Six Categories Of Play

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

Playing helps children grow and understand the world around them. The benefits from ‘playing’ for children is that they also learn how to socialize with parents and peers and it is an important and crucial part of their development. Also, children are always learning

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).

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.

Why is play important? Erik Erikson third stage of psychosocial development, “initiative versus guilt” emerges around 3-6 years of age. During this aggressive stage, children start to take on life and exploring themselves. If a child has too much guilt in this stage, it can hinder the child and slow down their social and creativity skills. Parents are to encourage the child, but give guilt as well to establish their self-control and conscience. (McLeod, 2013)

There are five main stages of play; functional play, constructive play, dramatic play, socio-dramatic play and games with rules. However, it must be noted that play means different things to different people, this is based on their age and personality. Many agree though that play is associated with activities of leisure and fun, it is activities that are not work related.

I too was taken back by the importance of play, and how the absence of play from a young age into our later years can have so many adverse effects on one’s personality, state of mind, and attitude towards life in general. In the Stuart Brown video, I was shocked that one of the findings from the Texas murderer was due to the lack of play (Brown, 2008). Stuart also covered the many types of play and their importance, such as, body play, object play (playing through the use of your hands) has a direct impact on problem solving, social play creates a sense of belonging, and rough and tumble play aids in cognitive, emotional, and physical development (Brown, 2008).

Berger mentions three types of play children need for physical and cognitive growth along with psychosocial development. They are active, rough-and-tumble and sociodramatic. Active play includes walking, stretching, running, climbing, throwing, kicking, crawling, spiraling, swimming, and the list can go on and on when you add a game or a playmate. Active play facilitates to promote gross motor skills by developing muscles for strength and coordination. As the prefrontal cortex matures

Play tests the ability of the children to be able to develop ideas around places and objective. The pretend play assists children in developing important critical thinking and evaluative skills. For instance, the board games tech the children importance concept such as waiting, turn-taking and socialization with other students. Children during play use gross and fine motor skills and react socially to each other. The children thinking what they are going to do and use language to communicate with one another and they respond emotionally to the activities.

Everything a child learns is learned through play. It is essential to a child's development. Playing is experiencing and it is through experience that children learn.

When you think of play you don’t really think about or realize how important it really is in a child’s life. It consists of five elements, and these elements are the make-up and the meaning of play. The first element is that it is pleasurable and enjoyable. This means it must be fun! In order for it to be considered play, there must be a fun and enjoyable element to it. Play also has no extrinsic goal which means it is engaged for

165 and Wood & Attfield's 1996, p.76.) It encourages children to develop the ability to control their actions and emotions and adjust them to the recognized social norm and in addition to that, play helps children to prepare themselves to become an active member of a culture and their own family by interacting with the people closest to them, such as parents and other family members (Vygotsky, as cited in Brennan, 2012, p.162.) As a result of this, their social and emotional development is advanced from an early stage.

Play is considered as an important tool for emotional development as children recognise themselves more clearly and they are encouraged to fully realize their potential (Oliver & Klugman, 2002). Piaget explains that during pre-operational stage children develop their ability to distinguish between the real and mental world by using an object as a symbol for something else rather than the object itself and Vygotsky also agreed to this concept (Dockett & Fleer, 2002). Play enables them to share their play with their peers and listen to others point of views which develop their empathy (Smidt, 2011). Play positively affects the emotional well- being of the child when they show their enjoyment through laughter, smiles. They get motivated to play when they are the active participants in the play and achieve mastery in known fields being acknowledged by the adults. It gives them internal excitement which nurtures their desire to learn.

Play Education is the most important activity in the lives of children. Play is the foundation of learning for young children. For children play, is how they begin to understand and process their world? The best part for children is that play is fun and this keeps them always wanting more because they enjoy participating in it. Play education is for children up until age 12. And different ages are broken down into groups. Giving the child time and some few basic toys can provide them with a variety of valuable learning opportunities. It is important to let children explore and learn how to play, if the child can’t seem to figure it out then a person can guide them. Play Education is simple and very effective; this is an individual