PLAY: Serious Business for Learning

Too many parents consider play as simply a means of diverting and distracting their children. Play-things are often seen as a means of keeping children happy, quiet, rewarding them for good behavior, keeping them out of mischief, and giving parents free and quiet time.

Not often enough do parents think of play and toys as fundamental aspects of a child's (and adults, for another article) education, as a means through which children learn to understand the world around them, how things work and as the primary method by which children acquire many basic skills and coordination.

Parents can help make play time stimulating by doing three things.

Parents can adopt an attitude of conscious, deliberate planning in which play is regarded as one of the most important aspects of their children's environment.

Parents can see to it that their children are provided with the kinds of toys and play-things that will help develop the widest possible varieties of skills, imagination, coordination and abilities.

Parents can assume a direct, participating role in their children's play. Yes, actual interaction with your children!

Planning play time does not mean planning each activity for every moment of every minute of every second of the playtime. On the contrary, children should have maximum independence in choosing their own activities, within the limits of the daily routine of the home and school, a child should also choose the time for their activities, as well as the duration of each. Good planning makes sure that play is as varied and stimulating as possible.

A child should play at different times, with friends, with parents, and by themselves. This play should include but not be limited to, all or most of the following types of activities, each geared to the age level of the child.

Here are 5 suggestions:

1. Games:
Games are perhaps the most basic of all forms of play and learning, both for children and adults alike. From peek-a-boo to chess, from monopoly to baseball, games occupy a central role in the lives of most children and adults from infancy to adolescence to adulthood. Everyone loves to learn while having some fun. Games may be physical or mental or a combination of both that develops hand eye coordination in which some video games provide. In general they involve the development of skills and some lead to the acquisition of information.

2. Arts and Crafts:
Arts and crafts give children many opportunities to express their desire to create, develop and make things. Crayons, paints, clay, construction paper, scissors and paste, wood, leather, felt, and cardboard are among the materials that help children develop their creative imaginative and aesthetic abilities. Arts and crafts also develop skills in manipulation, perception, creativity, imagination and analysis.


3. Construction Play:
Construction play involves assembling objects from what are usually prefabricated parts. It is less creative than arts and crafts, but is also useful in developing many skills. Putting together a set of railroad tracks and trains is a form of construction play, as is play with erector sets, Tinker toys, blocks, Lego and the like.

4. Projective Play:
Projective play is play in which a child adds dramatic and emotional meaning to activities with representative toys like dolls, trucks, soldiers, homemaking sets, stuffed animals, and doctor kits. Its great value lies in the role-playing done by the child rather than in the development of specific skills. Adapting to new roles and taking on the responsibility of that role are extremely important in a child’s development.

5. Hobbies
Hobbies that cannot be otherwise classified will generally fall under the heading of collecting activities. Collecting stamps, coins, rocks and minerals, butterflies and insects, sea shells, comic books, baseball cards, bottle caps or even leaves are all common and popular hobbies. While some help in the development of certain skills, their greatest value is in the considerable knowledge a child can acquire in pursuing them.

Most play can be classified in one of these five groups, and, ideally, play should include all of these types. Also, as skills develop, the activities should move to a higher, more mature level.
However, a child does not automatically vary his play or develop in it. This is where the parent's planning comes in -- continually making the child aware of the broad opportunities available to them in play; initiating certain activities during play-time; making suggestions when the child needs and wants them; buying toys that will, in themselves, lead to new pursuits; stimulating new interests and ideas in any of a variety of ways.

Remember a parent should not manage the play, but should try to nudge it in the right directions.