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Symbolic Play Research Paper

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There are three types of symbolic play: constructive, dramatic, and rule governed. In constructive play, children manipulate objects to make something. I cannot think of a better toy to define constructive play then Lego. In my house my five year old son loves to play Legos. He has been playing blocks or Legos at some level since he was one and a half. Lego makes block sets for all ages, however for this paper I will only consider the toy in the picture attached. This model needs parental guidance on giving construction instructions, at least for non-reading children. Playing and Constructing a Lego City Police Station helps children ages 3-6 in the early childhood development in many dimensions of development I will focus on Cognitive …show more content…

There are three types of symbolic play: constructive, dramatic, and rule governed. In constructive play, children manipulate objects to make something. I cannot think of a better toy to define constructive play then Legos. Legos are brightly colored and easily have many different interlocking combinations which provide hours of pattern practice and problem solving skills. Looking for the correct piece strengthens sorting skills and helps in hand eye coordination and math skills. It teaches the child to think three dimensionally and strengthens their spacial perception. Through trial and error, a child can manipulate the blocks until they have constructed the intended toy. In an article on parentscience.com website lists a few studies on block play and child development. In one study, “the complexity of a child's LEGO play at the age of 4 had long-term predictive power: More complex play during the preschool years was correlated with higher mathematics achievement in high school, even after controlling for a child's IQ “(Dewar, 2014) a second study in the same article found “Experimental research supports the idea. One randomized study assigned some kindergartners to engage in guided construction play, and these kids went on to outperform their peers on tests of spatial visualization, mental rotation, and block building” (Dewar,

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