play
Extract from “What Is Play?” by Diana O’Neill
“Play is a child’s work. Through play children learn about the
world. Children need to play; it is necessary for learning, living, growing
and creating. The more children play, the better they will become at doing
it and the more they learn the more capable they become of learning. So how
can we, as parents, encourage our children to play? Firstly, I think, by
showing them that we value play as an activity in itself rather than dismissing
it as unworthwhile with comments such as “go away and play, I’m
busy” or “they’re only playing.
If we are able to spend time with out children playing,
we can share their interest and enjoyment. We can encourage their learning experiences by
providing suitable materials and stimulation through new situations, ensuring
challenges are met and not allowing the distress of constant failure. Unfortunately
space is essential for play, and often a certain amount of mess is generated.
We, as parents, sometimes become pre-occupied with tidiness in the home
to the detriment of our children’s play. It has taken me many years
to accept visitors to our home may not mind the presence of play hut in
the lounge! It is up to us each individually to decide the distinction
between creating a play environment for our children and creating havoc
in our home.”
More information
Please download the files listed below from the members area. The links underneath will take you to the members log in page or alternatively if you are already logged in straight to the link. For most of the files you will need to have Acrobat Reader installed which is free to download from adobe.
According to today’s regulators & bureaucrats those of us who were kids in the 40’s, 50’s, 60’s & 70’s probably shouldn’t have survived. We drank water from garden hoses, and not from a bottle… We would leave home in the morning and play all day… We fell out of trees, some kids ate worms. |
Apart from being fun, play is one of the complex shapers of experience, intelligence, competence, values and creativity. This paper looks at the way that primary school children aged 8-12 use the urban environment in free play, and the sorts of environments they choose for play… |
Avoiding the hyper-parenting trap. ‘Hyper-parenting’ is the phrase to describe a child-rearing style now prevalent in middle and upper middle class homes. In these families,… they over-enrich their child’s environment and over-schedule them. |
The definition and theory of play is discussed… Play is the most complete educational process of the mind ensuring that each individual achieves knowledge and wisdom. |
It is essential that the teacher actively encourages play activities. If the emphasis in language learning is placed too quickly on the formal modes, such as reading and writing and there is inadequate provision made for the speaking and listening aspects of language, the child’s language acquisition will be affected negatively. |
Through play children learn about the world… So how can we, as parents encourage our children to play? By showing them that we value play as an activity in itself rather than dismissing it as un-worthwhile. How play affects children’s social growth and early development is discussed. |