Sara smilansky stages of play

DISCUSSION Developmentally Appropriate Practice

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Supporting Play and Learning During Early Childhood

Chapter Learning Outcomes

After reading this chapter you should be able to

· Differentiate play from other activities and explain why it is a natural, essential element of childhood

· Define classical theories and research related to play

· Define contemporary theories and research related to play

· Identify various characteristics, benefits, and types of play

· Describe the teacher’s role in supporting children’s play

Introduction: Play—Its Purpose and Importance
lay, the cherished pastime of childhood, is more than a pleasant way to while away the hours when we are young. Play is an integral part of growth and development

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(Elkind, 2004). Play provides children with thousands of naturally occurring opportunities to stretch their minds and their bodies. Each playful moment allows children’s brains to make essential connections among their experiences, thoughts, and feelings. It adds to their general understanding of themselves and the world around them. Through play, children learn at their own pace—taking in and processing just the right amount of sensory information they can handle at that point in their development. And, “Research shows the links between play and foundational capacities such as memory, self-regulation, oral language abilities, social skills, and success in school” (Copple & Bredekamp, 2009, p. 14). This chapter will discuss and demonstrate these claims and show how to apply them in center and classroom.

Because of its enduring presence over time and across cultures, arriving at a broadly accepted definition of play is a challenge. It may be that play is so diverse and dynamic that no one definition can capture its true nature (Brown, 2009). For the purposes of discussion, we will employ the definition offered by Joan Brooks McLane (2003): “. . . freely chosen, engaging, pleasurable activities, which may or may not include elements of pretend” (p. 2). In addition, the term unstructured play will be used to represent play that is child-directed without demands from others.

5.1 Characteristics of Play
Section 5.1 Characteristics of Play CHAPTER 5

Section 5.1 Characteristics of Play CHAPTER 5

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umerous specialists

from the fields of education, psychology, soci-

ology, anthropology, and even zoology have written about the characteristics of play. Most concur that child play, in its purest form, is freely chosen, pleasurable, and intrinsically motivated (Isenberg & Quisenberry, 2002).

Because play is a voluntary act, children have the freedom to momentarily create and selfdirect their own flexible realities that are not bound by the realities of the physical world. As such, play is non-literal and often includes elements of make-believe or fantasy (Vygotsky, 1978).

Children of all ages use sticks in both solitary and group play, where they represent endless possibilities of objects during make-believe play.

Design Pics /SuperStock

Whether or not play includes make-believe elements, it can be undertaken as a solitary or social activity. As a solitary activity, play allows children to experiment, imagine, and reflect within the moment (Saskatchewan Online Curriculum, 2010). When playing alone, children are able to indulge their own impulses and fantasies without fear of censure or disapproval from others.

As a social activity, groups of children engaged in play sustain a mutually agreeable scenario through communication, invention, and negotiation. Within the play scenario, a social dynamic evolves that allows participants to sustain their activity for a time, making adaptations along the way (Lester & Russell, 2010). Play disbands naturally as children lose interest or no longer find the activity pleasurable or satisfying. Table 5.1 provides a summary of the general characteristics of play.

Table 5.1: Characteristics of play
Play is. . .

Play is not. . .

Freely chosen

Forced

Pleasurable or satisfying

Unpleasant

Intrinsically motivated

Extrinsically motivated

Process-oriented

Product-oriented

Self-directed

Directed by others

Non-literal

Literal

Dynamic and flexible

Static and inflexible

Open-ended

Closed-ended

Free from stress

Stressful

Interesting

Uninteresting

Although there are many types of play, all play shares some of the same characteristics.

Differentiating Play From Other Child Activities
Professional organizations for educators, as well as the American Academy of Pediatrics (AAP), have for some time made public position statements about the importance of play in the lives of children (Isenberg & Quisenberry, 2002). In response, high- quality programs for young children have instituted a healthy balance of child-directed and teacher-directed activities. However, differentiating between play and other activities can sometimes be tricky.

Consider, for example, the case of three-year-old Barney, who is sitting at a small round table pounding a mound of yellow modeling dough repeatedly with a small wooden mallet. Is Barney playing? Or is he practicing his fine motor skills and eye-hand coordination at the teacher’s request? Let’s observe Barney’s situation more thoroughly and see what we can determine based on some guidance from Bodrova and Leong (2003). Try asking yourself their following guiding questions.

Who is in control of the situation? Did the child make a choice to engage? First, Barney chose the Art Area over all others. Once there, he chose the modeling dough table over painting easels, puppet making, and drawing. Taking a closer look at Barney’s table, we see various modeling dough tools such as cookie cutters, carving sticks, cutting wheels, and at least three other types of wooden mallets. We also see other tubs of modeling dough. So, Barney definitely chose to pound yellow modeling dough with the small, flat mallet.

Why is the child engaged? Is the child playing for the sake of play or for external reward? Is Barney expecting a “sticker” or some other reward? No, Barney just really likes the “whackwhack” sound the mallet makes on the dough and he also likes to watch the fat mound of dough become flatter and flatter as a result of his efforts.

Is the child getting pleasure or satisfaction from participating? From the look on his face and his cheerful sound effects, you can see that he is getting a lot of satisfaction from his actions and accomplishment. In fact, as soon as the dough is really flat, he peels it off the table, wads it back into a lumpy mound of dough and repeats the process again.

Are restraints imposed by adults and the environment intruding on the situation? There is a time restraint. Self-selected center time lasts about 45 minutes to an hour. However, children can stay with the same activity or change activities as they choose. So far, Barney has been engaged in the same activity about eight minutes. Barney smiles at the teacher as she walks by and says, “I am making this dough flat, flat like Flat Stanley!” The teacher smiles back and says, “You certainly are,” and tells him he can bring the Flat Stanley book to afternoon story circle if he likes.

Personal Learning Insight 5.1: Differentiating Play From Other Activities

Based on the details provided, would you consider what Barney is doing child-directed play or teacherdirected activity? Verify your answer by referring back to the basic definitions of play or by reviewing Table 5.1: Characteristics of play. What answers would confirm the child’s activity as play? What responses would be indicative of activity that is not play? Next time you are in an early childhood classroom, use Bodrova and Leong’s four guiding questions to differentiate play from other types of activities.

Now that we have considered what people in our era define as play, we will take a look at the ways in which theorists and researchers have theorized about the topic, starting with the so-called classical theories, those that have provided the historical foundation for today’s thinking.

Section 5.2 Classical Theories About Play

5.2 Classical Theories About Play
ecause child play is a universal phenomenon across all cultures of the world, past and present, many individuals have theorized about the nature of play (Carlson,

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2011a). See, for example, what some notable figures throughout time, such as Froebel, Dewey, Einstein, and Vygotsky, have said about play in Table 5.2.

Table 5.2: Quotations about play
427–347 BC

Plato

Greek Philosopher

You can discover more about a person in an hour of play than in a year of conversation.

1782–1852

Friedrich Froebel

German Educator

The most natural child activity is play.

1859–1952

John Dewey

American Educator

Play is a form of thought for children, which then becomes internalized.

1879–1955

Albert Einstein

American Physicist

Play is the highest form of research.

1896–1934

Lev Vygotsky

Russian Psychologist

In play, a child always behaves beyond his average age, above his daily behavior. In play, it is as though he were a head taller than himself.

1903–1990

Bruno Bettelheim

American Child Psychologist

It [play] is also his [the child’s] most significant tool for preparing himself for the future and its tasks.

1924–

Brian Sutton-Smith

American Play Theorist

The opposite of play is not work. It’s depression.

1931–

David Elkind

American Psychologist

Play is not only our creative drive; it’s a fundamental mode of learning.

1944–

Joan Almon

American Educator

Creative play is like a spring that bubbles up from deep within a child.

2003–

Amelia

American Third Grader

Play is fun, fun, fun for me!

Describing play has been a pastime for many great thinkers over the centuries.

Although today none of the classical theories of play is regarded as sufficient to define what play is and can do, they all have offered some basis for more modern ideas.

German playwright and philosopher, Friedrich von Schiller (1759–1805) speculated that play exists because it allows children to rid themselves of excess energy, which frees their artistic, creative, and spiritual natures (Frost, Wortham, & Reifel, 2012).

To this, Herbert Spencer (1820–1903) added that, long ago, humans expended most of their energy to acquire food and shelter. However, life in the modern world does not require the

CHAPTER 5

Section 5.3 Contemporary Theories About Play CHAPTER 5

Section 5.3 Contemporary Theories About Play CHAPTER 5

same level of action; therefore, play allows us to rid ourselves of the surplus energy once needed for survival (Elkind, 2004).

German philosopher Moritz Lazarus (1824–1903) suggested play as recreation or relaxation that invigorates or restores energy expended through work (1883).

G. Stanley Hall, founder of the Child Study Movement, suggested that, by engaging in activities no longer necessary for survival, or “recapitulating” them, play provides individuals with opportunities to rid themselves of such skills.

Playing “chef” in toy kitchens is popular with children as an activity that mimics adult behavior.

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Zoologist Karl Groos (1861–1946) concluded that play among young animals and humans is preparation for adulthood with its imitations of adult behavior (Elkind, 2004).

5.3 Contemporary Theories About Play
oth classical and modern theories of play tend to view it as a naturally occurring behavior, but modern explanations are more pragmatic (Elkind, 2007). Many contemporary theorists suggest that play provides children with multiple opportunities for growth and development across all domains. Play affects the whole child by providing avenues through which they:

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· develop their body and brain,

· express their feelings and desires,

· use their imagination to create, and

· learn about themselves and make sense of the world.

Because play represents such a broad array of behaviors, contemporary research usually focuses on one or more specific aspects. Each of the studies provides valuable information about some aspect of play, but none provides a comprehensive explanation of play. Thus, individuals who work with children need to keep the holistic nature of play in mind as they use research-based findings to add to their understanding of child development.

Theories Related to the Stages of Play
Piaget’s Stages of Play
Although Piaget is most well-known for his theory about the stages of cognitive development, which were discussed in Chapter 3, he also investigated the development of children’s play behaviors. Piaget stated, “Practically every form of psychological activity is initially enacted in play” (1967, p. 23). Piaget described three stages of play, each coinciding with a cognitive stage (Piaget, 1962; Piaget, 1967).

During the sensorimotor stage, infants and toddlers engage in practice or functional play consisting of repetitive movements and exploratory actions and frequently involving play with objects.

Children in the preoperational stage engage in symbolic play. During symbolic play, children use actions and objects to represent their personal ideas or mental images. As children have increasing experiences in the real world, they construct robust schemas that fuel their imaginations and enhance their abilities to symbolically represent their ideas. As children engage in symbolic play, they feel a sense of control over their experiences because they are able to represent reality from their egocentric perspectives (Piaget, 1962).

The last stage of play identified by Piaget is the games with rules stage, which begins during the latter part of the preoperational stage or early in the concrete operational stage. During games with rules, children play with others and in rule-governed games and learn to regulate their behaviors to comply with the rules and to share mutual obligations for their play (Piaget, 1967). You will learn more about games with rules later in the chapter.

Sara Smilansky (1968), an Israeli psychologist best known for her pioneering work in aiding disadvantaged children to learn to play more effectively, expanded on Piaget’s observations of early functional play. Like Piaget, Smilansky noted that this type of play emerges during infancy and occurs when infants use their senses and muscle movements to observe and manipulate objects. Functional play is essentially physical exercise, which then influences cognitive development. Initially, play behaviors are unintentional but become repeated patterns of behavior as infants gain enjoyment from their own physical actions. For example, four-month-old Alyssa may reflexively grasp a rattle that has been placed within her reach. She will stare at the novel sight and, in so doing, move her arm toward her face to get a closer look at it. As she moves her arm she hears an intriguing sound and turns her head toward it. Eventually, she figures out that the sound happens whenever she moves her arm. If Alyssa likes the auditory sensation, she attempts repetitions of the behavior, enjoying both the muscle movement and the sensory result.

Parten’s Categories of Social Play
As a sociologist, Mildred Parten (1932) believed that through playful social interactions children learn “. . . norms, rules, and cultural patterns” (p. 137). Based on her observations of preschool free play, she sorted children’s behaviors into six categories of social involvement:

· unoccupied behavior,

· solitary play,

· onlooker behavior,

· parallel play, • associative play, and

· cooperative play.

According to Parten (1932), infants and preschoolers sometimes demonstrate unoccupied behavior when they are not involved in play or any other activity. At other times, infants and very young children engage in solitary play, when they play alone without involving others. Parten also identified a non-play behavior that approaches social involvement. Onlooker behavior occurs when a child watches others play but remains uninvolved for the most part. The next level identified by Parten is parallel play, which occurs when two or more children play beside or near each other but remain individually directed. Around age three, children begin to engage in associative play in which two or more children interact or converse while playing, but not inside the same play scenario. For example, two children might be playing near each other in the block area, but their socialization occurs due to their proximity to the blocks and not because they have shared play goals or scenarios. The most advanced social category identi-

Clapping games are an example of cooperative play because children need to agree upon the rules for it to be successful. Can you think of other examples of cooperative play?

Digital Vision/Getty Images

fied by Parten (1933) is cooperative play in which two or more children engage together in a shared play scenario with mutually decided rules.

Based on her research, Parten noted that children, despite their age or capabilities, frequently elect to play at lower levels of social participation. She also noted that as children get older, their tendency to play in larger groups increases (1932). Early childhood teachers can use their awareness of the social categories of play not only to observe and assess children’s social competence, but also to incorporate indoor and outdoor play opportunities that promote socialization.

In the following sections, we look at theories pertaining to specific domains of development and include the benefits of play to each.

Theories That Focus on Physical Development
Physical play primarily involves the senses and motor skills and is for the sake of activity and movement (Trawick-Smith, 2010). One subcategory is object play, involving sensory observations and manipulation of objects using fine motor skills. A second subcategory is motor play, which involves use of the large muscles of the arms, legs, and torso.

Play With Objects
According to Piaget (1967), play with objects helps young children extend their physical knowledge of the world. He observed that, from infancy, children actively engage with objects out of innate curiosity and with minimal adult guidance. Their learning results primarily through direct experience, trial-and-error, and practice. As children gain further understanding of objects through sensory exploration and physical manipulation, they develop abilities to differentiate objects by sorting, sequencing, and classifying. Children also learn to recognize and produce patterns of objects.

Motor Play
Motor play provides children with experience in using and gaining control over their bodies (Carlson, 2011a) and a means of expending energy stored up from long periods of inactivity. During early childhood, children typically engage in two types of motor play— structured and unstructured. Structured motor play is generally more teacher-directed with group games or physical education classes, whereas unstructured motor play would be more spontaneous and natural such as a spur-of-the-moment game of chase. Carlson (2011a) suggests that “big body play” provides a kinesthetic means of learning, especially critical during early childhood.

Through motor play, children gain practice with locomotor skills such as walking, running, jumping, hopping, leaping, galloping, and skipping. They also have opportunities to use the large muscles of the torsos and arms, which prepares them for motor skills such as throwing, catching, and batting. Additionally, active play helps children build stamina and endurance, strength, coordination, balance, and flexibility (Trawick-Smith, 2010).

The National Association for Sport and Physical Education (NASPE, 2009) offers guidelines for physical activity for children from birth to age five through its Active Start program. Guidelines for infants and toddlers include daily playful physical interactions with caregivers in both structured and unstructured environments. These physical interactions are important for typically developing children as well as young children with special needs. NASPE guidelines are also available for children from ages 5 to 12 years.

Rough-and-Tumble Play
Rough-and-tumble play generally refers to motor play that may have the appearance of aggression to outside observers while the children are aware they are engaged playfully. Most forms of active motor play require close and nearly constant supervision, and this is particularly true for rough-andtumble play (Carlson, 2011a; Carlson, 2011b). Stuart Brown, founder of the National Institute for Play, worries that “In preschool, the natural mayhem that 3-5 year olds engage in (normal rough and tumble play)

Rough-and-tumble play—when properly monitored—can be a healthy and fun part of young children’s physical development.

fStop/SuperStock

is usually suppressed by a well meaning preschool teacher and parents who prefer quiet and order to the seeming chaos that is typical of free childhood play. . . . When there are smiles and continuing friendships, rambunctious play is healthy” (Adelsick, 2010, p. 2).

Physical Benefits Provided by Play
Neuroscientists have suggested that active play is necessary for healthy brain growth. According to Trawick-Smith (2010), active playful encounters with caregivers are particularly important for infants and toddlers with special needs. Physical play not only strengthens muscles but also stimulates brain activity, which leads to higher levels of interest and curiosity that perpetuate more playful attitudes. During the preschool and school-age years, children need to engage in physical activity and play daily in order to remain healthy and alert. Not only do they get stronger and build stamina, they also improve their balance, posture, coordination, flexibility, and awareness of what their bodies can do.

Theories That Focus on Psychological Development
The concept of play as an avenue for expressing feelings and desires, and venting frustrations and disappointments, comes from psychoanalytic theorists such as Sigmund Freud, Erik Erikson, and Anna Freud.

According to Sigmund Freud, play and dreams are forms of wish fulfillment, providing altered psychological states in which unacceptable feelings and thoughts, wishes, and desires can be expressed safely (Elkind, 2004). Hence, play is therapeutic, relieving anxiety and resolving emotional conflicts.

Psychologist Erik Erikson viewed play as a vehicle through which children can transmit their inner feelings into actions to dramatically represent the past, the present, and the future (Erikson, 1963). This outward expression of the “inner life” helps reduce children’s fears and anxieties (Bettelheim, 1976). In addition, play offers children multiple opportunities to authenticate life roles and experiences through socially acceptable pathways.

Freud’s youngest daughter, Anna Freud, extended her father’s conception of play, creating a psychological treatment for children called play therapy. She suggested that play was not only a form of wish fulfillment and mastery, but also a means of defense against emotional displeasure and pain (Freud, 1936). Through fantasy play, children are able to deal with, and sometimes resolve or deny, the psychological distress created by traumatic experiences in their lives.

The focus on understanding children’s inner lives through play therapy has extended to today. Leading American play therapist Garry Landreth (2005), commenting on his efforts to understand the full inner child, has said, “I think that if I can help to build a relationship with the child and make contact with the inner child, then the child will begin to internalize a different perception of self. I think that if I respect the child, the child then will come to respect herself. If I begin to respond to the child as being adequate, the child will begin to see herself as being adequate” (np).

Psychological Benefits Provided by Play
Freud suggested that play provides a natural mode for emotional healing. Because play episodes can be reenacted without fear of real-life consequences, children are able to test alternative responses and develop plans for coping with stressful or hurtful realities. Through the fantasy of play, children are able to stand powerful in the face of challenging situations and come away triumphant.

Play specialists suggest that play provides children with a means of coping with stress and, thereby strengthens their emotional resiliency. Play also elevates the mood and initiates a return to optimism and positive outlook (Trawick-Smith, 2010).

Theories That Focus on Cognitive and Language Development
Play as Support for Development of Both Body and Brain
Many aspects of play are known to improve cognition and memory. For example, motor movements, such as those associated with physical play involving the large muscles, release brain chemicals that energize the body and the brain, and also improve mood (Jensen, 2005). Therefore, motor activities such as running, jumping, and climbing positively affect children’s academic performance, classroom behaviors, and attitudes (Norvell, Ratcliff, & Hunt, 2009–2010). Findings such as these are counter to conventional wisdom that argues for keeping children inside and working more, and therefore need to be remembered by teachers and emphasized to parents.

Play as a Creative Medium That Promotes Cognitive Development
This scene from “Bridge to Terabithia,” shows how make-believe play stimulates creativity and evolves into a spectacular realm of fantasy and role playing.

Buena Vista Pictures/Everett Collection

The concept of play as a creative medium has been expressed by both classical and modern play theorists. Foremost among these modern theorists are Russian psychologist, Lev Vygotsky, American interpreters of Vygotskian thought Elena Bodrova and Deborah Leong, and American early childhood educator, Vivian Gussin Paley (1929– ). Dramatic, or makebelieve play has been observed by each of these as powerful not only for expanding creativity, but cognitive development as well.

Vygotsky described makebelieve play as the creation of imaginary situations, in which

players take on and act out roles, using symbolic representation to transform the function of objects (Vygotsky, 1978). He suggested that such play was a natural pathway to learning (Bordrova & Leong, 2003). The intellectual freedom created by make-believe play opens boundless opportunities for language and thinking that are no longer restricted by the physical world. When pretending, children can be other people or objects and look at situations from inside the make-believe roles being portrayed. Their powerful imaginations are demonstrated by the multitude of fantasy scenarios that evolve as they play.

Play as a Vehicle for Discovery and Learning
From infancy onward, humans learn about their world through making its objects their toys. In doing so, they develop their cognitive capacity along with physical, emotional, and social understanding. Accepting play as an appropriate avenue for cognitive school- or center-based learning has been a recurring theme throughout the history of early childhood education. Many notable early childhood educators have expressed their beliefs and demonstrated through their practices that play is the primary vehicle for learning during the first five years of life (Rogers, 2011; Saracho & Spodek, 2003).

Play as a means of learning is also a recurring theme in many contemporary curriculum approaches as described earlier with examples such as Creative Curriculum, High/Scope, and Reggio Emilia. As David Elkind notes, “Clearly, play serves a very different function for children than it does for adults. For children, it is a way to learn about self and the world through self-created experiences” (Community Playthings, 2009, p. 2). Therefore, early childhood educators should take care not to confuse child-directed play with playful learning activities initiated by well-meaning adults. Even though adults may confuse the two, young children do not, and will state that play is what they themselves invent, not what teachers tell them to do, no matter how fun.

Early childhood educator, Vivian Gussin Paley used audio recordings to document preschoolers’ pretend play. Paley was impressed with the creative original stories children would tell and retell based on their make-believe play episodes (2004). She observed two integral aspects of story-based play: storytelling, or dictation, and story acting, or dramatization (Cooper, 2005; Dombrink-Green, 2011). Make-believe play, particularly when coupled with storytelling and story acting, naturally scaffold children’s emerging literacy and general cognitive development as well as their self-regulation and overall social- emotional development (Cooper, 2005; Cooper, 2009). Paley argues that storytelling and story acting are essential instructional strategies in early childhood classrooms.

Bodrova and Leong (2005) are in agreement with Paley’s views, with research and writing that applies Vygotsky’s thought to today’s early education. They agree with Vygotsky that imaginative play takes children into the upper level of their zone of proximal development (ZPD). This happens as youngsters learn play behaviors from older or more competent children and it instigates cognitive development. A positive side-effect is an increase in self-regulation, an important step from Vygotskyans’ point of view, for continued cognitive development. A kindergarten example given by Bodrova and Leong (1998) is of a child who is unable to restrain herself during circle time, continually speaking out. During dramatic play, however, she behaves like a model student, raising her hand when she needs to speak. This play behavior, the authors say, will lead to improved behavior

in actual circle time. Such self-regulation will be necessary in coming years as the child engages in school learning such as group discussions and reflective thinking.

Cognitive and Language Benefits Provided by Play
Play has a way of translating children’s thoughts into actions—and their actions into thoughts. Children gain experience traveling between tangible encounters and mental representations of those encounters. Sometimes the thoughts (mental representations) precede the actions (play); and sometimes the actions (play) contribute to their understanding of objects and events.

Consider Luis and Paulo, second graders who recently accompanied their teenage cousin to a neighborhood fair. Among the many wonders the boys observed was a local rock band performing on a makeshift stage. The flamboyant performer captured their attention and they enjoyed listening, cheering, dancing, and singing along. During recess on their first day back at school, the boys raced to the top of the playground climber, grabbed their “air” guitars and began to perform, mimicking the facial expressions and body movements of the guitarist while making guitar sound effects. Luis and Paulo were able to translate their thoughts and memories of the guitarist’s performance to actions, symbolically representing their experiences through their play.

Pretend play gives children opportunities to use problem solving and their imaginations to transform their environments as necessary to sustain their play scenarios (Elkind, 2004). Additionally, memory and attention are enhanced as children maintain their play roles through internal focus (Lester & Russell, 2010). In fact, brain research indicates that play is an essential behavior for making permanent neurological connections in the brain (Jensen, 2005; Shore, 1997).

Play also supports the development of language skills including better verbalization, richer receptive and expressive vocabularies, and use of more complex sentence structures (Olfman, 2003). Pretend play extends children’s abilities to use situation-specific language as they engage in role-play that requires them to stay in character to sustain the play scenario. For example, a group of children pretending to be in a pizza parlor might have to role-play customers, food servers, and cooks. Each role brings a different perspective to the “dining out” scenario and children adjust their voices, word choices, sentence structures, and body language to carry out the roles successfully.

5.4 Three Types of Play Common to Center and School
s we have seen, play holds a host of benefits for young children across the cognitive, psychological, and physical domains of development. In the words of James

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L. Hymes, “Play that is beneficial to children is play that is active, creative, and social, engaging the body in fine and gross motor development, and the mind in negotiation, problem solving, imagination, and flexibility” (Frost, 2010, p. 202). The following examples of types of play can fulfill all of Hymes’s criteria for beneficial play.

Symbolic and Dramatic Play
The basis for dramatic play is children’s ability to engage in symbolic play. As we have seen earlier, this ability typically begins in late infancy when babies pretend that one familiar object is something else, a wooden spoon for a baby bottle, perhaps. As they get older, these abilities increase. For example, children might pretend a wooden spoon is a magic wand; or they may simply use a gesture or movement, such as flick of the wrist, to symbolize the wand. Yet other children might use sound effects or words, such as abracadabra, to represent the wand in their pretend play. That is the magic of pretend play; the only limit is the imagination. And, fortunately, imagination is a boundless, renewable resource of mental energy.

Most play experts agree that play involving imaginary elements holds many benefits for young children. Imaginary play was dubbed symbolic play by Piaget (1962), make-believe

Section 5.4 Three Types of Play Common to Center and School CHAPTER 5

Section 5.4 Three Types of Play Common to Center and School CHAPTER 5

Section 5.4 Three Types of Play Common to Center and School CHAPTER 5

play by Vygotsky (1978), and fantasy play by Bettelheim (1976), while many early childhood experts use the term pretend play. All four terms are used in this book.

Younger children often rely on realistic play props to support their emerging pretend play episodes. They tend to imitate people and experiences from the real world through play (McClellan & Katz, 2001). Consider an open-ended play prop—the ordinary cardboard tube that remains when all of the wrapping paper is gone. Preschool-age and kindergarten children are able to use their imaginations to turn those long tubes into fishing poles, oars for rowing boats, telescopes, cannons, magic wands, tunnels (for little cars), monsters’ arms, and, of course, light sabers. Through the use of body language, expressive language, dramatic voice, and vocalized sound effects the children’s dramatic play scenarios come to life (DeSouza & Radell, 2011; Isenberg & Jalongo, 2010).

With maturation and experience, children’s abilities to improvise and create robust imaginary play scenarios increase. At this point, children benefit more from open-ended props, such as the blue swatch of cloth at the center of Field Notes 5.1.

When playing superheroes, children creatively use miscellaneous items as play props in order to make their costumes.

Associated Press

Field Notes 5.1: The Blue Swatch of Cloth

It was a simple thing really; just a one-yard long swatch of blue cloth left over from some long- forgotten home improvement project. I stuck it in my book bag. I figured I would find some use for it at preschool. It lay forgotten in the school bag for several days, when a child noticed a corner of cloth peeking out one morning. “Mrs. Allen, what’s that blue thing in your bag?,” Gretchen asked. “It is just a piece of cloth I brought from home,” I answered. “Would you like to play with it?” Gretchen nodded excitedly and I extracted the cloth from my bag. “Here you go,” I said. “Have fun.”

Gretchen grabbed the cloth and headed off toward the Dramatic Play area with a smug smile on her face. Less than a minute later, Gretchen had the cloth wrapped like a blanket around a baby doll. After putting the doll in the toy baby buggy, she happily pushed it around the classroom stopping frequently to let other children admire her “baby,” and announcing to whoever was listening, “It’s a boy. His name is Benjamin.”

At clean-up time, Gretchen brought the cloth back to me and asked what to do with it. I responded, “Let’s just keep it in the Dramatic Play area, shall we?” Gretchen shouted, “Super,” over her shoulder and raced back to the center placing the cloth in a basket full of dress-up clothes.

Over the next week, that simple swatch of blue cloth became Yolanda’s bridal veil, Tommy’s magic carpet, Ahmad’s ocean (which was filled with imaginary pirate ships), and Molly’s super hero cape. My classroom was filled with toys and dramatic play props of all kinds and the most requested item had become my blue swatch of cloth.

Looking at the Field Notes carefully, it can be seen that pretend, or symbolic, play was definitely in evidence. Because preschool children have typically reached Piaget’s preoperational stage, this is to be expected. However, the children’s experiences did not quite approach what we would call dramatic play. Dramatic play, like pretend or symbolic play, involves use of the imagination not only to transform objects and actions, but also to sustain role-play (Smilansky, 1968). As children mature, their symbolic play can become quite complex and involve elaborate play scenarios and diverse roles.

When two or more children engage in the same dramatic play episode, they are engaging in socio-dramatic play (Smilansky, 1968). Socio-dramatic play is the most complex form of dramatic play and requires cognitive abilities such as problem solving, perspectivetaking, oral language skills, and imagination. Socio-dramatic play also requires children to engage in social interactions not only as themselves, but also as those roles they are pretending to be.

Smilansky and Shefatya (1990) conducted cross-cultural research and compared the play behaviors of young children in two countries—Israel and the United States. The focus of the research was to examine children’s abilities to engage in dramatic and socio-dramatic play and also to identify connections between those abilities and children’s subsequent academic performance. Based on their research, Smilansky and Shefatya concluded that abilities associated with socio-dramatic play stimulate both social and cognitive development in children, which, in turn, contribute to their later academic success in school. Smilansky went on to develop a form of “play tutoring” to support children’s involvement in dramatic play (Olfman, 2003). She identified six elements that were necessary for high-quality dramatic and socio-dramatic play:

· make-believe role play is part of the play scenario,

· ordinary objects are transformed into items needed for the play scenario,

· vocalizations or verbal descriptions sometimes take the place of actions or situations,

· the play scenario lasts at least 10 minutes,

· at least two players interact within the play scenario (socio-dramatic play only), and

· some verbal interaction between players is involved (socio-dramatic play only).

Socio-dramatic play provides children with open-ended opportunities to make choices, solve problems, improvise, discover new ideas and interests, and develop confidence in their abilities. As well, socio-dramatic play quite naturally reflects children’s own cultures, including interactions with materials and use of language, particularly if their caregivers and teachers provide them with those materials and the freedom to bring their home language.

Pretend play draws from children’s prior experiences and offers benefits to their future experiences as well. Real-life experiences that are rich with sensory impressions and meaningful conversations ignite the imagination and stimulate pretend play (Elkind, 2007; Rogers & Evans, 2008). Consider, for example, the scenario presented in Field Notes 5.2.

Field Notes 5.2: Smell the Roses

Five-year-old Mai Li decided to tag along with her father when he went to the flower store to purchase flowers for her grandmother. It was her first visit there, and, Mai Li was amazed by the wonderful smell of so many flowers. A pretty woman wearing a dark green apron with large pockets approached Mai Li and her father saying, “Welcome to the Flower Shoppe. May I help you?”

As the woman and her father spoke, Mai Li wandered around the crowded shop, peering closely at the colorful flowers and other interesting items. Mai Li’s father called her name and asked if she would like to help choose which color roses to buy her grandmother. Mai Li knew roses could be pink or red but she had had no idea they could be white, or yellow, or that peachy color. “The peachy ones!” she said excitedly. “Grandmother will love the peachy ones.” As she carried the carefully wrapped bouquet of roses out of the shop, she couldn’t help but sink her nose into the rose petals to get another whiff.

Most likely, Mai Li will soon be telling her mother and grandmother about her experiences at the flower shop and asking them to play flower shop with her. Her family members, who have had more experiences with flowers and flower shops, will help Mai Li enrich her pretend play as they share their knowledge and experience through the sociodramatic play scenario.

Reciprocal learning emerges from shared experiences as group members act as both learners and teachers. During socio-dramatic play, each person learns from all other play partners. Mai Li may not only relive her flower shop experience at home with family; she might also lead neighborhood or school friends in further socio-dramatic play. As a result, Mai Li’s conceptual knowledge of flowers, flower shops, and gardening will grow and her language and vocabulary will be extended (Smilansky & Shefatya, 1990). According to Vygotsky, pretend play naturally places children in the zone of proximal development (ZPD) where they not only receive scaffolding from play partners, but also scaffold others (Berk & Winsler, 1995).

Constructive Play
According to Smilansky (1968), constructive play is undertaken by children because they desire to produce some type of product or structure. Therefore, constructive play is considered to be goal-directed play. A wide variety of materials can be used for construction such as large or small wooden blocks, boards, and plastic blocks or shapes. Constructive play has characteristics of both play with objects and symbolic play. Sometimes children build just for the sake of assembling a structure. Other times children’s constructive play becomes symbolic as they build houses, skyscrapers, corrals, and other buildings. Both types of constructive play can be enhanced with props such as wooden or plastic action figures, vehicles, road signs, or trees. As they become more experienced at construction, children apply planning and problem solving

Constructive play not only allows children to accomplish a goal, it enhances their cognitive and motor skills.

Associated Press

and become quite innovative.

The way children play with construction materials may differ

according to gender, especially

in kindergarten when boys and girls begin most noticeably to identify with their gender’s biological development and the customs and stereotypes of their culture. Field Notes 5.3 demonstrates the ways in which one teacher attempted to deal with this aspect of her children’s development.

Field Notes 5.3: Dolls in the Block Corner?

Every morning during free play, Ms. Lam’s kindergarten boys headed straight to the block corner to create ever more complex and huge structures. Meanwhile, across the room, the girls participated with equal enthusiasm in creating household dramas with a variety of materials. Concerned about gender stereotyping, Ms. Lam decided to try shaking things up a bit by moving the girls’ preferred materials adjacent to the blocks. This had absolutely no effect as each gender continued to ignore the other.

Ms. Lam then tried a class discussion focused on why the girls never played with blocks and the boys rarely participated in family drama. Everyone looked blank until Melinda said, “The boys never let us play there.” The boys responded indignantly and invited the girls to play with them any (continued)

Field Notes 5.3: Dolls in the Block Corner? (continued)

time. The next day, only Paige took them up on the offer, but she was soon defeated by the boys’ general rowdiness. Charles, meanwhile, joined the girls as “father” in their game and seemed relieved to be in a quieter place.

Another meeting was called for. This time, the class decided that one day a week only girls could play in the block corner and only boys could play in the dramatic play corner. The designated Thursday arrived and Ms. Lam reminded the children of the new plan. The girls headed quickly to the blocks and, just as quickly, grabbed a few dolls to place in cradles made by slapping three or four blocks together. They then went about their dramatic play. Meanwhile, the boys wandered aimlessly around the room, finally settling on some unenthusiastic play with Lego blocks.

When it was time for a debriefing of the morning, everyone agreed that they knew where they wanted to play and they wished Ms. Lam would just let them. She regretted admitting defeat, but agreed with their request. It was, after all, supposed to be freely chosen play.

Now, here is your opportunity to respond to this story:

Personal Learning Insight 5.2: What Would You Do?

Ms. Lam never did figure out what she should have done. Some teacher friends argued that she should continue fighting cultural stereotypes. Others believed that it was important to let children of this age engage in play that helped them understand better their own identities. What is your view on this? And what would you do next?

Games with Rules
Games with rules typically involve at least two children, a game that includes some element of chance or challenge, and rules that are predetermined or negotiated before play begins. Piaget (1962) suggested that games with rules require the ability to view situations from more than one perspective; therefore, children are not fully prepared to play them until they reach the concrete operational stage. Thus, caregivers and teachers of younger children should offer, instead, play opportunities with no winners and losers. Musical chairs, for example, can be played without removing a chair; races can be run just for the joy they produce, and board games left open to ongoing rule changes. See Field Notes 5.4 for one second-grade teacher’s annual solution to children’s development related to this issue.

Field Notes 5.4: A Relay Race for Everyone

Angela is a second-grade teacher who long ago learned that each year would require careful observation of the children’s development into the concrete operational stage. This not only applied to the cognitive aspects of learning, but to playing games as well. Relay races seemed the best way to introduce children to games with rules because there was enough noisy activity involved that those who cared about rules could obey them and those who didn’t could avoid them.

Here is how it was usually set up: Having announced what the relays would include—usually hopping, skipping, backwards running, and forward running—Angela laid out just a few clear rules to remember. There was a clearly marked starting line and a traffic cone at the far end for turning around. Teams were evenly divided, both in numbers and by gender.

And here is how it usually worked out: Children newly interested in rules monitored their line to be sure no one got in the wrong place. They visually checked the far end to be sure that people went all the way around the traffic cones. The children who were not ready for games with rules had more trouble remembering if they were supposed to hop, skip, or run, but the “monitors” always knew and would yell corrections. At the end of the relays, those interested in rules were also interested in which team had won. The other children expressed little interest.

Angela found that every year the entire experience was the same. The only difference was in when she sensed the children were ready to move into games with rules. The earliest was the second month of school; the latest—a particularly difficult year for children socially—the end of the eighth month.

5.5 The Teacher’s Role in Supporting Play
arly childhood educators wishing to support children’s play need to first be aware of societal factors placing child-directed play at risk. Second, they should be able to differentiate play from other types of children’s activities. Third, they need to understand and employ a variety of strategies that support and extend children’s play every day in both indoor and outdoor learning environments. And finally, teachers of young children need to become play advocates and convince others that play is essential to children’s development, learning, and general well-being (Lester & Russell, 2010).

E

How Play is at Risk in the Twenty-first Century
For most of the twentieth century, children in the United States had frequent opportunities for unstructured or free play (Chudacoff, 2007). As the twentieth century came to a close, many of those opportunities for free, unstructured play had been replaced by formal play activities arranged by families, schools, and other organizations

According to the American Academy of Pediatrics (AAP), children seem to have fewer and fewer opportunities to engage in free play in their neighborhoods and schools. For example, in fewer than 20 years (1981 to 1997), unstructured playtime for children decreased about 25 percent in the United States (Ginsberg, 2007). Experts attribute the reduction of playtime at home and school to a combination of societal factors including:

· hectic family schedules (Ginsberg, 2007),

· apprehension about children’s safety (Chudacoff, 2007),

· substitution of entertainment for play (Elkind, 1989),

· availability of passive pursuits (television, computer games, etc.) (Ginsberg, 2007), and

· increased emphasis on academics over play at younger ages (Bodrova & Leong, 2003).

As a result, scheduled, and often competitive, play events such as organized individual and team sports, specialized lessons in dance and music, and other adult-selected activities swallow up the time previously spent in carefree childhood pursuits from playing with dolls to chasing imaginary dragons through the nearby fields.

Serious concern over the loss of child-directed play and school recess time, and increased awareness of the potential for detrimental effects on children’s physical and psychological health, is evident in a clinical report released by the AAP (Ginsberg, 2007). The AAP report included the following advice to pediatricians, “. . . promote free play as a healthy, essential part of childhood [and] recommend that all children are afforded ample, unscheduled, independent, nonscreen time to be creative, to reflect and to decompress. . . . emphasize that although parents can certainly monitor play for safety, a large portion of play should be child driven rather than adult directed” (p. 187).

A major concern for the twentyfirst century has been, and will continue to be, the increasing time spent by children interacting with various screens rather than with each other, especially outdoors. Chapter 9 treats this topic in depth. Here, we con- Recess is often the only part of the school day when children are sider a second major twenty- allowed to play uninhibited and to socialize. All other activities, first century concern, the disap- no matter how fun, are typically teacher-directed. pearance of recess.

Photographer’s Choice/Getty Images

Losing Recess: Why It Matters
Rae Pica, long-time physical activity specialist, suggests seven reasons why children need recess . . . even, she says, the ones who are kept inside for misbehavior (2012):

· Young children need frequent breaks from learning due to their immature nervous systems and lack of experience in concentrated learning.

· Children who don’t get recess are less on-task during learning, spending more time fidgeting. Those with attention deficit disorder are at special risk.

· Outside light triggers the synthesis of vitamin D, which increases academic learning.

· Unstructured physical play reduces stress.

· Recess provides opportunities for socialization and real communication often not available in the classroom or in the neighborhood after school.

· Recess is necessary to help children be healthy and avoid obesity.

· Physical activity feeds the brain by providing oxygen, water, and glucose to it.

Supporting Play in Early Learning Environments
Finding ways to support children’s play in early learning environments, both indoors and outdoors, is an important skill for early childhood educators (Community Playthings, 2009). What can teachers do to support children’s play? Is there a magic trick or special recipe for supporting play in the classroom?

Though the answer may not be magical, there is a recipe of sorts—or at least five basic ingredients to consider when making intentional efforts to support children’s play. The ingredients include p articipation, a ttitude, s pace, t ime, and a dvocacy. See Table 5.3 and the following explanations to learn more.

Table 5.3: A teacher’s recipe for supporting play
P

Participation

Participate with children as they play. Observe children’s play as both a participant and a bystander.

A

Attitude

Value play through attitude and action. Think of innovative ways to extend children’s play experiences.

S

Space

Provide ample space for indoor and outdoor play. Design flexible environments that adapt to children’s spontaneous play.

T

Time

Provide sufficient blocks of time for play every day. Adopt a flexible schedule that supports spontaneous play.

A

Advocacy

Be a play advocate; convince others of the intrinsic value of play. Embed advocacy messages as you communicate with families.

Early childhood teachers who intentionally support children’s play do so through participation, attitude, providing ample space and time, and advocacy.

Participation
Participate with children as they play. Because play is a deeply personal experience for children, teachers can get to know each child as a unique individual through shared play while building a foundation for strong, enduring relationships. During self-directed playtime, children are at their most natural, without the pressure of meeting adult expectations. Adult participation in play supports meaningful conversations as well as opportunities to spontaneously model oral language (Singer, Golinkoff, & Hirsch-Pasek, 2006; Sutton-Smith, 1997). Children also benefit by broadening their awareness of the important adults in their lives.

During shared play experiences, it is important that adults are nonjudgmental in their comments and reactions to avoid inhibiting children’s freedom of expression and creativity. One way to do this is to take on the role of a minor character and then bow out when appropriate to the plot (Smilansky, 1968). Teachers can also participate indirectly by answering questions, asking open-ended questions, offering suggestions, and listening attentively to children as they share their playtime discoveries. Dramatic play offers an ideal time to scaffold children’s play from outside the play episode by helping children plan and carry out their pretend play scenarios and “try on” various roles (Bordrova & Leong, 2003; Bordrova & Leong, 2007).

Indirect participation in children’s play also offers teachers opportunities to closely observe and document children’s behavior and language use. Take a moment to read about three-year-old Angelica’s behaviors and language during a pretend play scenario. The observation reveals information about Angelica’s motor development, oral language abilities, and cognitive development of concepts, demonstrating again the various uses to which running records can be put.

Figure 5.1: Observation and documentation of child’s play using a running record
RUNNING RECORD FORM

NAME(S): Angelica Jerome

DATE:

TO 9:17

October 10

TIME:

9:06

CIRCUMSTANCES/LOCATION:

Dramatic Play area/free-choice time

OBSERVER’S NAME: Jake Rawlings

TIME

OBSERVED BEHAVIORS

COMMENTS

9:06

9:09

9:10

9:14

9:17

Angelica is standing beside a small table with a

clear oval-shaped tub filled half-way with warm

soapy water. She is holding a 10-inch plastic naked

baby doll by the top of the head with her left hand.

She is telling the doll, “Bath time is fun, Baby.

Mommy won’t let soap get in your eyes.” She lowers

the doll into the soapy water but the water only

covers the doll’s feet and ankles.

She lifts the doll out of the water and changes her

grip to hold the doll with both hands−one on the

doll’s head and one under the doll’s ankles. She

proceeds to lay the doll in the water on her back.

“That’s better, isn’t it, Baby?”

Angelica grabs a tiny sponge with her left hand and

“washes” the baby. She uses her right forearm to

hold the doll still. She says, “Wait right here, Baby.

We need soap.” She leaves the doll in the basin and

looks around for some “soap.” She spots a small

white wooden block and returns to the basin. As

she rubs the block over the doll’s abdomen, she

says, “Let’s wash the belly button.”

Angelica continues scrubbing the doll with the block

and sponge for about two minutes. Next, she rolls

the doll over until the doll is face down in the water.

She begins scrubbing the doll’s back. Grinning

broadly she says loudly, “All done!” She grabs the

doll by the top of the head again (left hand) and

carries it dripping wet to the doll cradle where she

lays the doll on the floor and uses a baby blanket

like a towel to dry the baby.

Angelica J. 3 years, 4

mos. Angelica’s right arm

is somewhat impaired by

Cerebral Palsy. She uses

her left hand for most

activites.

Based on one of the goals

on her IEP, we are trying

to provide opportunities

for her to use her right

hand (or arm) to assist

with manipulative tasks.

Used right hand (wrist)

under the doll’s ankles to

assist putting the doll in

the tub and right forearm

to anchor the doll when

scrubbing.

Was able to use the white

block to symbolically

represent the soap.

Her self-talk matches her

actions.

The whole “bathing the

baby” routine was carried

out independently without

any requests for

assistance.

Early childhood teachers use observations of children’s play to document information about their development, learning, and progress.

Another way in which teachers need to be observant is to sense and understand when flexibility of goals and objectives is called for. Field Notes 5.5 describes just such a situation.

Field Notes 5.5: Constructing Play Through Experience

The autumn air was crisp and invigorating as Mr. Cornelius and his 22 first graders walked to the nearby community park to collect natural items such as fallen leaves and seed pods for their classroom nature center. The materials would be used in several science, math, language, and art lessons over the next two weeks.

On the way back to school, several of the first graders noticed a fenced-off area where construction workers were busy preparing the ground for a new building. At first, the children’s fascination was focused on the yellow vehicles with the huge tires and other noisy equipment. After a few minutes, Mr. Cornelius made a few subtle comments about the construction crew and the children shifted their attention to include the people operating the machinery. Soon he was answering the children’s rapidfire questions about the construction site and listening to their speculations about what type of building would be constructed.

Mr. Cornelius told the class it was time to return to school or they would be late for lunch. In the cafeteria, the children talked more about the construction site than about the leaves and other natural objects they had collected.

That day and for the rest of the week, the children’s play episodes, inside the classroom and outside on the playground, centered on their new experience at the construction site. They showed interest in how buildings are made and the workers involved in the construction process. The block area was alive with children’s collaboration in a rich play scenario as they investigated the process, roles, and equipment necessary to construct a building. Their pretend play also pervaded the dramatic play area where the children found a plastic hard hat, a pair of work boots, and some woolen mittens to serve as work gloves. The art and literacy areas had somehow merged and small groups of children drew and lettered large signs like those observed at the construction site. The Library Pass was getting some action too as children requested the librarian’s help in tracking down books about building skyscrapers and other structures.

Mr. Cornelius couldn’t help smiling when two boys instructed him on how to put “tools” into his “tool belt,” assuming his interest in helping them. It looked like the leaves were going into the storage tub for a few days; the class apparently had some building to do.

Attitude
Value play through attitude and action. Establish an emotional climate that values play as a vital ingredient of a quality early childhood program. For example, intentionally arrange both indoor and outdoor spaces to invite play. Establish daily routines and schedules that are flexible enough to adjust to children’s spontaneous play needs. Talk about children’s play with family and staff members and show interest in hearing about children’s play at home and other places.

Experienced early childhood teachers who value play are quite resourceful when it comes to finding ways to extend children’s play experiences. McLane (2003) suggests asking the question, “What might the process of play do for the children in my classroom”? (p. 12). The following checklist provides some surefire suggestions for putting values into action:

· provide diverse experiences for children to inspire new play themes

· encourage imitative role play by drawing children’s attention to diverse roles associated with particular situations and environments

· promote interactions and collaboration among children and among adults and children

· help children locate objects as well as realistic and unstructured props to serve in make-believe capacities

· suggest and model verbal make-believe as substitutes for actions and situations

· model use of verbal communication to extend play scenario

· make children’s fiction and nonfiction books and magazines available to children

· be aware of human and environmental obstacles that might interfere with children’s opportunities to persist in pretend play and role play

Personal Learning Insight 5.3: Ways Teachers Extend and Enrich Play

Reconsider the previous example, in Field Notes 5.5, about the construction site and subsequent pretend play that took place in the classroom and on the playground. Identify ways the classroom teacher’s attitudes and actions supported and extended the children’s dramatic play. Use the suggestions from the checklist for extending and enriching pretend play experiences to guide your assessment.

Space
Provide ample space for indoor and outdoor play. Organize and equip learning environments based on children’s developmental levels and their interests. Make intentional decisions about how to optimize children’s play experiences and adventures (Kieff & Casbergue, 2000; McLane, 2003).

Design flexible play environments that adapt to children’s

By providing a flexible environment and storage for various play and learning materials, you will help your early childhood learners make the most of playtime.

spontaneous and creative ideas, while also considering safety and supervision issues. Provide nearby storage for the host of

Comstock/Thinkstock props, books, and resources that children might want to incorpo-

rate into their play scenarios. Mix it up—play with traditionally indoor materials outdoors and with outdoor materials indoors.

Section 5.5 The Teacher’s Role in Supporting Play CHAPTER 5

Section 5.5 The Teacher’s Role in Supporting Play CHAPTER 5

Section 5.5 The Teacher’s Role in Supporting Play CHAPTER 5

Chapter Summary

Time
Provide sufficient blocks of time for play every day and throughout the day. Based on her research, McLane (2003) notes there is sometimes a gap between what teachers say they believe about play and their actual classroom practices for supporting play. Therefore, it is important that the message about the value of play be reflected throughout the environment not only in its physical dimensions but also in its temporal dimensions. Highquality play requires large blocks of time with few interruptions. The actual amount of time depends upon the children’s ages, developmental levels, interests, and needs (Jones, 2011). Daily schedules should set aside designated time periods for play as well as time for transitions between play and other less active experiences.

Adopt a flexible schedule that supports spontaneous play. Teaching young children is a dynamic process because young children are lively and spontaneous. Each day they awaken with a whole new set of adventures awaiting them. Rigid, inflexible time schedules are seldom appropriate in early childhood learning environments. Instead, wellplanned schedules provide safe and predictable routines that can be tweaked as needed.

Advocacy
Be a play advocate; convince others of the intrinsic value of play. Arm yourself with information about the benefits play provides for children. Take time to continue to grow as a play advocate by reading about play in journals and books. Join an online discussion group on play advocacy through professional organizations for teachers. McLane (2003) cautions that many educators are not fully aware of the connections between play and development; therefore, it is difficult for them to convince others of the value of play.

Draw attention to children’s play-based learning and high-quality social interactions by displaying photographs of them playing and include captions quoting the children’s conversations and questions. Provide access to articles and brochures that tout the benefits of play. Include quotes from notable individuals, such as those listed in Table 5.2, in written messages and newsletters that are sent home with children. Find ways to share amusing or touching anecdotes about their children’s play in your daily face-to-face contacts with family members. Offer suggestions for extending and enriching play at home.

Finally, don’t forget to personally experience the benefits of play firsthand by playing! Play is important for all ages. Einstein (see Table 5.2) never quit, and any number of other researchers and theorists have made their best discoveries while playing (Wassermann, 2000).

Chapter Summary
primary aim of this chapter has been to argue for the importance of play in the lives of young children. Although research has demonstrated the many ways in which play provides developmental advantages for children, the politics and culture of the time construct many roadblocks to its presence in the home, center, and

A

Concept Check
classroom. Some of the points that follow are more than review; they are a call to advocacy on the part of caregivers and teachers.

· Even though an activity is fun and enjoyable, it is not necessarily play if it is teacher chosen and directed.

· Play is a freely chosen, pleasurable activity that may include elements of make-believe.

· Classical theories of play, while not currently accepted, provided the foundations for today’s research-based theories.

· Play is essential to children’s health.

· Play fosters children’s development physically, psychologically, and cognitively.

· There are many types of play including physical play, constructive play, and dramatic play.

· Teachers play an important role in supporting play by both their attitudes and actions.

Concept Check
1. Which of the following is NOT a characteristic of play?

A. Freely chosen by the child

B. Focuses on child completing a task

C. Pleasurable to the child

D. Child motivated intrinsically

2. Based on contemporary research on and ideas about play, we know that play contributes to several types of development. Of the types of development listed below, which would likely be the LEAST enhanced by play?

A. Physical development

B. Emotional development

C. Cognitive development

D. Mathematical development

3. If a teacher wanted kindergarten children to increase the fine motor skills of their hands, the teacher should encourage which one of the following types of play?

A. Socio-dramatic play

B. Rough-and-tumble play

C. Play with objects

D. Motor play

4. Identify the correct sequence of Parten’s categories of play that runs from the most interaction to the least interaction:

A. solitary play, onlooker behavior, unoccupied play.

B. cooperative play, associative play, parallel play.

C. associative play, parallel play, onlooker behavior.

D. parallel play, associative play, solitary play.

Key Terms
5. Which of the following types of play has decreased markedly over the last 20 years?

A. Individual lessons in physical activities

B. Organized individual sports

C. Organized team sports

D. Unstructured free play in wide-open spaces

Answers

1. B. Focuses on child completing a task. The answer can be found Section 5.1.

2. D. Mathematical development. The answer can be found Section 5.3.

3. C. Play with objects. The answer can be found in Section 5.3.

4. B. Cooperative play, associative play, parallel play. The answer can be found in Section 5.3.

5. D. Unstructured free play in wide-open spaces. The answer can be found in Section 5.5.

CHAPTER 5

CHAPTER 5

CHAPTER 5

Key Terms
associative play Two or more children interacting or conversing while playing, but not inside the same play scenario.

constructive play Play derived from the desire to produce some type of product or structure.

cooperative play Two or more children engaging together in a shared play scenario.

dramatic play Pretend play scenarios that involve role play.

fantasy play Play that includes imaginary elements and often includes role play (see make-believe play, pretend play, and symbolic play).

functional play Playful repetitive movements and exploratory actions that often involve objects.

games with rules Play that typically involves two or more individuals in games that include some element of chance or challenge, also including negotiated or predetermined rules.

make-believe play Play that includes imaginary elements and often includes role play (see fantasy play, pretend play, and symbolic play).

motor play Play that involves use of the large muscles of the arms, legs, and torso.

object play Play with objects that is exploratory and involves sensory observations.

onlooker behavior A child watching others play but remaining uninvolved.

parallel play A child playing beside or near another child without involving the other child.

physical play Play that primarily involves the senses and motor skills.

play Freely chosen, pleasurable recreational activities that may include elements of pretend.

play props Objects used to symbolically represent ideas or actions during pretend play.

Recommendations for Your Professional Bookshelf
pretend play Play that includes imaginary elements and often includes role play (see fantasy play, make-believe play, and symbolic play).

reciprocal learning Shared learning experiences where group members act as both learners and teachers.

rough-and-tumble play Motor play that may have the appearance of aggression to outside observers.

socio-dramatic play Pretend play scenarios that involve role play with two or more individuals.

solitary play A child playing alone without involving others.

symbolic play Piaget’s term for play that includes imaginary elements.

unoccupied behavior When a child is awake but not involved in play or other activity.

unstructured play Play that is childdirected without demands from others; also known as “free play.”

Reflection and Critical Thinking Questions
1. Think back to your own fond memories of play during your childhood. Did those play experiences reflect the characteristics of play identified in this chapter? Can you think of other characteristics of child-directed play that might be added to the list?

2. If children’s parents or family members asked you to justify why play is vital to early childhood development and learning, what would you say? Could you also provide a rationale about the benefits of children’s play to coworkers or program supervisors and administrators?

3. In what ways will your attitude and actions support play in your classroom or program? As you plan your response, consider all five PASTA ingredients from Table 5.3: participation, attitude, space, time, and advocacy.

4. What steps should beginning teachers take to enhance their professional development (attitude, knowledge, and skills) with regard to play?

5. Do you believe the increased demands for academic achievement associated with the NCLB act and the priority for play and play-based learning can co-exist in an early childhood classroom? Why or why not?

Recommendations for Your Professional Bookshelf
Big Body Play: Why Boisterous, Vigorous, and Very Physical Play Is Essential to Children’s Development and Learning by Frances M. Carlson

Carlson’s lively book provides clear definitions, examples, and guidelines for big body play and rough-and-tumble play. She also presents information about physical development of children, explains the benefits of physical play, and shares the latest recommendations from the National Association for Sports and Physical Education (NASPE) for physical activity from infancy through age 8. The book gives realistic suggestions for setting policies for big body play, implementing it, and managing risks through appropriate

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level of supervision and safe, high-quality play environments. The colorful pictures bring rough-and-tumble play to life for readers. An extensive list of references is also included.

Full Citation: Carlson, F. M. (2011). Big body play: Why boisterous, vigorous, and very physical play is essential to children’s development and learning. Washington, DC: NAEYC.

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American Alliance of Health, Physical Education, Recreation, and Dance (AAHPERD). http://www.aahperd.org

National Association for Sports and Physical Education (NASPE). Sponsored by the American Alliance of Health, Physical Education, Recreation, and Dance (AAHPERD), this website provides dozens of resources for early childhood, elementary, and secondary educators. In association with NASPE and other related organizations, the site includes information about national standards and guidelines, research summaries, advocacy opportunities, curriculum, and teaching tools to support children’s health and development. Several resources are especially appropriate for early childhood educators including:

· Kids in Action,

· Physical Education is Critical to the Education of the Whole Child,

· Head Start, Body Start, and

· From Playpen to Playground: The Importance of Physical Play for the Motor Development of Young Children.

http://www.aahperd.org/naspe/

International Play Association/American Association for the Child’s Right to Play. The International Play Association was founded in Denmark in 1961 as a not-for-profit organization, with the mission of protecting children’s right to play. The American Association for the Child’s Right to Play is a national affiliate of the world organization. The organization publishes newsletters and position statements advocating for global initiatives to preserve play for children. Currently, IPA-USA is strongly advocating to save school recess by disseminating copious amounts of research highlighting the benefits of recess as well as the consequences of reducing or eliminating recess. Because of its international connections, much of the research provides diverse cultural perspectives.