Social Play Analysis

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

Sara Smilansky is a Developmental Theorist who has identified four types of play: Functional play, Constructive play, Dramatic play, and games with rules. Smilansky says that Dramatic play is the most mature type of play because this is the time where children start to understand their surroundings and imitate what they see others doing. The research on play focused on sociodramatic play and the impact it has on children’s learning. In Smilansky’s book ‘The Effects of Sociodramatic play on Disadvantaged Preschool Children’, she says that “…a form of voluntary social play activity in which preschool children participate”.

In this assignment I plan to explain how play helps to improve the development of children and young people. Play is extremely important for the development of children. It is important that from a young age children play with things like toys and even with other children. Between the ages of 0 – 3 is when children develop the most. Through play children can improve their fine and gross motor skills by using toys such as shape sorters and using musical tables which have buttons and things to turn. This helps to develop fine motor skills. Gross motor skills are developed through crawling and learning to walk. If children have toys that are spread out whilst

Play doesn’t just happen. It is true that babies and young children are biologically disposed to play, but they will not develop their play unless they meet people and experience the situation that encourage the development of play. What adults provide has a direct impact on play. If adults

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,

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.

Social play becomes more prominent during preschool age when children being to socialise with other children and practitioners within the pre-school. They tend to carry on playing alone but will play near a wide range of their peers. The development change involved in this types of play is pre-schoolers cognitive development. Social play involves children interacting with their peers and practitioners in the setting this can be done using speaking, signing and body language. When participating in social play this can involve game rules that the children have to communicate and consider when playing together.

Through play our learning and development extends. We discover new ways to achieve a goal such as, fitting differently shaped cubes into their correct holes. By twisting and turning the cubes children begin to understand that the shapes correspond to the holes on the ball.

Play can be a vague term in the educational world because its definition is unclear, especially when putting it in the context of a classroom. Play can be defined as anything a child does within the social context and sometimes it is defined as just "recess" or "free time". There are confusing and conflicting definitions but there are two sure forms of play in the context of education: free play and guided or structured play. (Pearson, 2014)

Play is important for school functioning as it enables Amelia to connect with peers at kindergarten while learning social and communication skills (Rigby & Rodger, 2006). Direct observation of Amelia’s free play was conducted in the back garden and the Test of Playfulness (ToP; Bundy et al., 2001) was adopted to examine her degree of playfulness. Amelia participated in different types of game that predominate in the play of 0- to 7-year-olds (Takata, 1974), including riding bicycle (sensorimotor), making phone calls (functional) and playing doctor (dramatic). Amelia showed enjoyment during play especially in dramatic play like playing doctor, which she engaged in for the sheer pleasure of it without any particular goal. However, the

Play is defined as an “intrinsically motivated activity that is experienced as pleasurable” (Parham, 1996, p. 71). Rather than a specific behavior, play is an “attitude or process” (Parham, 1996, p. 71). The functionalist view of play is that children engage in play occupations in order to develop skills (Parham, 1996, p. 77). For example, children may be “playing” while riding a bike, but they are also improving balance and gross motor skills. Later in life, play is not a means of development, but rather as a way to relax and achieve a sense of well-being. According to Parham, this is “play for its own sake” (1996, p. 78). Play is important across the lifespan, but serves different purposes over time.

“What makes something play and what play ‘means’ to culture continues to be potential redefined through changing social practice. The strength of the concept of play relies on the binding together of many different social conditions which people may understand as play, but which cannot be collectively defined by any firm set of rules or boundaries. Because play is not a distinct, discrete set of activities, but rather a characteristic which is present to varying degrees in many different kinds of human behavior, it is necessary to look at play from multiple perspectives, drawing together threads of analysis.”26

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

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-

Playing means to engage in activity for enjoyment and recreation. Children play all the time and they play using three different types of playing. The three types of plays are: Motor/ Physical, Social Play, Constructive Play and Fantasy Play. When a child engages in motor/physical play, it provides opportunities for children to develop both their gross and fine motor skills. When children use social play, it provides a variety of opportunities for children to engage in social play, which involves give and take, cooperation and sharing. When children engage in constructive play children manipulate their environment to create things. When children engage in fantasy play children learn to try out new roles and possible situations. Fantasy play also helps children experiment with language and emotions.