The value of play in promoting learning and development in the early years

Development in the early years of a person is very important and forms the building blocks for

further development as the individual progresses through the lifespan. The early years of a childs

life are the most important as they will develop how to Play and therefore this is important in terms

of their general well being, emotional, social, physical and cognitive growth. Playing is critical to the

healthy growth and development of every child because children learns best when they are playing

while having fun and as a result they will enjoy what they are doing while learning. It gives them the

freedom to do the things that they want to do and as they play they will learn to solve problems, to

get along with others and to develop their motor skills that is needed to grow and learn. As a childs

develops, they add to the skills that they already gained and the new skills become the basis for

further mastery of skills.

Play is the childrens learning; it helps them become competent learners who are able to make

connections, be imaginative, creative and represents their experience. Children play because its

fun and when there is fun there is also pleasure. So in that case it gives them a powerful drive to

repeat such activities.

Play helps children enhance and build skills that can help them mold their identity and this

promotes their physical, social, emotional and intellectual development. For children to achieve

optimum health they first have to build the skills through physical play because it can help the

children build stronger muscles and have strengthen bone density. If children are taught to be

active starting on a young age they are leading to stay active throughout their life and will later on

lead to have better health conditions such as the heart and lung will function well and also it will

help them to prevent future health problems such as obesity or being overweight, diabetes and

high cholesterol. Physical activity is important for physical fitness and Physical play includes

anything that involves moving such as simple movements like walking, running, hopping, jumping

and this can be done while building blocks, playing in the sand pit and even as simple as being
able to hold a pencil before they can draw or color. The muscles will grow to support and increase

in size and weight of a child and enable the achievement of gross and fine motor skills, which is

important for physical development.

Playing can mold childrens identity where is also essential to their social development which refers

to the childs ability to interact with those around them through play. Social environments such as

childcares, kindergartens and school will influence the childrens social development; they will learn

to interact with new people such as teachers and playmates to form new relationships. Social skills

enable their ability to get along with others, to create and maintain satisfying relationship especially

to other children they play with. Playing can help them develop a broader range of social skills

(Educastmedia, 2011) such as being able to suggest something to do together or to ask to join in

an activity or group. They will continue to establish and maintain friendships with other children and

will seek acceptance and friendship from others. Having social skills can also help the children

learn how to communicate which then can therefore increase their vocabulary and language skills

and through this, their skills grow as the child play and will accordingly help the children learn the

roles and rules of the society.

When children are playing they show a variety of emotions because as they play with their

playmates they show laughter and a smile on their faces, when they fall on their knees theyll cry to

show that they got hurt. Children show mixes of emotions to show their feelings towards an object

or a person. Play reduces fear, anxiety, stress and irritability. It also creates joy, intimacy, and self-

esteem. Playing can heal emotions because it develops their emotional skills which gives them the

ability to identify, use, understand and manage emotions in positive ways to relieve stress,

communicate effectively, empathize with others, overcome challenges and defuse or resolve

conflicts. Every human being is genetically programmed to show attachment towards one or more

human care givers (slee, et, al, 2012). Most children in early years will demonstrate a range of

emotions such as affection especially to their parents or guardian because children spend a lot of
time with them; they build the on going relationship with the people they trust with. When children

play they get the freedom to do anything they want. A child becomes more competent at identifying

and understanding their own emotions that can influence their actions through other things.

(Markham ,2013)

Developing cognitive skills is also crucial to a childs development where they learn to solve

problems, identify the colors, numbers, sizes and shapes through play. Playing gives them the

ability to enhance their memory skills as well as their attention span. Children move on to higher

levels of thought as they play in a more stimulating environment. The environment must be rich in

motives which lend interest to activity and invite the child to conduct his/her own experiences

(Montessori, 1870-1952)

According to Piagets theory of cognitive development a childs progress of intelligence is based

upon on their biological maturation or in nature and environmental experiences and later involves

and progresses into changes into mental operations. It is proven that children are merely less

competent thinkers than adults and that think in different ways. Piagets theory of cognitive

development has 4 stages; sensorimotor: where children acquire knowledge through experience

and objects, operational: children learn through pretend play, concrete operational: children think

more logically and lastly, formal operational; an increase in logic, and understanding of abstract

ideas. (Mcleod, 2009)

Cognitive process involved in play is similar to those involved in learning and this includes

motivation, meaning, repetition, self-regulation and abstract thinking. Children needs hands on

experiences to be able to learn therefore they use toys that gives them the opportunity to grasp

everything that they can to learn from it. An example could be from Maria Montessoris materials

called The pink tower (Saskachewan, 2013). This is a material where the children can discover

how size changes in three dimensions. The child can build the tower cube by cube and they can

decide which one is bigger or smaller so by using this material children can identify the shapes and

sizes of an object. Another example from Maria Montessoris material is called The Golden Bead

(Saskachewan, 2013), a single bar of golden beans that introduces the quantities and symbols of
the decimals and the four kinds of math, which are addition, subtraction, multiplication and division.

Children can then learn how to count and how to apply it in the operations of math.

Overall I believe that the connection of Physical, Social, Emotional and Cognitive are linked to

each other and therefore viral to complete for a childs full competent development. If one

development has not been obtaining all the other development as a result it will not continue to

develop.
REFERENCES

Slee, R., Campbell, M. & Spears, B. (2012). Child, Adolescent and Family Development (3rd ed).
Cambridge University Press: Port Melbourne, Australia.

Saskatchewan, S (2013). Maria Montessori School: Montessori Materials. Retrieved from

http://www.montessorisaskatoon.ca/montessori-materials

Markham, L. (2014). Playing with your child: Games for connection and emotional intelligence[ blog
post]. Retrieved from http://www.ahaparenting.com/parenting-tools/connection/play-child-
emotional-intelligence

Mcleod, S. (2009) Jean Piaget [Blog post]. Retrieved from

http://www.simplypsychology.org/piaget.html

EducastMedia (2011). Theories about play in early childhood education. Retrieved from
http://www.educastmedia.com/42/theories-about-play-in-early-childhood-education.html