Although sometimes seen by parents or
even educators as a “waste of time”, 21st century scholars consider
that “free-play” (Bruce, T., 2006) has significant short and long term benefits
for children, leading to a healthy psychical and emotional development and
better understanding of the world (Bjorklung & Pellegrini in Papalia, Olds
& Feldman, 2010). This article will cover an explanation of the concept of
play, from different perspectives, together with its characteristics and types,
taking into account the latest findings in the child development literature on
the impact and benefits of play. I will also examine how play facilitates and
is impacted by the child’s physical, intellectual, linguistic, emotional and
social development during the first six years of life and how adults can
support play.
Drawing from the works of Moyles (2005), Bruce (2006),
Mcleod-Brudenell and Kay (2008), MCI (undated), Goldschmeid & Jackson (2009)
and Wood & Attfield (2005), play is a freely chosen process in which
children engage with their already acquired knowledge, values and skills, and
which has as end result, although not direct purpose, the development or
refinement of further lifelong physical, socio-emotional and cognitive skills. It
is a natural inclination (Moyles, 2005), a creative attitude in which the child
attains a degree of independence supported by the representations of his inner
and outer worlds (Wood & Attfield, 2005).
There are several characteristics of play. First of all,
play is child chosen and spontaneous (Wood & Attfield, 2005). It unfolds in
a creative manner and it can stop as unexpectedly as it began. Adults may come
with ideas of play but a child will only accept what will resonate with his/her
inner needs or passions. So another characteristic is that play is an intrinsically
motivated process (Bruce, 2006).
During play, children invent and
pretend. They use the events and behaviours they have observed to experiment
different types of behaviours and outcomes, attitudes and family or social roles
(Bruce, 2006). They project themselves in the future, as teacher or doctors, or
mothers or fathers, adopting the behaviours of their role models. Play focuses on
the process, not the product (Wood & Attfield, 2005), and in this process
it is them who have control over their actions and decisions. Children use play
to repeat or try–out recent learning, and to create or consolidate friendships
(Mcleod-Brudenell and Kay, 2008). When engaged in free-play, children are
deeply concentrating and can hardly be distracted from their learning. This is
why the best plays are never time-constrained. Ultimately, play is a fun
process, it generates positive emotions and it brings balance. This is why play
helps children cope with difficult events in their lives (MCI, undated).
There are different types of play identified by
researchers. Moyles (2005) distinguishes between physical play (wrestling, hide and seek), object play (construction or play with cars) and pretence play (mother and father,
princess pretend). Piaget (in Moyles, 2005) defined: sensorimotor play (in the first year of life, characterised by repetitive
muscle movement and simple object play), symbolic
play (focuses on pretend, also with objects or imaginary objects) and games play with rules (such as
football). In addition, Smilansky (in Moyles, 2005), includes constructive play defined as object play
(construction with geometrical shapes or puzzles). Hutt (in Goldschmeid &
Jackson, 2009) describes epistemic play,
within which children learn and explore the world and its properties (such as
mud play). Parten (in MCI, undated), categorised play as: solitary play (such as riding a tricycle), parallel play (when a child plays alongside other children, each
absorbed in his/her own activity), associative
play (together with other children, following his/her own play agenda, for
example a pretend riders play, where each child invents what his/her character
would say) and co-operative play
(children establish the rules and roles together). Goldschmeid & Jackson, (2009)
researched on heuristic play, a type
of exploratory play with objects without the direct intervention of the adult. Fantasy play is a highly imaginative
play during which children act on their own, using real or imaginative objects
(Bruner in Moyles, 2005). It develops creativity, language and fine motor
skills and can become socio – dramatic
play if it is done in cooperation with other children. During socio–dramatic
play children consciously act out social interactions by means of symbolic
representations; It counts among its benefits concentration, development of cooperative
skills, creativity, projection of social or family roles, development of
abstract thought and self-esteem (Kitson in Moyles, 2005).
Physical activity play involves a large body activity, such as running, climbing
and other large body or large muscle activity. This type of play includes: “rhythmic stereotypes” (Smith in Moyles,
2005), gross motor movement during the child’s first months without any
apparent function, “exercise play”
(Smith in Moyles, 2005), gross locomotor movement, such as running and climbing
in the context of play and “rough-and-tumble
play”, which involves wrestling, grappling, kicking, tumbling, rolling on
the ground or chasing; Physical play has numerous benefits: it helps maintain
friendships and develop skills of emotional control, enhances the physical
training of muscles, strength and endurance. Studies (Pellegrini & Davies
in Moyles, 2005) show that exercise play in break times improves concentration
during class activities. Some other types of play are communication play, such as mime, play acting or poetry and deep play, which allows the child to
meet risky or potentially life-threatening experiences, to develop survival
skills and conquer fear (Macleod-Brudenell & Kay, 2008).
In order to have a clearer picture of
how play impacts and is impacted by the
holistic development of the child in the first six years of age, we shall
first take a closer look at the development processes that occur from birth to
three years. Goldschmeid & Jackson (2009)
describe how a baby’s first toy is the body of the caring adult. Before the age
of 6 months, the baby can move his/her hand and grab his/her carer’s fingers,
hair or certain surrounding objects. Eye – hand – mouth coordination marks a
big step in his/ her development; as s/he is able to sit his/her universe
unveils: objects, persons and movements. Before one year of age, the baby can
clearly observe differences between different sets of objects and will begin
imitating (Papalia, Olds & Feldman, 2010).
Play at this stage is physical, rhythmic stereotypes occur. Gradually, the development of sucking,
mouthing and handling allow epistemic
and heuristic play to take place,
allowing the baby to find out details about the smell, taste, feel and weight
of a certain material. These types of play foster further development, such as
decision making, concentration and mobility. The baby will recognize sounds
heard in the womb and gradually will start experimenting with uttering sounds
of language,
not yet producing any recognizable words (Papalia,
Olds & Feldman, 2010). During
the first year of age, s/he will be able to live the basic emotions: joy,
surprise, sadness, disgust and fury (Papalia, Olds & Feldman, 2010). Socially, the baby starts to trust in
the main caregiver and develops a certain type of “attachment” (Bowlby in MCI,
undated), an enduring emotional bond between him/her and the main caregiver. Parallel play enables babies to
communicate with other babies through sounds, movements or facial expressions
thus developing inter-personal skills.
During the second and third year, the
baby will grow in height, allowing construction
play to take place. Two and three year olds are able to build cube towers,
climb stairs, run or jump. This opens a window of physical and exercise play opportunities. At this stage cognitive
development impacts the intellectual play of the child, as s/he will be able to
count, differentiate colours, understand consequences of actions. I have often
watched children at this age being engaged in fantasy play: fishing with a stick, eating off leaves which served
as plates, pretending to read newspapers or walking babies in carriages. The
development of language enables the child to use new words and communicate with
adults and children, therefore leaving an open door to simple communication play: songs with
gestures, reading of poetry and
cards games. In turn, this type of play fosters the development of vocabulary,
pronunciation and the construction of sentences. Socially, two to three years old have an increasing need of
independence. Solitary and parallel play
remain the most preferred types of play.
Now that we have seen how development
and play are interconnected during the first three years of the child, let us
take a look of how they unfold from the age of three to six years old.
Physically,
fine motor skills refine and writing skills develop. Now the child can pour
liquids, eat with cutlery or get dressed on his own. S/he can jump or change
running or walking directions and engage in rough-and-tumble play. This new degree of physical competence
enriches the fantasy play, which
becomes socio-dramatic play, as it
is often done together with other children. I have seen children pretending to
be animals, playing doctors performing precise eye or hand operations, going
shopping with the families (composed of friends in the roles of children,
husband or wives) and carrying full baskets. Their cognitive development allowed them to create intricate stories,
engulfing abstract concepts or to thoroughly plan their play. Two boys were
once building a spaceship, and planning what materials to use. They applied
knowledge and used specific words such as “mission”, “oxygen” or “engine”. This
was possible because of their language
development. Between three and six, children know more than 20.000 words
and can easily build short stories, and this is clearly reflected in their play
(Papalia, Olds & Feldman, 2010). Emotionally,
children at this age are able to recognize his/her feelings and the feelings of
others (no longer ego-centric). They should be able to recognize when other children
are playful or not. “Segregation” (Moyles, 2005) naturally happens as children
spend more time in groups of similar sex. Socially,
leadership and followership skills are developed, both with equal importance
for the later adult (Bruce, 2006).
So what is the role of the adult in this natural development process? One
of the most important roles of the adults relate to creating the necessary
space, ensuring its safety and allowing independence and freedom for the child
to explore it. All outdoor and indoor spaces should reflect the learning and
development needs of the child, and the adult must make sure the equipment serves this purpose. Adults should supervise and observe
the child and track his/her development, organize the objects and groups if the
children are under three and give enough time for proper exploration and for
putting the materials back as the session finishes.
During heuristic play, the only intervention which could aid is to stop a
child who will bother others, by suggesting him/her a new object and
facilitating his/her interaction with it. Adults involvement in certain types
of play such as socio-dramatic play
can enhance the child’s learning by focusing his/her attention and challenging
the process. The adult should act as a behavioural model and help children
differentiate between reality and fiction. An adult can subtly structure the
learning in play without significantly reducing the child’s ownership (Moyles, 2005).
Lindon (2002, pp. 5) argues that: “children cannot benefit from their play if
adults overplan and over-supervise the daily events of any setting or the
family home”; therefore, adults should respect the child and his/her play
agenda and understand which the right moment to intervene is.
Play is one of the most important
processes which need to occur unhindered from infancy for the holistic
development of the young child. It comes in different types and contexts and it
affects and it is affected by each area of development: physical, cognitive,
social, emotional and linguistic. It evolves together with the development of
the child and changes according to his/her needs. Adults can facilitate this
process by ensuring a safe and stimulating environment and by knowing when to
intervene or not. All children should be able to experience play equally, and real
alarm signals should be addressed when a child does not engage in play!
Source of the images:
- http://www.aspenhillclub.com/Portals/252655/images/kids-playing.jpg
- https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjv92g6y2klf5jN91mhKTOXzmjNgDt0RfSDQvjuYh1wfMJR6MZKH0McM94eIse1JmU06t_mIbucB0_SL-YahksJxmj93twENE30QafulVXQW3cMxjx87J558vD_vtJK68tX8u5j5QUOk0zz/s1600/AAA_7160.jpg
- http://theimaginationtree.com/wp-content/uploads/2013/06/Roads-and-construction-site-in-play-dough.jpg
- http://www.myantelopevalley.com/media/2013080681807boyswrestling.jpg
- http://www.chilboltonpreschool.com/wp-content/uploads/2013/01/role-play.jpg
- http://studio3music.com/wp-content/uploads/2010/10/fantasy-play.jpg
- https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjP9cK8Oq8HdgDaH_TnE9c_s0OYczqsKNJdK6T9p7V1loxKyax2tAFN-69xJEokguk010u5FeB_7IvPWCIyCVXf5quMhFQsSQ1E-Xv0v2B_6esk2KTnkfrh2KyCLa04VzCHvWD9fAKSSFLR/s1600/IMG_6433.JPG
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(2009 reprint) People Under Three
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a Modern Approach
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- Macleod-Brudenell, I, & Kay, J. (2008, Second Edition) Advanced Early Years for Foundation Degrees
& Level 4/5
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Childhood Curriculum
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