PLAY BASED LEARNING

Shamla Kumari Krishnan

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Theories On Play
Play, for Piaget, provides children with opportunities to develop
social competence through ongoing interactions.
Eric Erikson reinforced the development and use of play as
therapy to help children cope with emotional difficulties.
Vygotsky believed that all imaginary situations devised by young
children follow social rules. Through make-believe play, children
develop an understanding of social norms and try to uphold
those social expectations

Sigmund Freud suggested that every child at play behaves like

a creative writer, in that he creates a world of his own, or, rather,
rearranges the things of his world in a new way which pleases
him

Why the need to PLAY now?

Where has PLAY gone?

PLAY is in jeopardy
Outdoor play is perceived as being too dangerous for children
Children are bombarded by television, DVD and computer games, violent
toys that inhibit imaginative play, extracurricular activities, and academic
pressure.
Little time is being allocated to creative play. Greatest threats to childrens
creative play are television, video and DVD games, and computers.
Following a study:

1) American Academy of Paediatrics (AAP; 2001) has recommended that

young children, especially those under three who are in the formative years
of brain development, have no exposure to television, as a preventative
measure against attention problems and subsequent risk of attention deficithyperactivity disorder (ADHD)

Cont..

Where has PLAY gone?

2) National Association for the Education of Young Children (NAEYC), asserts

that research demonstrates that watching violent programs is related to
less imaginative play and more imitative play in which the child simply
mimics the aggressive acts observed on television The majority of toys that
children play with tend to be violent and expensive toys based on media
programs and which encourage children to reenact the aggressive
behaviors they see on television, in commercials, or in movies.

3) Priority in Academics. In Crisis in The Kindergarten (Miller & Almon, 2009),

the authors argue that children are spending the majority of their day in
literacy and math instruction and in standardized testing and test
preparation, leaving less than 30 minutes (and sometimes no time at all) in
play or choice time. The same restrictions and pressures are being placed
on preschoolers.

What is Play?
For an activity to be regarded as
PLAY, it should be freely chosen by
the child and the child must want
to do the activity for no other
reason than because it is fun.

The Value of Play

As children play, their brain develops, their
muscles grow strong, and they develop
good social and life skills such as learning to
share, take turns, make choices and
understand the feelings of others.

Play fosters a childs

physical, social, emotional
and intellectual
development.

It helps children learn who they are, what they

can do and allows them to explore and practice
how the world works.

Play also helps increase

childrens concentration
and cooperation with
others.

Types of Play:
Sensory Play
learning through
senses
textured/scented/
coloured playdough
textured/scented/
coloured waterplay
textured/coloured
sand play
cooking

Exploratory Play
Learning by
finding
out

Manipulative Play
Learning by
touch/feel/handle
mould

Dramatic Play
Learning by
role-taking/
pretending

Creative
Play
Learning by
creating

mixing colours
shades/dark/
light
relationships
between shapes
spatial relations
numbers &
patterns
sizes

Blocks,lego, duplo,
Brush blocks
paper-folding
cutting/pasting
physical

pretending to
be people
animals/
transport
acting out
situations
role-play

drawing
paintings
collages
printings
stories
songs
music &
sound
patterns

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Parten%27s_stages_of_play

Play is Childs WORK!

Conclusion
Play is enjoyable for all but often
underestimated for its unique way of
positively influencing physical,
cognitive, and psychosocial
development

This world of play offers children vast

opportunities to learn about
themselves, others, and the
environment in which they live.

The most important things that adults can

provide for children are:
Time

Space
Materials
Care

Contact
When adults argue that we didnt play when we were in school and it
didnt do us any harm they are forgetting that they had rich
opportunities to learn through play at home and in their community
which built their characters and life enhancing experiences that they
took for granted.

THANK YOU for

PLAYING with
ME!