Learning Through Play

How children learn and What they learn - which is more important?

A play-based curriculum is now widely considered to be the most appropriate approach for facilitating young children's learning and development.

The Early Years Foundation Stage (EYFS), declares that "all areas (of learning and development) must be delivered through planned, purposeful play, with a balance of adult-led and child-initiated activities.”

Play In Childhood

Play by definition is a child-friendly activity – children play instinctively and drive a great deal of pleasure from it. Play is an intrinsic part of childhood and is bound up with the concept of what it means to be a “child”. However, for professionals (and parents) the key issue is not so much should children play, but rather how and what will they be learning?

“Process versus product” is an interesting pedagogical debate, and early years theorists have argued that curricular driven by outcomes and attainment, are overly narrow and less effective than those which value the journey and foster lifelong learners.

The Unique Child

Approaches that emphasise the learning process are also likely to value the uniqueness of children – the notion that individual children have the right to learn in a way that suits them (direction, pace, interests and so on). These play-based perspectives seek to build a curriculum around the child, as opposed to making the child fit the curriculum. Indeed, approaches such as Reggio Emilia, deem the child to be “the curriculum” in essence, rather than viewing the curriculum as a separate, externally imposed entity.

Play, when allowed to flourish through imaginative, thoughtful provision, can of course facilitate both the process and the product. Children who enjoy a rich and diverse range of opportunities (to explore, discover, talk, take risks, make choices, solve problems and use their imagination) are more likely to develop desirable skills, attitudes and knowledge, than children whose learning potential is restricted by highly prescriptive activities based on a narrow set of learning outcomes.

What Do Children Learn Through Play?

Playtime can be a wonderful opportunity for children to learn to focus their attention and build self-confidence and self-esteem.

Research has told us that while it may appear that all children are doing is playing for fun, it is actually a much more important part of a child's developmental process. Playing is a very natural way for children to learn because it uses all of their senses. Playtime is also a cognitive learning exercise where children practice taking in information and organizing it to solve problems and understand their environment.

Although it is important to let children play alone. There are many things that adults can do that will help our children build confidence, self esteem, focus their attention and improve their language and motor skills by interactively playing with them. These skills do not always come naturally and parents need to be taught how to be a good play partner.

Watch and Learn

The first step to becoming a good play partner is to observe our child's play patterns while concentrating on what they like to do in specific ways. For example, what types of toy does your child choose to play with the most? Does your child like to figure out how it works or use the object to build something else? Often parents get in a hurry and don't take the time to sit back to watch and learn.

Focus On Their Ideas

After observing, it is time for parents to start playing with their child. One of the biggest mistakes parents make when playing with their child is to dominate their play. For example, If a child is building a tower from building blocks and you know the tower is to narrow and is going to fall down, it is instinctive for parents to take over. Parents will want to help reinforce the tower or show their child how to start over with a wider base to create a strong better tower.Adults may think this helps teach their child good building skills but it can also be damaging.

When we take over a child's play we can send a negative message to the child that their way was the wrong way and their efforts were not good enough. Perhaps your child was not trying to build a big strong tower but rather looking forward to watching it crash! To be a good play partner you have to focus on THEIR ideas, not your own! When joining our kids playtime ask questions like "What would you like me to do?" and follow their lead.

Developmentally Appropriate Practices : Right For All Kids

Developmentally appropriate practices (DAP) describes an approach to education that focuses on the child as a developing human being and life long learner. This approach recognized the child as an active participant in the learning process; a participant who constructs meaning and knowledge through interaction with others, friends and family, materials and environment. The teacher is an active facilitator who helps the child make meaning of the various activities and interactions encountered throughout the day.

Developmentally appropriate practices require teachers to make decisions in the classroom by combining their knowledge of child development with an understanding of the individual child to achieve desired and meaningful outcomes. The term developmentally appropriate practices was popularized by the National Association for the Education of Young Children (NAEYC).

NAEYC developed the position statement to support its early childhood program accreditation system, which acknowledges and endorses programs offering appropriate early childhood practices. With this system, early childhood educators can have a clear sense of appropriate early childhood practices. This way they might not use inappropriate developmental and academic expectations to prepare children for public school kindergarten programs.

Early Childhood Education

Early Childhood Education refers to the combination of physical, intelligence/cognitive, emotional, and social learning of a child during the first six to eight years of her life. This time period is widely considered the most vulnerable and crucial stage of a person's life.

Early childhood education often focuses on guiding children to learn through play. The term often refers to preschool or infant/child care programs.

There are several types of programs that represent early childhood education. They are also known by a variety of names, including pre-school and pre-kindergarten (pre-K).

The Days Of Kids

Today is the day of kids
Which are our future, as they shape the world.
The world depends upon the kids
Who are our future, as they will direct the actions, which the world should take.
Today is the day of kids, the future of this world.

By Rohit Sapra