Children learn as they play. Most importantly, in play children learn how
to learn.
O. Fred DonaldsonContemporary American martial arts master
When children pretend, they’re using their imaginations to move beyond the bounds of reality. A stick can be a magic wand. A sock can be a puppet. A small child can be a superhero.
What I remember about my friends and family members, such as cousins, siblings and friends in my life who supported me in the role of play. We played by imitating, pretending, imagining, creating, engaging and sharing experiences acting out different roles when playing together. They participated with me by acting the role of different characters such as, my mother, teacher, children, and sometimes an animal. Also, giving me the opportunity to be one or the other characters I described above. In other words, they participated in sharing ideas, suggestions, opinions, and we would take turns with each other. We would use different materials. Such as, sticks, rocks, mud, grass, sand/water and other objects. In addition, we shared toys, clothes, hats, wigs, play dishes, buckets, shovels and shoes and other items. For example, a ruler, chalk, and crayons were used to play different activities or games. We would communicate between one another during role play to be someone else or something else, acting out whatever role that involved the character to demonstrate the respect of another person by informing one another if something wasn’t safe. However, if we choose to listen or not at least we were warned by the other individual or parent about the risk or mistakes that may or may not will occurred when playing within our environment. Therefore, our creativity and imagination help us to build different connections to how and individual plays stimulate knowledge or actions about other human beings and their self to learn the different ways of pretending and using their imagination to be an animal or object. Furthermore, play can help an individual to gain understanding of their own learning and development capabilities while enjoying themselves playing with other objects or items of their choice. For instance, play can be considered to be a learning experience about what is the meaning of right and wrong if giving the freedom to explore and learn how things work on your own or with others you can learn from your own mistakes in life. For example, the top picture to the left one little girl is pretending that her hands are an object by using both hands as a yarn spindle to help her friend make a hat for her to wear. Therefore, the little girl to the right is pretending to be her teacher or mother by demonstrating to her how to knit using the yarn in which, they both create an item together using their own creativeness, imagination to make reality come true by role playing and imitating their mother, grandmother or teacher and sharing with each other during role play within their own imaginary world.
How I feel play today is
similar or different from the play in which I engaged in as a child and what I
hope for young people to have the opportunity to learn math, reading and
science that involves participation of an
individual social and physical activity while having fun now in regard
to play. The ways things are similar is that most children are still interested
in learning by playing together with one another in sharing ideas, opinions,
experiences, and exploring, imitating and experimenting the advances and disadvantages
within their environments. For example, the little girl’s playing hop scotch
are having fun participating in an activity together, because it allows them to
be themselves without having any restrictions, predictions or judgments. This game
involves math that consist of numbers, patterns, length and width using an
individual cognitive, social and mental and physical capabilities of abilities
learning about distances that consist of measurements upon playing. and have fun. Also, it teaches a lesson about social and emotional
as well as cognitive that younger or older children can learn from making their
own mistakes or others who are participating in the activity. Therefore, play
consists of becoming knowledgeable, creative while having fun.
Today most children engage
in the role of play is a lot different because most children engage in play by
sitting in front of a T.V. or Computer and playing a game or talking to a
friend on their cell phone or maybe play games on the phone. However, most
children talking on face book because, maybe
they are not allow to associate with other children within their surroundings or explore, experience, experiment their nature world and
habitats. Therefore they don’t know how
to use their imagination and be creative and go outside to play with other children in their
school setting or neighborhood within their own backyard, playground or park in which can be very educational experience within their
environment. Why? Maybe because most parents, teacher’s don’t have time or permission
or maybe just to tired to participate in any mental physical activities . For instance, scavenger hunts, jacks, baseball, football, volleyball, baseball, ring around the roses,
and hokey poky and a monopoly game or even domino’s that will educate them an
ensure a healthy well being fostering nurture and guidance to develop
cognitively, social and emotional healthy growth and development. The
differences are most children are calling out for help from their parent's and teachers to interact or communicate with them and get the individual attention
they need at home or school.
For example, most children
have delays in educational subjects or health because they don’t play a lot or of any physical activities or cognitive games. However, if they played some of the
activities or games like I did then maybe as younger child there want be so
many cases of childhood obesity and educational delays, genetic psychological
disorders that can affect them in learning different subjects that consist of physical,social and emotional capabilities. I learn about applying my fine and gross motor
skills by having the opportunity to be engage with my parent and teachers to show me and allowing me to explore in a mentally and physically active within different
activities while experimenting, with dirt, water, grass, rocks and sticks to be
creative in making my on toys, such as building a house with rocks, box’s or
dirt even if I didn’t have the educational tools at home or school. Having the
opportunity to explore all possibilities within my environment at an young age at home or
school gave me different insights and views about how things work. In addition, during my early childhood years
our coach role model by demonstrating how to play the game.The different about
today most teachers and parent’s will give instructions without participation
among the children in a physical activity which consists of the teacher and
parent’s being involved does not just mean observing the child while they play.
But, it does require and mean engaging with the child sometimes and by teaching them how to
interact and communicate and understand and respect the different diversities
of ones cultural environment, values and morals. In addition, let children have
the freedom or exposure or opportunity of putting it into action that consist
of imagination, creativity, pretending, imitating mentally and physically
within your environment doing role play to capture the knowledge and
capabilities of educating your self about the nature world and everything that
involves using their imaginations to move beyond the bounds of reality.
For example, if you tell a
child to jump off a plastic box, but they never been taught or given the
opportunity to learn the appropriate way how to jump correctly, then how do the
teacher or parent expect for them to jump off the box correctly. When I was
five if my teacher or parent wanted me to learn how to jump rope she or he first
demonstrate to me how to jump rope without getting hurt.
My thoughts regarding the role of play
throughout my earlier childhood life and/or the role of play throughout my childhood and my adulthood
consist of parents and teachers taking the time and patience to be a positive role model by
participating in the social and physical activities inside or outside the
classroom or home. Also, the teachers would give us homework to take home that consist of social and
physical environment with our parents to watch a movie together, go to the park,
putting together a kit, plane, following a cooking recipe, sewing or putting together a model car.
Therefore, people supported
me by learning me how to be creative by using my own experience, ideas or by helping me to
learn from other individuals within my surroundings or environments that
consist of diversity cultural in
different places or using different things from experience or observing people,
places, objects, and items within my nature world. Furthermore, I have the
right to experiment, explore, if given have the opportunity to learn how things
work using my own ideas and creativeness to design and describe how I can use them
while I learn through play. When I played as a young child I enjoying myself having
the freedom to explore on my own at the same time using my own description of
an character and imagination to come true is a visual or hand on learning
experience. For instance, it helps me to learn about life and the things that are created
on earth and was a part of life to understand and appreciate the differences. Furthermore
it helps to have an open mind about people and animals and objects or items and
open up doors for greater opportunities within my community or society during
my early childhood. For example, look, what I am doing today as an early development
teacher. I am giving back to other children who deserved the same opportunity to
learn within their environment and society about their nature world as I did
and to be themselves while having fun and being educated about the people, places,
and things within their world as they use their imagination and creativity within their everyday environment.
References
www.thestrong.org/about-play/play
References
www.thestrong.org/about-play/play
