THE VALUES OF PLAY

Researchers have found that values of play are extensive and encompass the whole child-cognitively, socially, emotionally, and physically.

Cognitive Development

Play in a vital medium for thinking processes. It contributes to cognitive growth by providing exposure to a multitude of experiences, wich enriches thinking of children.

Child’s play is the infantile form of the human ability to deal with experience by creating model situations and to master reality by experimenting and planning. Play as practice in consolidating newly acquired mental skills. Play facilitates the translation of experience into internal meaning. Research substantiates a strong relationship between play and cognitive development. Play as having a direct role in cognitive development with symbolic play having a crucial part in developing abstract thought.

Playfulness in kindergartners was found to correlate with higher scores in divergent thinking. Through play, children use divergent thinking to research solutions to problems. Play provides many opportunities for children to create, invent, and design as they build, draw and dramatize. Play is a natural avenue for the expression of creativity. Creativity is considered the highest form of problem solving.

Play also encourages cognitive flexibility in the solution of problems. Consider how adults use language to talk through problem so seek solutions. In the same way, children play through problems for solutions.

Children test out concepts and revise them as they play. Processes of categorization, generalization, class inclusion, and concept acquisition which occur during play foster concept development. As children play, they have a wide range of opportunities to categorize. This developing behavior keeps pace with the child’s ability.

During the play process, children observe events and begin to make fairly accurate predictions as to their probable occurrence. Children learn probabilities through these repeated observations. Perspective taking is a cognitive process that occurs during sociodramatic play. Academic skills and attitudes were also found to be improved through play. Finally, a positive relationship between IQ scores and sociodramatic and constructive play. Children who were taught how engage in sociodramatic play gained in both play and IQ scores.

Social Development

Perspective taking, which often occurs during sociodramatic play, is an important process in a child’s social development. Play also provides children with unlimited practice of social patterns. Children try out social conventions through play, which give them the freedom to accept or reject those conventions.

play encourages social interaction. Children learn to deal with their playmates feeling and attitudes. They learn about negotiating, resolving conflicts, fairness and competition. In essence, they learn through play how to get along with each other. For example, they learn how to take turns, be patient, cooperate, and share. In addition, play help children develop friendships. In the backdrop of play, children have many opportunities to see the someone else values them.

Emotional Development

Play is a powerful medium for children to express their thoughts and feelings. In play, a child feels comfortable and in control of his or her feelings. He or she can express unacceptable feelings in acceptable ways. A child can work through conflicting feelings. Play softens the realities of the world. The haven of play is a "risk-free" environment where unpleasant experiences may be worked out. Play also affords children the opportunity for self awareness. Play aids in the development, of self-confidence and competence. Play is essential in contributing to a child’s well-being and self-concept.

Physical Development

Play is the primary way physical and motor development are promoted. Play provides opportunities for both fine and motor development. Play help children test their balancing systems through swinging, jumping, acrobatics, etc. Through play children develop a command of their bodies as they hop, skip, throw, and climb. They develop a concept of body size, which helps them move through their space successfully.

Play give children opportunities to judge distance. It contributes to the development of hand-eye coordination through activities such as building with blocks, painting, cutting, and pasting. In perceptual development, young children tend to focus on the whole without seeing the parts, or they focus on a part without seeing the whole. Play provides the opportunities children need to take things apart and put them together. Play gives children opportunities to test out their bodies and see how they best function. Play helps children feel physically confident, secure, and self-assured.

The research on the values of play is formidable. In fact, there is so much evidence of play’s overall benefits that to provide an "education" for young children without play seems ludicrous. Educators must take advantage of this "natural learning" and provide diverse opportunities for children to learn through play.