Search results
Results from the WOW.Com Content Network
Playfulness by Paul Manship. Play is a range of intrinsically motivated activities done for recreation. [1] Play is commonly associated with children and juvenile-level activities, but may be engaged in at any life stage, and among other higher-functioning animals as well, most notably mammals and birds.
Learning through play is a term used in education and psychology 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.
Free play is not merely a pastime; it is a fundamental process through which children learn and develop across multiple domains. [3] [6] The seemingly unstructured nature of free play masks the complex cognitive, social, and emotional processes taking place, which are difficult to quantify but essential for a child's development. [3] [1]
Stages of play is a theory and classification of children's participation in play developed by Mildred Parten Newhall in her 1929 dissertation. [1] Parten observed American preschool age (ages 2 to 5) children at free play (defined as anything unrelated to survival, production or profit). Parten recognized six different types of play:
His book Play As Emotional Survival is a response to his own deconstruction of play theories in his work, The Ambiguity of Play (1997, Harvard University Press). [ 2 ] [ 3 ] Sutton-Smith's interdisciplinary approach included research into play history and cross cultural studies of play, as well as research in psychology , education , and folklore .
Cooperative play and socio-dramatic play both bring about increased social interactions, as compared to solitary play and parallel play, where children play similarly next to each other without significant interaction (e.g., two children building their own towers). It is here where play becomes intertwined with social emotional development.
Play helps a child develop a sense of true self and a mastery over their innate abilities resulting in a sense of worth and aptitude. [4] During play, children are driven to meet the essential need of exploring and affecting their environment. Play also contributes in the advancement of creative thinking.
It is the job of a playworker to ensure that the broadest possible range of play types [2] can be engaged in or accessed by children, and to observe, reflect and analyze the play that is happening and select a mode of intervention or make a change to the play space if needed. Playwork should not be confused with childcare. A qualification in ...