Play is the language of children. They have a natural motivation to use play as a means to understand the world around them. Play allows young children to explore their surroundings, identify shapes, sounds and textures, listen to others, negotiate with their peers, take risks and create meaning from their world. Because of the importance of play-based learning in early childhood, it is our responsibility as parents to use play to encourage children’s learning.
According to the Early Years Learning Framework, play-based learning is “a context for learning through which children organise and make sense of their social worlds, as they engage actively with people, objects and representations.” Play-based learning enables educators to create opportunities for children to play on their own and play with one another. Children will develop a positive attitude towards the things they are learning if it piques their interest and engages their curiosity.
the Importance of play-based learning in a play-based pre-school promotes the deepest kind of learning by encouraging kids to become self-directed learners who explore, develop curiosity and solve their own problems.
What is Play-Based Learning?
What is Play-Based learning? Play-Based Learning is a child’s early education based on open play. There is not end goal to the play, it is simply for the child’s enjoyment. Play-Based learning looks like a child playing kitchen or house, a puzzle, playing with Play dough, coloring and painting. The play is simply for the child enjoyment and is not led by an adult
Although simple activities, they will lay the groundwork for a child to be excited to learn and explore their surroundings. Children learn critical skills and develop as they play. Open play helps a child to build a healthy self-esteem in knowing they are able to accomplish a task, builds up their social skills when playing with others. Play-based Learning is a fundamental part of a child’s development.
What do we mean by learning through play?
What is meant by learning through play is a child learns best about the world around them thru open play. By playing a child is engaged and interactive with their surroundings, using their creative imagination to see how things fit and respond. What we mean by learning through play is by engaging thru play a child will discover that an instrument can make a sound or discover the feel and texture of the ground while playing outside or using colors paint to discover a new color can be made by mixing the paints.
What is the Importance of Learning thru Play ?
ELEMENTS OF PLAY-BASED PRESCHOOL
For play-based preschool to work, educators create a very deliberate environment that encourages the child to participate. Play-based preschool understand what is the importance of learning thru play, it involves the following elements:
SELF-DIRECTION: The child chooses what they play and how they play. Adults can supervise, accompany or potentially suggest ideas, but the child decides the rest.
UNSTRUCTURED EXPLORATION: The child is allowed to explore for themselves and select objects or activities based on their own interests. It is important that the environment includes lots of options, but it is ultimately left up to the child.
FUN: Play must be enjoyable for the child. Adults are not expected to force certain activities as it’s important that the child enjoys what they are doing.
PROCESS-ORIENTED: It is the process of the play that is important, there is no end goal or correct response.
What are the Benefits of Learning Thru Play?
The Benefits of Learning Through Play is an important part of a child’s development. Below is a list of 8 benefits of learning thru Play.
8 GREAT BENEFITS OF PLAY-BASED LEARNING
- CONFIDENCE AND A POSITIVE ATTITUDE TOWARDS LEARNING:
One of the most important benefits of play-based learning is confidence. Confidence helps a child develop the ability to try new things and take risks. Allowing children to choose the way they play enables them to grasp concepts more easily because they are interested and engaged in what they are learning. It also encourages independence in their learning as they lead the way.
They are not relying on an adult to tell them the correct answer or instruct them on what to do, but rather, they are deciding for themselves.
Being able to learn at their own pace also helps a child develop a positive attitude to learning. In play-based learning there is no pressure on the end result, the process is what is important and they can enjoy the learning without stress.
- LANGUAGE AND LITERACY DEVELOPMENT:
Studies show that play promotes a child’s literacy and language development. During preschool years, a child’s vocabulary grows and develops significantly and play-based learning encourages conversations to occur in a natural way. Even participating in individual play-based learning encourages language and communication. A child will often speak to themselves while playing or narrate the toys they are playing with, even acting out multiple sides of a conversation. When playing with each other, children engage in different forms of communication, including storytelling, negotiation, and goal sharing. For example, when playing “school,” children will decide who is the teacher and who are the students. Adults can support language development through play by encouraging conversation, asking questions, and introducing new words.
- CREATIVITY AND IMAGINATION:
Imagination and creativity may seem as if they come naturally to children, however, they are skills that are learned and developed. Play is crucial in helping children navigate scenarios in their lives, either imagined or real. This is why the self-directed element of play-based learning is so important; play must be chosen freely to foster the imaginative environment.
A child can use anything to spark imagination, for example, a stick in the garden could be a sword, a fishing rod or a spoon. Whether they are pretending to be a firefighter, mother, doctor or teacher, children are creatively problem-solving. This supports them to grow into creative, resilient adults who are able to adapt to the world around them.
- SOCIAL AND EMOTIONAL SKILLS:
Play-based learning is important to a child’s development of social and emotional skills, such as the ability to develop positive relationships with peers. As children play together, they learn to get along with one another, cooperate, communicate effectively, problem solve and resolve conflicts. They are learning to take turns, wait and share their materials. These are crucial skills for later in life!
Play also has a positive impact on the development of emotional skills. As children play, they learn about empathy, recognising their emotions and how to regulate them. Commonly known as “Play Therapy”, psychologists encourage play as a stress relief and as a healthy way for children to work through their stressors. Calm-play can also allow a child time to recharge and process information when a day has become too much.
- COMMUNICATION SKILLS:
Play helps children develop key language and communication skills. When playing with other children and adults, children learn to both communicate effectively, and listen intently. And during these early years, when a child’s vocabulary is rapidly growing, participating in teacher-led play where their conversation is encouraged in a natural way can be especially effective in boosting their communication skills.
Even participating in individual play, where the child is guiding their own narrative, encourages communication growth. Often, children will speak to themselves and the toys they’re playing with, enacting multiple sides of conversation, and participating in active-language scenarios.
- CRITICAL THINKING AND PROBLEM SOLVING:
As children interact with the world around them, especially in ways that inspire their creativity and critical thinking skills, they learn to become effective problem solvers. From planting seeds in their community garden, to helping bandage and imaginary scrape, to reading about others’ joys and pitfalls, they see cause and effect, and begin to notice both the patterns around them, and the consequences of actions, both simple and complex. They see connections between themselves and their surroundings, and the lives of those around them. They begin to predict outcomes, and start to consider a variety of
choices and actions. These simple, but impactful, exercises are opportunities that guided, play-based learning present as a way of constantly and consistently developing the critical thinking skills of preschoolers, and lay the foundation for strong future problem solvers!
- EMPOWERING EDUCATION THROUGH PLAY:
Ultimately, parents want to ensure that their children have a happy, healthy educational experience. And while test scores and an ambition curriculum are often the focus of searches when looking at schools, the importance of play-based preschool programs cannot be underestimated. Students who begin their education in an environment of playful learning and discovery emerge as more confident, imaginative, socially aware individuals. These children continue to approach their learning with the critical thinking and communication skills that make them curious, well-rounded, and successful members of their communities.
- MOTOR SKILLS:
Last, but definitely not least, play helps children to develop both fine and gross motor skills. Play activities like throwing, climbing, running and jumping develop gross motor skills, balance and hand-eye coordination. Fine motor skills are developed through play activities such as drawing, painting, building or roleplaying.
What is a Play-Based Curriculum?
What is a Play-Based Curriculum? Play-based curriculum engages all senses in learning. Such curriculum can be an interactive Story time. For example, a child may hear a story about pets, then proceed to interact with others playing imaginary games based on the story. After a few minutes, the child will then be asked to tell a story based on what he has learned.
What is the difference between play and play-based learning?
Play is soley decided on the child and does not have any interference from an adult, the child decides the when, how and length of the play. Play is a child’s way of exploring and experimenting with their surroundings, often times mimicking what they see. An example would be a child playing “mommy” based on observing a mother caring for a younger sibling, or “cooking” having observed the parents preparing a meal.
Play-based learning on the other hand is directed by an adult and the play as a purposed. The aim of the play is to develop a skill and better enrich the child’s self-confidence. Play-based Learning can be giving a child a paper with a list of items to scavenger hunt then later on having the child put the items together.
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