Early Childhood Education With Luchie

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Sunday, October 30, 2005

Play Is Child's Work

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As I have observed since before, many parents tend to ask their children what they did in school. Since children would most certainly answer that they just played, these parents would probably blurt out : "I send you to school not to play but to study!!"

Many parents do not realise that children do their tasks through play. As Weiser, M.G., an educational psychologist pointed out, "Play is child's work."

As proven through researches, there are many values of play. There is an enormous benefits of play as it include the whole child-- cognitive, social, emotional and physical aspects.

Play is a natural avenue for the expression of creativity. Dansky and Silverman (1973,1974) conducted experimental studies and found a caussal relation between play and creativity.

One may be amazed on how the children or the children in my centre in particular, make different structures like aeroplanes, robots and or houses using lego pieces. How they used their problem skills to produce an artistic creation is a manifestation that children are indeed creative by nature and that through play this creativity is enhanced.

Play also encourages social interaction among children as they learn how to deal with the feelings and attitudes of their playmates. In addition, it is worth noting that friendship is develop through play. How can one imagine a person like my eldest krizelle who up to now is in contact with her friends during grade school days? The different play they had in the vast compound of Assumption Antipolo sealed their friendship.

Through play, children are able to express their thoughts and feelings too. A child can express unacceptable feelings in acceptable way. Take my daughter Marielle. She used to include narratives in her play. One time I overheard her say, "This bad man asked the small girl to stop riding her bike." It was only then, after my probing, that I learnt that her bike was forcefully taken from her. She expressed her bad feeling in an acceptable way through narrative play.

Play also let children experiment on their own bodies and see how they function best. It makes them confident and secure. Like my twin grand daughters. I remember that time when Kyllenne & Darrielle walked so fast from me when they learnt that they could really walk fast. They smiled at me as if saying," See, we can do it without you holding our hands!"

With the proven results of the relevance of play among children, we should not restrict or limit their playtime. We must take advantage of this so called "natural learning."


8 Comments:

  • "I send you to school not to play but to study", that's my line. I can honestly say that I am one of those parents. I just think that playing at home and in school is just too much playtime. But your post enlightened me in a way.

    By Anonymous Anonymous, at 12:32 AM  

  • Hi evi! Thank you for the visit. And I am glad this post made you realised in a way the benefits of play in children.

    By Blogger Unknown, at 2:44 PM  

  • Hey Teacher Luchie! Yes, play is the work of the child, just like teaching is our work as teachers, *wink* Already changed the URL in the PTN Bulletin Board. You're doin' great!

    By Blogger Teacher Sol, at 10:56 AM  

  • You are so right. We are beginning to be too task oriented that even the little ones are not spared. What they teach in most private schools to children became so complicated they forget the concept that playing for children is learning. When I see a children's curriculum that seems so hard for their age, I can't help but quip, "so, where's geometry nad physics in your curriculum?"

    By Blogger rolly, at 12:11 AM  

  • Good morning Rolly! public holiday nga pala dito.
    thank you for the visit.
    and yes, we should try to teach concepts to children through play and that is by exploration using the senses and with hands-on activities too.

    By Blogger Unknown, at 9:30 AM  

  • Teacher Luchie, I really do wish I could play more. I do agree with you there. I wish there were more opportunities for that type of interacting to occur in my classroom, but too bad it's just not an option in my tight classroom schedule.

    By Blogger Macross Kitty, at 4:29 PM  

  • Hello there Teacher Sol!
    Thank you very much!
    and more power sa PTN!

    By Blogger Unknown, at 4:40 PM  

  • Hi Teacher Liz!
    I am sure you are doing great with your students. As long as they enjoy their lessons with you and are happy, there's already the element of play in your classroom discussions.And I am sure they do enjoy learning with you.
    Thank you sa visit.

    By Blogger Unknown, at 4:45 PM  

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