Play, Imagination and Conceptual Development
Imaginary Play is Fundamental to Child Development
GOAL: To determine that children are involved in imaginary play because their experiences and interactions are a vital part of their cognitive and social development.
Introduction
Imaginary play is defined as the performing of stories that engage a child’s ideas, emotions, and use many perspectives. Creative play is important in childhood and is an essential component even in adulthood. Play is a process of education for the mind and a creative method that ensures that individuals can achieve maximum wisdom and knowledge. Adults’ role in the promotion of play is undeniable and teachers play a vital part in endorsing play within the classroom setting Neville Scarfe (1961) “Play is vital to all humanity. It is a human research activity which is the finest system of education known to man” (Heather Edmonds, 2013). Children learn through play including the social and cultural values that affect their psychological and physical health of children.
Play
Play is a vital activity for childhood and some actions found in play also have personal spirit as an essential ingredient which is also be found in adulthood. Play can be considered the most accomplished development of education, and teachers have an important role for the development to take place. Play is a spontaneous process that is carried out for pleasure and satisfaction by the child seemingly; however it holds specific developmental strategies to regulate learning and activity of the child both at pre-school and elementary levels. An adults’ role in the promotion of play is undeniable. Among adults, teachers play a vital part in endorsing play. The cultivation of creativity during a child’s early school years is of prime importance, and this leads to the development of an effective learning environment for them.
Play is characterized as an impulsive, imaginative, and a predictable exploration that is experienced for the benefit of pleasure. It can be questioned if play needs to be chosen or directed because the creative, spontaneous and desired activity sometimes leads to anti-social behavior. In the classroom a teacher has a part in guiding children to determine the activity. Play cannot be gauged, evaluated or graded the way work is measured within the linear scale starting from zero to infinity. The objectives for play are to develop pleasure, desire, and purpose that are educational and valuable for physical and cognitive development. The outcomes that are achieved through play based activities can be used to determine how play is evaluated.
Play can be defined as a part of child development that is intrinsically motivated through an activity in which variations are made by children to have fun and not complete serious goals. However, reviewing the meaning of play defines its’ role as not simply for the achievement of fun.
There are two fundamental inquiries about the role of play for pre-school aged children. How does play contribute to early childhood development? Secondly, what do these developmental activities in the form of play do? According to Vygotsky (1966), play has been designated as the “finest form of education” and for children it is a way of discovering and experimenting with their concept of self and how they relate to the world and others.
Evolution of play
Play emerges as the child grows, ss infants they focus on the objects they use for play. Later they are motivated by communication between people, or things, and this new information is used for social interactions. As children get older they transition to more complex play and start to use the symbolic application of props.
In mature play, children give different meanings to objects and persons in make-believe scenarios. When children pretend, they concentrate on an object's abstract traits rather than its actual features. They create novel uses for familiar toys and props when the play situation requires it. Sometimes children explain the absent prop by using words and movements. They become cognizant of different symbols that will help them in the future when they begin learning letters and numbers. Children are likely to play board games and sports more as they grow older. The “built-in” rules in this type of play help to build social competency and self-regulation as the rules cannot be negotiated, discussed or changed. A child’s foundational abilities may not be developed thoroughly if immature play is completely replaced by sports or other mature play (Vygotsky, 1978); (Piaget, 1962).
The evidence from research indicates that play contributes to vocabulary, verbalization, attention, imagination, curiosity, problem solving procedures and participatory attitude development. Research has linked play with a children’s ability to understand academic instructions in terms of numeracy and literacy.
Creativity
A beneficial practice within education is the use of creativity, and it can be developed in all levels of play. There is an important connection between education and creativity. Play is accepted as an essential element in classrooms during the pre-school and Kindergarten years. Unfortunately, it tends to be overlooked in the elementary to adolescent years, even though all ideas are effectively adapted through creativity.
A positive characteristic about play is that it engages the inner nature of a child and develops their attitude, emotions, and character. Education and play expand between intellectual involvement and emotional activity (Scarfe, 1951). A complete education is one that affects the processes of emotions and this is possible through the creative and artistic elements of play.
Children can effectively support their thoughts and emotions through play and as a result develop a positive relationship towards their learning and education. Play ideas planned by children in collaboration with their teacher ensures them that their ideas are valuable. It is important to establish a safe and caring environment that is inclusive for all and that promotes learning, happiness, empathy and kindness through play.
The tasks may include giving attention equally to every child, so that they may gain proximal psychological and physical development. The role of the teacher is to provide activities according to the needs of the individual child and to meet the objectives of the curriculum; this can be achieved through inquiry based learning in collaboration with play.
A teacher’s guidance is more effective when it focuses on the procedure instead of the product. Planning together and informing the students about the goals and objectives of the activity is helpful. It is beneficial to use an Inquiry based model to guide the students to achieve their goals by interacting and communicating through play based activities. This focus on the process helps children build upon their own knowledge and guarantees them that their teacher will be present throughout their activity (Goncu A. B., 1992).
Adult and child collaboration in play
Supporting the interactions between children and adults involved in play, are necessary to understand the learning within their creative play. Two reasons have been defined by academics; first the initiation of the learning process occurs once children begin to feel safe within the adult and child relationship. Secondly, the connections are empirical and theoretical concerning play for the adult-child relationship to teach cognitive reasoning to those involved in the play activity.
Development and support of the roles within play are accomplished by allowing children to participate in pretend play and these actions allow them to act out roles and engage with adults in their play activity (Goncu, Abel, & Boshans, 2010).
An experience of subjectivity is created by an adult interacting with a child in play based roles and activities. Adults do this by showing a response to the children involved in their activity and this creates motivation and enthusiasm to increase interactions together. The collaborations between adults and children increase by discussing each other’s contribution towards the play partner (Trevarthen, 1979). A child’s sense of identity, feelings about themselves and others are developed by their ability to share attention, interactions, and their attitudes. Interpersonal feelings are created as a result of children’s experiences in response to adults in an empathic or positive manner. However, children who are overlooked or not treated with understanding by adults can develop feelings and emotions that are comparable to isolation and loneliness. “Feelings surface in relation to what counts, or is valued, as learning, the value of learning it for me, specifically the role it plays in my life and how it changes me as a person once I have learned or failed to learn. Elation brought about by doing well on a test, shame and doubt brought about by failure—students learn quickly they are either capable or not of succeeding in the different knowledge subjects that make up schooled environments”.(Vadeboncouer and Collie, 2013).
A child’s ability to learn and develop cognitively through play is dependent on their adult-child relationships’ attachment. This is required by children in order to gain security and physiological regulation at a satisfactory level. This interaction facilitates the child and motivates them to engage with the world and people around them; in addition to objects and play activities that are part of their environment. Early child caregiving attachments are able to prepare them for them for the advancement of future relationships and education.
Vygotsky explains the interactions between teaching and learning relationships connecting children and their teachers. These adults are inclined to share their methods of interaction to their children, and smooth the passages for the children’s learning during that particular phase of learning and in the future. The relationships established can be for a short period or within a limited context. Therefore, this aspect has a vital implication on the relationships made by children with adults as well as peers. This social system allows children to get support and security from the adults that they interact with for assessment and learning, even during times when they are not attached.
Conceptual Framework
The significances of play for the development of children have been emphasized by many theorists. Consistence with the theory of Piaget, play leads to the ‘Functional assimilation’, where action schemes are acquired for the exploration of objects like making multiple interesting things using play dough. The consequences of activities are reorganized both during the symbolic and functional play as well as the child seeking the logic of mastery and happiness that a child can experience by testing their skills through the environment (Goncu, Abel, & Boshans, 2010).
Vygotsky emphasized the consequences of development influenced by play under the heading “play is the leading edge of development”. Through play a child tends to interpret the meanings and notion of the things related to their experience that are not actually happening in their real life. The inclination that a child cannot realize leads them to an area of illusion and enables the child to be guided according to the rules. Children comprehend the idea of learning within play. Through the enactment of the situation imagined within the zone of proximal development, it is easy for a child to understand the significance of play. Vygotsky stated that any form of complex thinking primarily appears in social communication with children and any other interactive people within society. Then it develops within the child as a social capacity or skill. Children are inclined to expand their thinking after they begin to think with words. Language is defined as an essential tool to guide and manage a child’s thinking and behavior. Vygotsky (1930-1935), stated that development is promoted by the communication of children with the mature members of their culture that provide the child with more experience within their proximal zone of development. This refers to a Vygotskian concept that the tasks that can offer an accurate challenge in which the child is able to achieve their own social support (Newson & Newson, 1975). Subjectivity is selected as a social support as children attain communication skills.
Vygotsky described make-believe play as the foundation in early childhood experiences to develop self-regulation. The abundance of dialogue is the part of make-believe that enhances the developmental outcomes of play. His observations about play revealed that his views supported the formation of proximal development. The distinctive features asserted by make-believe play designate it as unique to the experiences of children, and this leads to their development. Vygotsky concluded that there exists a unity rather than an identity among the learning and development process. He believed “with collaboration, direction, or some kind of help the child is always able to do more and solve more difficult tasks that he can independently” (Vygotsky, 1987, p. 209).
He proposed an association between imagination and reality. Imagination is created by the use of materials provided by realism (Vygotsky L. S., 1990). The defining elements that can combine to create elements of imagination, and are absent from realism are connected. These creative inspirations are essentially imprints of the real world.
Play also assists the child in constructing symbols that enables them to develop their language (Vygotsky, 1978). To express and represent their reality, a child starts to move away from their actual environment. Symbolic play can facilitate a child’s attainment of words through symbols (Leont'ev, 1981).
The significance of play and child development is not limited to intellectual and verbal development. Clinical sources demonstrate evidence that play has positive implications on the emotional lives of children, and assists in their treatment effectively (Goncu, Abel, & Boshans, 2010). Similarly, Clark (2003) illustrated the optimistic examples of play used for the care of troubled children, concluding that play is helpful in coping with problematic situations for the child. Play results in effective benefits and alterations of character for the child (Clark, 2003).
Alexander presented evidence of the changes that occur through the process of child development. He proposed that teacher and child collaborations result in dialogue related to ‘speaking’ (Alexander, Talk for learning: the first year, Northallerton: North Yorkshire County Council, 2003). Teachers should provide sufficient thinking time for children to reduce the pressure on their minds for quick responses. This results in children taking risks, responding with confidence and helping their peers instead of competing to search for the correct answer. Children and their teacher engage in reflection and questioning strategies that expand ideas. A result of their time to collaborate ideas and thoughts children listen to the discussions in the classroom more attentively and respectfully discuss and listen to their classmates. His idea is that children then become skilled at talking when they are given the opportunities to expand their competence. This leads to an inclusive culture within the classroom that supports positive interaction between classmates rather than promoting competition.
In another project, he described the role of teachers similar to the ideals of Vygotsky (Alexander, Teaching Through Dialogue: the first year, 2005). Teachers who create their questions more carefully, assist children with the ability to recall information, encourage logic and speculation. The interactions between the students and their teacher increase and the answers given by the students are only repeated for building upon knowledge; and the student responses to the questions become more diverse. This model of collaborating ideas through dialogue develops student interaction with their classmates, and motivates them to ask more questions.
Implications and applications
Certain elements of children’s play have been defined in theoretical claims and have been used by the researchers to validate the influence pretend play has over a child’s development. Repetition has been stated by many academics as vital for the process of play, and it also leads to variation. This is called ‘improvisation’ to highlight that children are creating versions of play on the basis of their experiences like adults (Sawyer, 1997). This action of improvising, and modifying experiences help children to manage their anxiety and unhappiness. Another characteristic of play is exaggeration, the actions and experiences are modified by children. Children tend to manipulate the time and space in their acts of play, engaging themselves to rewrite and reverse the scenario according to their desires. Both exaggeration and manipulation lead to the development of skills that are involved in problem solving that may be used in real life settings.
Research has illustrated the influence of play on the development and learning methods of children for the acquisition of skills. The outcomes have provided practical data that offer suggestions to link the impact of play on the development and adaptation of these skills. Play is regarded as the activity that is based on exploration, and it is the most influential means to enable children to implement and practice for formal education.
For Vygotsky, the education of young children is the initial step in a lengthy process. This is a process where children are involved in acquiring concepts to advance their higher mental functions, which are acquired from interacting with people in the child’s world. Current research on play maintains the value of adult-child play interactions for the psychological growth of the child. It is essential for educators to question the links between pretending, intellect, and communicative development all throughout life. Imaginative thinking and the formation of innovative ideas and concepts have significance to the individual or others, as well as the advancement of these ideas and theories from thought to authenticity. Vygotsky suggests that the creativity of a child and the growth of their cognitive functions are developed from existing systems associated with the speech of the child, communication, social activity and consciousness within their surroundings. Creativity through play is very unassuming it only requires imagination and time.
A teacher has to contemplate the needs of each individual child. An educator’s role is to learn to be flexible enough to allow for a range of collaborations that focus on the affective, safety and cognitive needs of the children. In schools, these ideas are frequently stated unfortunately, they are often not implemented effectively. Teachers should take a primary role in helping children to develop and preserve mature play. Some teachers get involved in the child’s play activity so much that the activity turns out to be purely adult directed. Perceptive teachers are inclined to limit their interventions only in situations where there are fights or miscommunication. The possibility of extensions of their imagination from play is directed by the children. It is therefore, the responsibility of the teacher to keep a balance among mature play by maintaining that it is child initiated play.
Family involvement in school assists in bridging the gap between home and school. Discussing school events and maintaining the interest of children are partnerships that establish a level of trust and mutual understanding and establish the purpose of school so that children are fully engaged in the school community and classroom and activities. Adaptations can be suggested from the families to ensure safety and development from the outcomes of play. Direct communication with the parents is beneficial as they are sources of information about the child and this will enable educators to understand the requirements of their student as an individual.
Daily observations of the children will give an awareness of their cognitive and social interactions with others. This information assists the teacher to incorporate a child’s experiences with their activities at school. This also ensures a secure environment for the child and that their interactions are important.
Educational implications
In the past, children were involved in mature play by interacting with in their own family or with multi-age children in their neighborhood. Teachers need to take the lead to help children progress and retain mature play. Teachers can keep a balance by encouraging mature play and keeping it created by the children, and offer support for every type of mature play.
Create imaginary scenarios and multi-purpose props to help the children to invent imaginary situations. Some children will not be able to make their own props, teachers can organize multipurpose props with realistic ones to encourage play and then eventually provide more unstructured supplies. Teachers and students can brainstorm to discover more strategies to assist the children in maintaining the imaginary place.
Teachers can work in small groups to brainstorm with the children how different simple objects can be used in a variety of ways in play. Encourage children to bring in one object from home and describe how they will use it as a prop. For example, a hair brush can be a microphone. The students will bring in their props and take part in a show and tell. Teachers should always encourage children to use both actions and words to describe how they will use the prop in a creative way.
Integrate a variety of themes and play to guide the children and brainstorm together to increase their knowledge about the roles and dialogue needed. Teachers can incorporate field trips, stories, games and movies to expand the children's range of play themes. Discussing new roles, language, and activities will assist the children to recreate later in their play.
Teachers can encourage mature play by assisting children to plan play in advance. Planning helps children communicate about the roles and describe what the person in each role can and cannot do. Children benefit most from planning in advance and recording their plans by drawing or writing. Children who put effort into planning their future play tend to extend their chosen play theme and are able to maintain focus and not be distracted in their school setting.
Applications in my teaching practice
There is so much evidence supporting play, what has happened to education and how did it shift so far off the play based classroom model? The ways that children develop their time in imaginary play has shifted over the past 60 years, and as a result there is also a dramatic change in children themselves. Commercialization is one reason that imagination has become limited. The increase in structured play has affected children's private speech, which is defined by Vygotsky as a method of self-directed dialogue: talking to oneself in silence. This decline is inner speech is creating a decrease in language. Children's play has become increasingly engrossed in classes, leagues, and toys that confine imaginative play.
Parents are increasingly worried about safety, classes that foster a safe, and controlled environment have become the norm. Rock climbing gyms, wave pools, and gymnastics, these create a safety hub for children. They also provide a sense of immediate gratification and accomplishment for parents who increasingly worry about achievement.
The importance of self-regulation is a critical skill for children. Unfortunately, many children occupy their time with three things: viewing television, playing video games and going to lessons. These activities do not encourage self-regulation and children never get the opportunity to practice monitoring their actions.
I have taught the Students with E.S.L. summer program for 5 years. We do go on a field trip daily and the students are very active and playing. I realize that I have declined into the category of those teachers who control and organize play for the students, and give them little opportunity to plan their own play based activities. The importance of creative imagination for my teaching practice is more evident to me, as it develops from children’s play into a greater intellectual purpose. I will modify my summer program and review my teaching practices so that I may integrate imaginary play for the students. The following is from the Vancouver School Board it is a course description for the summer program that I will be teaching in Vancouver it is for English as a Second Language students.
Every Day Active English on the Go (Grades 2-6) Improve your English language skills by interacting with people in the community& with classmates. In this class you will be physically active, attend field trips, and learn the vocabulary connected with real world places like parks, beaches, and museums. Your grammar & fluency will improve as you learn English the way native speakers learn. Bring your bathing suit, walking shoes, and your lunch- 30 minute lunch time is included.
I will engage in discussions with the students and their parents about my goals for creating imaginative play with themes, roles and props with the students. The emphasis placed on imaginary play will become a foundation for planning and creating along with the children. We will develop a strategy to provide our summer classroom with more props. Class time will be set aside to discuss and plan in small groups and inspire all children to create their own symbolic props both at school and at home. These small group activities will need collaboration and student planning, and peer conversations before, during and after we create our make-believe props.
On the first day I will read the book ‘It looked like Spilled Milk’ by Charles G Sharp with the students. The beauty of this book is that there are no wrong answers, just the imaginings of the children as they look at the illustrations which are creative black and white shapes.
- students will go outside and lay on their backs outside on the grass field and look for shapes and colors in the clouds, they will be encouraged to take part in the cloud walk about where you show and tell a partner what colors, shapes or objects you saw in the clouds
-Students will write and/or draw in their daily Journals what they saw
-children will be given different colored paper, white paint and scissors to paint or cut and create clouds or shapes
-Day 2 the children will be shown some of Matisse’s art work. They will explore and look at a variety of materials and objects in the classroom they will choose 1 or 2 to keep and write and/or draw in their Journals about how they will transform and create a make-believe prop
-we will have a basket of large colored scarves and the children will be encouraged to run outside and twirl and play with them, will they join with a friend, or be an animal, or a plant?
-children will sit together and talk in small groups about the symbolic prop they created from their scarves
-Day 3 following 2 days of introducing and guiding the students to make creative props I will ask them to choose a theme in small groups and I will get out of their way and let them learn, imagine, and create their own designs and engage in imaginary play
- Days 3 through 7 when student arrive in the morning at 8:30 a.m. they will have the opportunity to create and make props with a variety of objects and materials that will be in the classroom, most of the objects will be re-cycled. They will also be given the gift of time to play with their make-believe props.
-Days 3 through 7 we will go on a daily field trip and visit various places in Vancouver parks, beaches, hikes, and museums. Each day when we are out in the field I will encourage the children to look for and collect objects that are unusual or found in nature to transform into creative props. I will continue to provide a variety of opportunities for the children to collect objects and develop their imaginary and sustained play for school and home; that will last for a few hours, or can be extended for the entire week.
-Day 7 we will have a sharing of creative props and use a recipe that the students created to prepare a nutritious lunch together. The students will also shop for the ingredients together.
Conclusion
Integration of play in the class room
In conclusion, the research reviewed by Berk, Mann & Ogan, (2006) and Hirsh-Pasek, Golinkoff, Berk, & Singer (2009) state that make-believe games suggest the ability to self-regulate including reduced aggression, delay of gratification, civility, and empathy. Once children use toys to characterize likely situations or friends, the show of multiple perspectives happens naturally. Experiencing various roles gives children the opportunity to learn social skills like communication, problem solving, and empathy (Hughes, 1999).
The cultivation of creative play for children of all ages is essential and much needed in schools. This will ultimately lead to the development of an effective learning environment. This is an important outcome that benefits all students and it is achieved through play. The act of simply experiencing creativity and fun through play is decreasing from many children’s lives and schools. Educators and parents feel pressured to evaluate children at young ages, and these standardized tests destroy a child’s enthusiasm for learning. The world’s conventional education systems deplete creativity and discriminate against children with diverse abilities. Future jobs will want young adults who are creative, confident, self-reliant, and who have good social skills.
To implement the goals that learners will need for the workplace teachers require an environment where they have the freedom to give less structured lessons and offer students broader ownership over their learning. Emphasis must be placed on developing meaningful skills for each student, while improving the use of global resources. The process of education through play emerges and provides a curriculum for children to introduce themselves to others and the outside world. Children also use this association as a tool for the connection and development of their culture.
References
Alexander, R. (2003). Talk for learning: the first year, Northallerton: North Yorkshire County Council. Northallerton: North Yorkshire County Council.
Alexander, R. (2005). Teaching Through Dialogue: the first year. London: London Borough of Barking and Dagenham.
Alexander, R. (2008). Culture, Dialogue and Learning: Notes on an Emerging Person. In Mercer, N., Hodgkinson, S. (EDs.). Exploring talk in schools: Inspired by the work of Douglas Barnes (pp. 91-114). Thousand Oaks, CA: Sage.
Berk, L. E., Mann, T. D., & Ogan, A. T. (2006). Make-believe play: Wellspring for development of self-regulation. Play= learning: How play motivates and enhances children’s cognitive and social-emotional growth, 74-100.
Bodrova, E. (2008). Make‐believe play versus academic skills: a Vygotskian approach to today’s dilemma of early childhood education. European Early Childhood Education Research Journal, 16(3), 357-369.
Chaiklin, S. (2003). The zone of proximal development in Vygotsky’s analysis of learning and instruction. Vygotsky’s educational theory in cultural context, 1, 39-64.
Goncu, A. B. (1992). Some contributions of Vygotskian approach to early education. International Journal of Cognitive Education and MEdiated Learning, 2, 157-153.
Göncü, A. (1993). Development of intersubjectivity in social pretend play. Human development, 36(4), 185-198.
Goncu, A., Abel, B., & Boshans, M. (2010). Chapter 2; the role of Attachment and play in young Children's Learning and Development. International Handbook of Psychology in Education (pp. 35-72). Emerald group publishing limited.
Moran, S., & John-Steiner, V. (2003). Creativity in the making: Vygotsky’s contemporary contribution to the dialectic of creativity & development. In R.K. Sawyer, V.John-Steiner, S.Moran, R.J.Sternberg, D.H. Feldman, J. Nakamura et al.(Eds.) Creativity & development. (pp.61-90). New York: Oxford University Press.
Leont'ev, A. N. (1981). Activity, consciousness and personality. Eaglewood cliffs, NJ: Prentice Hall.
Newson, & Newson. (1975). Intersubjectivity and the transmission of culture: On the social origins of symbolic functioning. Bulletin of British Psychological Society, 437-446.
Piaget, J. (1962). Play, dreams, and imagination in childhood. Play theory, 89-187.
Sawyer, R. K. (1997). Pretend play as improvisation: Conversation in the preschool classroom. Psychology Press.
Scarfe, N. V. (1951). A Handbook of Suggestions on the Teaching of Geography (Vol. 10). Unesco.
Smilansky, S., & Shefatya, L. (1990). Facilitating play: A medium for promoting cognitive, social-emotional and academic development in young children. Psychosocial & Educational
Trevarthen, C. (1979). Communication and cooperation in early infancy: A description of primary intersubjectivity. Before speech: The beginning of interpersonal communication, 321-347.
Vadeboncoeur, J. A. & Collie, R. (2013). Locating social and emotional learning in schooled environments: A Vygotskian perspective on learning as unified. Mind, Culture, and Activity, 20(3), 201-225.
Vygotsky. (1978). Mind in society: the development of higher psychological process; . Harvard University Press.
Vygotsky, L. S. (1990). Imagination and creativity in childhood. Soviet psychology, 28(1), 84-96.
Vygotsky, L. S. (1998). The problem of age M. Hall, Trans. The collected works of L. S. Vygotsky, 5, 187-205.
GOAL: To determine that children are involved in imaginary play because their experiences and interactions are a vital part of their cognitive and social development.
Introduction
Imaginary play is defined as the performing of stories that engage a child’s ideas, emotions, and use many perspectives. Creative play is important in childhood and is an essential component even in adulthood. Play is a process of education for the mind and a creative method that ensures that individuals can achieve maximum wisdom and knowledge. Adults’ role in the promotion of play is undeniable and teachers play a vital part in endorsing play within the classroom setting Neville Scarfe (1961) “Play is vital to all humanity. It is a human research activity which is the finest system of education known to man” (Heather Edmonds, 2013). Children learn through play including the social and cultural values that affect their psychological and physical health of children.
Play
Play is a vital activity for childhood and some actions found in play also have personal spirit as an essential ingredient which is also be found in adulthood. Play can be considered the most accomplished development of education, and teachers have an important role for the development to take place. Play is a spontaneous process that is carried out for pleasure and satisfaction by the child seemingly; however it holds specific developmental strategies to regulate learning and activity of the child both at pre-school and elementary levels. An adults’ role in the promotion of play is undeniable. Among adults, teachers play a vital part in endorsing play. The cultivation of creativity during a child’s early school years is of prime importance, and this leads to the development of an effective learning environment for them.
Play is characterized as an impulsive, imaginative, and a predictable exploration that is experienced for the benefit of pleasure. It can be questioned if play needs to be chosen or directed because the creative, spontaneous and desired activity sometimes leads to anti-social behavior. In the classroom a teacher has a part in guiding children to determine the activity. Play cannot be gauged, evaluated or graded the way work is measured within the linear scale starting from zero to infinity. The objectives for play are to develop pleasure, desire, and purpose that are educational and valuable for physical and cognitive development. The outcomes that are achieved through play based activities can be used to determine how play is evaluated.
Play can be defined as a part of child development that is intrinsically motivated through an activity in which variations are made by children to have fun and not complete serious goals. However, reviewing the meaning of play defines its’ role as not simply for the achievement of fun.
There are two fundamental inquiries about the role of play for pre-school aged children. How does play contribute to early childhood development? Secondly, what do these developmental activities in the form of play do? According to Vygotsky (1966), play has been designated as the “finest form of education” and for children it is a way of discovering and experimenting with their concept of self and how they relate to the world and others.
Evolution of play
Play emerges as the child grows, ss infants they focus on the objects they use for play. Later they are motivated by communication between people, or things, and this new information is used for social interactions. As children get older they transition to more complex play and start to use the symbolic application of props.
In mature play, children give different meanings to objects and persons in make-believe scenarios. When children pretend, they concentrate on an object's abstract traits rather than its actual features. They create novel uses for familiar toys and props when the play situation requires it. Sometimes children explain the absent prop by using words and movements. They become cognizant of different symbols that will help them in the future when they begin learning letters and numbers. Children are likely to play board games and sports more as they grow older. The “built-in” rules in this type of play help to build social competency and self-regulation as the rules cannot be negotiated, discussed or changed. A child’s foundational abilities may not be developed thoroughly if immature play is completely replaced by sports or other mature play (Vygotsky, 1978); (Piaget, 1962).
The evidence from research indicates that play contributes to vocabulary, verbalization, attention, imagination, curiosity, problem solving procedures and participatory attitude development. Research has linked play with a children’s ability to understand academic instructions in terms of numeracy and literacy.
Creativity
A beneficial practice within education is the use of creativity, and it can be developed in all levels of play. There is an important connection between education and creativity. Play is accepted as an essential element in classrooms during the pre-school and Kindergarten years. Unfortunately, it tends to be overlooked in the elementary to adolescent years, even though all ideas are effectively adapted through creativity.
A positive characteristic about play is that it engages the inner nature of a child and develops their attitude, emotions, and character. Education and play expand between intellectual involvement and emotional activity (Scarfe, 1951). A complete education is one that affects the processes of emotions and this is possible through the creative and artistic elements of play.
Children can effectively support their thoughts and emotions through play and as a result develop a positive relationship towards their learning and education. Play ideas planned by children in collaboration with their teacher ensures them that their ideas are valuable. It is important to establish a safe and caring environment that is inclusive for all and that promotes learning, happiness, empathy and kindness through play.
The tasks may include giving attention equally to every child, so that they may gain proximal psychological and physical development. The role of the teacher is to provide activities according to the needs of the individual child and to meet the objectives of the curriculum; this can be achieved through inquiry based learning in collaboration with play.
A teacher’s guidance is more effective when it focuses on the procedure instead of the product. Planning together and informing the students about the goals and objectives of the activity is helpful. It is beneficial to use an Inquiry based model to guide the students to achieve their goals by interacting and communicating through play based activities. This focus on the process helps children build upon their own knowledge and guarantees them that their teacher will be present throughout their activity (Goncu A. B., 1992).
Adult and child collaboration in play
Supporting the interactions between children and adults involved in play, are necessary to understand the learning within their creative play. Two reasons have been defined by academics; first the initiation of the learning process occurs once children begin to feel safe within the adult and child relationship. Secondly, the connections are empirical and theoretical concerning play for the adult-child relationship to teach cognitive reasoning to those involved in the play activity.
Development and support of the roles within play are accomplished by allowing children to participate in pretend play and these actions allow them to act out roles and engage with adults in their play activity (Goncu, Abel, & Boshans, 2010).
An experience of subjectivity is created by an adult interacting with a child in play based roles and activities. Adults do this by showing a response to the children involved in their activity and this creates motivation and enthusiasm to increase interactions together. The collaborations between adults and children increase by discussing each other’s contribution towards the play partner (Trevarthen, 1979). A child’s sense of identity, feelings about themselves and others are developed by their ability to share attention, interactions, and their attitudes. Interpersonal feelings are created as a result of children’s experiences in response to adults in an empathic or positive manner. However, children who are overlooked or not treated with understanding by adults can develop feelings and emotions that are comparable to isolation and loneliness. “Feelings surface in relation to what counts, or is valued, as learning, the value of learning it for me, specifically the role it plays in my life and how it changes me as a person once I have learned or failed to learn. Elation brought about by doing well on a test, shame and doubt brought about by failure—students learn quickly they are either capable or not of succeeding in the different knowledge subjects that make up schooled environments”.(Vadeboncouer and Collie, 2013).
A child’s ability to learn and develop cognitively through play is dependent on their adult-child relationships’ attachment. This is required by children in order to gain security and physiological regulation at a satisfactory level. This interaction facilitates the child and motivates them to engage with the world and people around them; in addition to objects and play activities that are part of their environment. Early child caregiving attachments are able to prepare them for them for the advancement of future relationships and education.
Vygotsky explains the interactions between teaching and learning relationships connecting children and their teachers. These adults are inclined to share their methods of interaction to their children, and smooth the passages for the children’s learning during that particular phase of learning and in the future. The relationships established can be for a short period or within a limited context. Therefore, this aspect has a vital implication on the relationships made by children with adults as well as peers. This social system allows children to get support and security from the adults that they interact with for assessment and learning, even during times when they are not attached.
Conceptual Framework
The significances of play for the development of children have been emphasized by many theorists. Consistence with the theory of Piaget, play leads to the ‘Functional assimilation’, where action schemes are acquired for the exploration of objects like making multiple interesting things using play dough. The consequences of activities are reorganized both during the symbolic and functional play as well as the child seeking the logic of mastery and happiness that a child can experience by testing their skills through the environment (Goncu, Abel, & Boshans, 2010).
Vygotsky emphasized the consequences of development influenced by play under the heading “play is the leading edge of development”. Through play a child tends to interpret the meanings and notion of the things related to their experience that are not actually happening in their real life. The inclination that a child cannot realize leads them to an area of illusion and enables the child to be guided according to the rules. Children comprehend the idea of learning within play. Through the enactment of the situation imagined within the zone of proximal development, it is easy for a child to understand the significance of play. Vygotsky stated that any form of complex thinking primarily appears in social communication with children and any other interactive people within society. Then it develops within the child as a social capacity or skill. Children are inclined to expand their thinking after they begin to think with words. Language is defined as an essential tool to guide and manage a child’s thinking and behavior. Vygotsky (1930-1935), stated that development is promoted by the communication of children with the mature members of their culture that provide the child with more experience within their proximal zone of development. This refers to a Vygotskian concept that the tasks that can offer an accurate challenge in which the child is able to achieve their own social support (Newson & Newson, 1975). Subjectivity is selected as a social support as children attain communication skills.
Vygotsky described make-believe play as the foundation in early childhood experiences to develop self-regulation. The abundance of dialogue is the part of make-believe that enhances the developmental outcomes of play. His observations about play revealed that his views supported the formation of proximal development. The distinctive features asserted by make-believe play designate it as unique to the experiences of children, and this leads to their development. Vygotsky concluded that there exists a unity rather than an identity among the learning and development process. He believed “with collaboration, direction, or some kind of help the child is always able to do more and solve more difficult tasks that he can independently” (Vygotsky, 1987, p. 209).
He proposed an association between imagination and reality. Imagination is created by the use of materials provided by realism (Vygotsky L. S., 1990). The defining elements that can combine to create elements of imagination, and are absent from realism are connected. These creative inspirations are essentially imprints of the real world.
Play also assists the child in constructing symbols that enables them to develop their language (Vygotsky, 1978). To express and represent their reality, a child starts to move away from their actual environment. Symbolic play can facilitate a child’s attainment of words through symbols (Leont'ev, 1981).
The significance of play and child development is not limited to intellectual and verbal development. Clinical sources demonstrate evidence that play has positive implications on the emotional lives of children, and assists in their treatment effectively (Goncu, Abel, & Boshans, 2010). Similarly, Clark (2003) illustrated the optimistic examples of play used for the care of troubled children, concluding that play is helpful in coping with problematic situations for the child. Play results in effective benefits and alterations of character for the child (Clark, 2003).
Alexander presented evidence of the changes that occur through the process of child development. He proposed that teacher and child collaborations result in dialogue related to ‘speaking’ (Alexander, Talk for learning: the first year, Northallerton: North Yorkshire County Council, 2003). Teachers should provide sufficient thinking time for children to reduce the pressure on their minds for quick responses. This results in children taking risks, responding with confidence and helping their peers instead of competing to search for the correct answer. Children and their teacher engage in reflection and questioning strategies that expand ideas. A result of their time to collaborate ideas and thoughts children listen to the discussions in the classroom more attentively and respectfully discuss and listen to their classmates. His idea is that children then become skilled at talking when they are given the opportunities to expand their competence. This leads to an inclusive culture within the classroom that supports positive interaction between classmates rather than promoting competition.
In another project, he described the role of teachers similar to the ideals of Vygotsky (Alexander, Teaching Through Dialogue: the first year, 2005). Teachers who create their questions more carefully, assist children with the ability to recall information, encourage logic and speculation. The interactions between the students and their teacher increase and the answers given by the students are only repeated for building upon knowledge; and the student responses to the questions become more diverse. This model of collaborating ideas through dialogue develops student interaction with their classmates, and motivates them to ask more questions.
Implications and applications
Certain elements of children’s play have been defined in theoretical claims and have been used by the researchers to validate the influence pretend play has over a child’s development. Repetition has been stated by many academics as vital for the process of play, and it also leads to variation. This is called ‘improvisation’ to highlight that children are creating versions of play on the basis of their experiences like adults (Sawyer, 1997). This action of improvising, and modifying experiences help children to manage their anxiety and unhappiness. Another characteristic of play is exaggeration, the actions and experiences are modified by children. Children tend to manipulate the time and space in their acts of play, engaging themselves to rewrite and reverse the scenario according to their desires. Both exaggeration and manipulation lead to the development of skills that are involved in problem solving that may be used in real life settings.
Research has illustrated the influence of play on the development and learning methods of children for the acquisition of skills. The outcomes have provided practical data that offer suggestions to link the impact of play on the development and adaptation of these skills. Play is regarded as the activity that is based on exploration, and it is the most influential means to enable children to implement and practice for formal education.
For Vygotsky, the education of young children is the initial step in a lengthy process. This is a process where children are involved in acquiring concepts to advance their higher mental functions, which are acquired from interacting with people in the child’s world. Current research on play maintains the value of adult-child play interactions for the psychological growth of the child. It is essential for educators to question the links between pretending, intellect, and communicative development all throughout life. Imaginative thinking and the formation of innovative ideas and concepts have significance to the individual or others, as well as the advancement of these ideas and theories from thought to authenticity. Vygotsky suggests that the creativity of a child and the growth of their cognitive functions are developed from existing systems associated with the speech of the child, communication, social activity and consciousness within their surroundings. Creativity through play is very unassuming it only requires imagination and time.
A teacher has to contemplate the needs of each individual child. An educator’s role is to learn to be flexible enough to allow for a range of collaborations that focus on the affective, safety and cognitive needs of the children. In schools, these ideas are frequently stated unfortunately, they are often not implemented effectively. Teachers should take a primary role in helping children to develop and preserve mature play. Some teachers get involved in the child’s play activity so much that the activity turns out to be purely adult directed. Perceptive teachers are inclined to limit their interventions only in situations where there are fights or miscommunication. The possibility of extensions of their imagination from play is directed by the children. It is therefore, the responsibility of the teacher to keep a balance among mature play by maintaining that it is child initiated play.
Family involvement in school assists in bridging the gap between home and school. Discussing school events and maintaining the interest of children are partnerships that establish a level of trust and mutual understanding and establish the purpose of school so that children are fully engaged in the school community and classroom and activities. Adaptations can be suggested from the families to ensure safety and development from the outcomes of play. Direct communication with the parents is beneficial as they are sources of information about the child and this will enable educators to understand the requirements of their student as an individual.
Daily observations of the children will give an awareness of their cognitive and social interactions with others. This information assists the teacher to incorporate a child’s experiences with their activities at school. This also ensures a secure environment for the child and that their interactions are important.
Educational implications
In the past, children were involved in mature play by interacting with in their own family or with multi-age children in their neighborhood. Teachers need to take the lead to help children progress and retain mature play. Teachers can keep a balance by encouraging mature play and keeping it created by the children, and offer support for every type of mature play.
Create imaginary scenarios and multi-purpose props to help the children to invent imaginary situations. Some children will not be able to make their own props, teachers can organize multipurpose props with realistic ones to encourage play and then eventually provide more unstructured supplies. Teachers and students can brainstorm to discover more strategies to assist the children in maintaining the imaginary place.
Teachers can work in small groups to brainstorm with the children how different simple objects can be used in a variety of ways in play. Encourage children to bring in one object from home and describe how they will use it as a prop. For example, a hair brush can be a microphone. The students will bring in their props and take part in a show and tell. Teachers should always encourage children to use both actions and words to describe how they will use the prop in a creative way.
Integrate a variety of themes and play to guide the children and brainstorm together to increase their knowledge about the roles and dialogue needed. Teachers can incorporate field trips, stories, games and movies to expand the children's range of play themes. Discussing new roles, language, and activities will assist the children to recreate later in their play.
Teachers can encourage mature play by assisting children to plan play in advance. Planning helps children communicate about the roles and describe what the person in each role can and cannot do. Children benefit most from planning in advance and recording their plans by drawing or writing. Children who put effort into planning their future play tend to extend their chosen play theme and are able to maintain focus and not be distracted in their school setting.
Applications in my teaching practice
There is so much evidence supporting play, what has happened to education and how did it shift so far off the play based classroom model? The ways that children develop their time in imaginary play has shifted over the past 60 years, and as a result there is also a dramatic change in children themselves. Commercialization is one reason that imagination has become limited. The increase in structured play has affected children's private speech, which is defined by Vygotsky as a method of self-directed dialogue: talking to oneself in silence. This decline is inner speech is creating a decrease in language. Children's play has become increasingly engrossed in classes, leagues, and toys that confine imaginative play.
Parents are increasingly worried about safety, classes that foster a safe, and controlled environment have become the norm. Rock climbing gyms, wave pools, and gymnastics, these create a safety hub for children. They also provide a sense of immediate gratification and accomplishment for parents who increasingly worry about achievement.
The importance of self-regulation is a critical skill for children. Unfortunately, many children occupy their time with three things: viewing television, playing video games and going to lessons. These activities do not encourage self-regulation and children never get the opportunity to practice monitoring their actions.
I have taught the Students with E.S.L. summer program for 5 years. We do go on a field trip daily and the students are very active and playing. I realize that I have declined into the category of those teachers who control and organize play for the students, and give them little opportunity to plan their own play based activities. The importance of creative imagination for my teaching practice is more evident to me, as it develops from children’s play into a greater intellectual purpose. I will modify my summer program and review my teaching practices so that I may integrate imaginary play for the students. The following is from the Vancouver School Board it is a course description for the summer program that I will be teaching in Vancouver it is for English as a Second Language students.
Every Day Active English on the Go (Grades 2-6) Improve your English language skills by interacting with people in the community& with classmates. In this class you will be physically active, attend field trips, and learn the vocabulary connected with real world places like parks, beaches, and museums. Your grammar & fluency will improve as you learn English the way native speakers learn. Bring your bathing suit, walking shoes, and your lunch- 30 minute lunch time is included.
I will engage in discussions with the students and their parents about my goals for creating imaginative play with themes, roles and props with the students. The emphasis placed on imaginary play will become a foundation for planning and creating along with the children. We will develop a strategy to provide our summer classroom with more props. Class time will be set aside to discuss and plan in small groups and inspire all children to create their own symbolic props both at school and at home. These small group activities will need collaboration and student planning, and peer conversations before, during and after we create our make-believe props.
On the first day I will read the book ‘It looked like Spilled Milk’ by Charles G Sharp with the students. The beauty of this book is that there are no wrong answers, just the imaginings of the children as they look at the illustrations which are creative black and white shapes.
- students will go outside and lay on their backs outside on the grass field and look for shapes and colors in the clouds, they will be encouraged to take part in the cloud walk about where you show and tell a partner what colors, shapes or objects you saw in the clouds
-Students will write and/or draw in their daily Journals what they saw
-children will be given different colored paper, white paint and scissors to paint or cut and create clouds or shapes
-Day 2 the children will be shown some of Matisse’s art work. They will explore and look at a variety of materials and objects in the classroom they will choose 1 or 2 to keep and write and/or draw in their Journals about how they will transform and create a make-believe prop
-we will have a basket of large colored scarves and the children will be encouraged to run outside and twirl and play with them, will they join with a friend, or be an animal, or a plant?
-children will sit together and talk in small groups about the symbolic prop they created from their scarves
-Day 3 following 2 days of introducing and guiding the students to make creative props I will ask them to choose a theme in small groups and I will get out of their way and let them learn, imagine, and create their own designs and engage in imaginary play
- Days 3 through 7 when student arrive in the morning at 8:30 a.m. they will have the opportunity to create and make props with a variety of objects and materials that will be in the classroom, most of the objects will be re-cycled. They will also be given the gift of time to play with their make-believe props.
-Days 3 through 7 we will go on a daily field trip and visit various places in Vancouver parks, beaches, hikes, and museums. Each day when we are out in the field I will encourage the children to look for and collect objects that are unusual or found in nature to transform into creative props. I will continue to provide a variety of opportunities for the children to collect objects and develop their imaginary and sustained play for school and home; that will last for a few hours, or can be extended for the entire week.
-Day 7 we will have a sharing of creative props and use a recipe that the students created to prepare a nutritious lunch together. The students will also shop for the ingredients together.
Conclusion
Integration of play in the class room
In conclusion, the research reviewed by Berk, Mann & Ogan, (2006) and Hirsh-Pasek, Golinkoff, Berk, & Singer (2009) state that make-believe games suggest the ability to self-regulate including reduced aggression, delay of gratification, civility, and empathy. Once children use toys to characterize likely situations or friends, the show of multiple perspectives happens naturally. Experiencing various roles gives children the opportunity to learn social skills like communication, problem solving, and empathy (Hughes, 1999).
The cultivation of creative play for children of all ages is essential and much needed in schools. This will ultimately lead to the development of an effective learning environment. This is an important outcome that benefits all students and it is achieved through play. The act of simply experiencing creativity and fun through play is decreasing from many children’s lives and schools. Educators and parents feel pressured to evaluate children at young ages, and these standardized tests destroy a child’s enthusiasm for learning. The world’s conventional education systems deplete creativity and discriminate against children with diverse abilities. Future jobs will want young adults who are creative, confident, self-reliant, and who have good social skills.
To implement the goals that learners will need for the workplace teachers require an environment where they have the freedom to give less structured lessons and offer students broader ownership over their learning. Emphasis must be placed on developing meaningful skills for each student, while improving the use of global resources. The process of education through play emerges and provides a curriculum for children to introduce themselves to others and the outside world. Children also use this association as a tool for the connection and development of their culture.
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