I have an interactionist perspective when it comes to language development, meaning I believe that social interaction is the a good way to foster language development. I read to Matt every night and encourage her to read different materials. In addition to the social interaction, the exposure to reading to her every night helped her score above average reading skills. My child is not below average in any area. Vygotsky believed that make-believe play is essential for cognitive development in early childhood years. One of the reasons Matt scored high on the visual spatial test was because I allowed her to play make-believe games when she was younger.

Secondly, it is important to consider the strengths of naturalistic observation as a method. This was identified when the child was consistently moving and doing different activities that allowed me to understand how he communicates with other children, how he behaves and what he learns from others. In the play setting the child was able to develop his thinking and according to the Framework for the Assessment of Children in Need and their Families (DOH, 2000) through social relationships, the child was encouraged to express his feelings, emotions, which was achieved by the setting creating an enjoyment environment.

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 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. .