Play is a child’s natural way of exploring the world. What is play and why is it so important that every child is wired to do it?
Learning through play is a term used to describe how a child can learn to make sense of the world around them. Through play, children can develop social and cognitive skills, mature emotionally, and gain the self-confidence required to engage in new experiences and environments.
Key ways that young children learn include playing, being with other people, being active, exploring and new experiences, talking to themselves, communicating with others, meeting physical and mental challenges, being shown how to do new things, practicing and repeating skills, and having fun.
According to proponents of the concept, play enables children to make sense of their world. Children possess a natural curiosity to explore and play acts as a medium to do so.
In the book Einstein Never Used Flash Cards, five elements of children’s play are listed:
- Play must be pleasurable and enjoyable.
2. Play must have no extrinsic goals; there is no prescribed learning that must occur.
3. Play is spontaneous and voluntary.
4. Play involves active engagement on the part of the player.
5. Play involves an element of make-believe.
PLAY INCLUDES ELEMENTS OF CREATIVITY AND IMAGINATION
a. Creativity:
Role-playing and pretend playing involves creativity, such as: making props to use or finding objects to be used as props. Play can also be creative when the player constructs building blocks, uses paint or uses different materials to build an object. Creativity is not about the end product, but the process of the play scenario.
b. Imagination
Imagination is used during play when the person involved creates images in their minds to do with their feelings, thoughts, and ideas. The person then uses these images in their play.
It has been acknowledged that there is a strong link between play and learning for young children, especially in the areas of problem solving, language acquisition, literacy, numeracy and social, physical, and emotional skills. Young children actively explore their environment and the world around them through learning-based play. Play is a vital part of a child’s optimal social, cognitive, physical and emotional development
FREE PLAY
Not just any play will suffice. To make the most of early brain development, researchers say that kids need what is called “free-play”. As Pellis says,
“Combinatory play seems to be the essential feature in productive thought.”
Albert Einstein
By engaging in free-play, and a lot of it, the brain builds new circuits in the prefrontal cortex to help it navigate these complex social interactions.
But, the key here is unstructured and free play. This cannot be replaced by guided play where teachers have imposed rules or a physical education class where the children play a game of basketball. This is because for play to have the impact on brain development as stated above, the act of playing must truly be playful.
