Lesson 11: Play

Play is the highest form of research. ~ Albert Einstein

Learning Outcomes

Upon completion of this lesson's material, students will be able to:

• Describe play for infants and toddlers and how it impacts development
• Discuss current issues in preschool play
• Discuss how play is the work of children

Teaching

• Explore the information on play on NAEYCs website http://www.naeyc.org/play

Play has been discussed throughout your readings as part of the developmental level of each age group. Play is the work of children.

Children learn best when they have opportunities to explore, discover, and express themselves. They do this through play. Play helps build experiences and connection for cognitive, social, emotional, and physical development.

Play must be a choice for children. It is no longer play if it something imposed on them. It must be important to them and have meaning to them. It is an opportunity for them to practice skills, strategies, social interactions, problem solving, and real life activities. Adults can facilitate opportunities for play, but must be careful to be sure the child(ren) have choice in what they do and how they do it. 

Play is important to children of all ages, but is primarily engaged in during early childhood. Play allows for opportunities to enhance all areas of development and is used by children as a method of understanding their world. When children play they “draw upon their past experiences-things they have done, seen others do, read about, or seen on television-and they use these experiences to build games, play scenarios, and engage in activities”.

I conducted an accreditation observation at a rural child care several years ago. During time outside, a couple of boys pretended to be hunting. The facility had a camping area set up with a pretend fire. They boys went off hunting. In the course of returning with their catch, one boy said, “You take care of the deer and I’ll get some beers.” The children then went on to continue with their camping activities. The child care provider looked at me with horror, thinking that statement would impact her accreditation. This was an instance of children involved in pretend play acting out something they had seen. The behavior is not uncommon for Maine hunters, I am sure. During our discussion later, the provider and I discussed that this was perfectly normal and children imitate what they see. 

Children are improving fine and gross motor skills during play, involved in social interactions, learning to plan, strategize, and collaborate. They communicate with others, and utilize self-talk (inner speech). They experience emotions in themselves and others and are learning how to deal with social situations. They also learn to self-regulate and monitor their own behaviors during play. 

Piaget’s theories of assimilation and accommodation have much to do with play. Children understand the environment based on what they know and accommodate their thoughts based on information they learn during play. Play allows children to practice what they know and learn new things. Vygotsky’s theory supports this learning because of the social interactions and language development involved in play. 

Play also provides an opportunity for early childhood educators to observe children. Educators can learn about advancing skills and identify indicators of possible delays. Play provides an opportunity for educators to facilitate activities to enhance certain skills they may observe need practice. Play also provides an insight into a child’s world and can assist educators in better understanding a child. Observing a child doing what is natural for them also provides a clearer “picture” of that child and is more informative than a formal observation or assessment.

It is important to mention that the types of play can happen at any given time for a child of any age. For example, children that can play cooperatively sometimes like to have the opportunity to play alone (solitary). Below are the different types of play you might observe:

• Onlooker behavior—watching other children engaged in play activities.

• Solitary independent—Playing by oneself.

• Parallel—Child playing next to but not with other children. They may communicate but are involved in their own activity.

• Associative—Children share materials and talk to each other, but do not coordinate play objectives or interests.

• Cooperative—When children organize themselves into roles with specific goals in mind (e.g., to assign the roles of doctor, nurse, and patient and play hospital).

Children should play for large blocks of time, both inside and out. Time to play allows children to become more involved, therefore more advanced. I remember a time in a preschool classroom several children were involved in really great play, pretending to be customers, the cook, and waitress in a restaurant. The classroom “schedule” indicated it was time to change activities. The teacher recognized the importance of what the children were doing and delayed moving on to the next item on the schedule. The children learned so much in their play. 

It is also a good idea to “warn” children in some way prior to transitioning to and from activities. Some classrooms ring a bell or use other sensory indicators to let children know the activity will change in a certain amount of time. This provides the opportunity for them to finish what they are doing rather than abruptly stopping without warning. A warning eases transitions for children and may reduce behavioral issues associated with transitions.

Safety must be considered for all play activities. Materials should be checked regularly and discarded if unsafe. Playgrounds should be inspected prior to each use. (I worked at an inner city child care and we often found drug paraphernalia, bottles, and other inappropriate materials in the playground. Rural areas may contain animal feces or animals themselves). Appropriate materials must be considered as well. A lot of materials are not required and will often lead to scattered play where children go from thing to thing rather than focused play. 

Assessment

Lesson 11 Assignment

Infant and Toddler Play

Use the following resource (and any others you may wish – please cite) to summarize play for infants and toddlers. The link below will bring you to a 4 part series on infant and toddler play on the Zero to Three website. The series is broken down by ages. 

https://www.zerotothree.org/resources/series/the-development-of-play-skills-from-birth-to-3

You may format the summary any way you choose. It can be in essay form, table, list, graphic organizer, or other format of your choice. You must include the age group, play activities for that age group, how play enhances development for that age group, and what caregivers can do to support play activities.

Click HERE to view the grading rubric that will be used to evaluate your work.

Lesson 11 Discussion A

 Within the NAEYC link provided for your readings, there is an article about threats to preschool play.  Describe one thing that surprised you in the article and why.

Lesson 11 Discussion B

In the notes, I used the phrase “Play is the work of children”. Describe what you think that means. Make connections to the developmental domains.