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The Relationship between Play and Learning Whenever a child is born, the focus is on the future. The parents look forward eagerly to each milestone in his development -- his first smile, his first word, his first step. In the back of their minds at all times is the question: What kind of individual will this new person be? In addition, even more important, what can they do to ensure that his future will be happy and that he will become a useful member of society? Psychoanalysis is a branch of epistemology that concerns itself with the human psyche, which is immaterial part of the person.
This very part takes dimension from the moment of birth and continues dimension until death. Humans psyche is a culturally and socially construct, that is not the physical or biological component of the person. According to Freud, whose writings became a platform for the development of discourses of literary theory in psychoanalysis (on these discourses the diverse courses were taken under the influence of such seminal thinkers as Jung and Lacan), the human beings are born with a natural tendency to avoid work and enjoy the pleasures and joys. The moment of realization that the passivity does not lead anywhere and the action should be undertaken in order to live, splits the human psyche.
At this point, the conflict of two principles emerges. The first principle is the one of pleasure when a child desires unity with his mother that cares for him, and the second principle appears when the child understands that in the real life things will not stay safe and he needs to act and work to maintain his existence is called reality principle. The child faces the reality when, let us say, he meets the rules of behavior that his parents state for him or laws and regulations of the society that he lives in. At this point, the kid starts to look at the life very attentively, tries to imitate adults, experiences something new, learns and of course plays. Play has a crucial meaning at this period and for the whole childhood. While observing others kid tries to do the same things as people around do, and explores the unknown to him things.
For example, child carefully pouring water into a toy cup until it overflows can be viewed as a scientific lesson, during which the child is finding out how the water behaves. The example of imitating would be a little girl that takes care of a doll, she is feeding her, makes her to go to bed, dresses her and gives treatments if the doll gets sick, just the way her mother cares about her. Imitation is very important while developing the skills necessary for play. Children learn language by listening to others; learn to tie their shoes when observing the process while their parents do it. All through our lives we learn through hearing, seeing and above all, doing new things, and the more we enjoy what we are doing the faster we will learn.
In a world where child development seems to pass in the blink of an eye, it is very important to allow kids to be kids and to encourage them to develop their own concepts, principles and ideas and even values. Through the guidance and imitation of their parents and teachers, kids can develop approaches to playtime that would satisfy their needs and will give an opportunity to develop their individuality. Through playing games kids get satisfaction, they explore, educate themselves and have fun. Educators of young children say this approach to be the best way to prepare preschoolers, kindergartners, and first-graders for success. It is very important to recognize the importance of allowing kids to learn a wide variety of skills at their own pace. Childrens natural motivation to play comes from the childs needs to act, to put his or her efforts and to produce something that often happens in the game.
The childs motivation can be used to engage them in actively mastering several important social and mental skills. We can say that play is the childs most important aid in learning. It gives a chance to stimulate physical, social, and intellectual development. Playing also encourages the kid to observe and concentrate, to highlight the most important in the information that he or she receives.
Games provide opportunities for self-expression, creativity and for acquiring new skills during the pre-school and school years. In order to explore things around them, kids use their senses: tasting, touching, smelling, listening, and looking. When kids play with items such as blocks, sticks, balls, they are not only learning the sizes, shapes and colors, but also how things relate to each other, which toy is bigger, which one is brighter, which of the white bears is softer, the skills they help to develop analytical abilities. While pretending that a rock, stick or a block is an object such as a train or an airplane, children are using their playthings as symbols of these objects. This kind of play leads to recognizing the letters and learning to read. When counting, sorting and putting things in pile children learn math skills, by observing thing around them, kids learn science.
Doing puzzles increases thinking and problem-solving abilities. When a kid plays mosaics a lot it leads to development of the taste and skills in design. Crawling, running, climbing, and jumping enable a child to develop physically and build large muscles. Fine motor skills can be increased when a child draws, scribbles, or cuts a paper. Moreover, of course while playing with other kids build their social skills and communication skills. Both younger and older children relish the chance to create through various art mediums.
Using chalkboards, paints, various papers and other modeling materials in the play will raise the interest and curiosity of many youngsters. Such items as crayons, pencils, pens, tony glues and paint sparks imaginative responses. Some computer software programs allow children to make colorful pictures, while others can be used for construction objects such as buildings, castles, houses and so on. Toys are necessary for a child to play and learn. Starting with the age of three months, a baby needs stimulation in the form of various simple toys. It is of the very importance to stimulate and provide visual-stimulation.
As soon as a child learns to hold the objects in his hands, the noise-making toys such as bells are of the primary importance. Kids at the age of four learn to appreciate different sizes, colors, and shapes, they arrange their blocks in a line and it becomes a train, they put two or more block together and it becomes a house. Their fancy knows no bounds and they create and imagine all sorts of play situations. The things that surround the child and constitute his environment can be learnt and examined by coloring books, and books that parents read to their kid. The more contact kids have with their families the more opportunities to learn they get, of course by reading books parents get kids interested in them, then after learning to read a kid goes and picks up his book. When adults give a suggestion to the play or participate in the game the kid likes to play, they give a child new ideas that he is developing and studies thoroughly.
Playing is the vital part of growing up. Some of the play activities help children to develop large and small muscles, language, and eye-hand coordination. Concrete or hands-on, experiences are one of the most enjoyable and beneficial entertainment for kids. Such activities allow children to handle materials, observe, imitate, explore, evaluate, and invent, this way children get an opportunity to learn about their world while developing confidence and a positive self-image.
The games foster the emotional, intellectual, physical, and social development of youngsters. I think one of the most important types of the games for kids are imaginative ones. When children play imaginative games, many benefits ensue. First of all, by playing this games kids enlarge their vocabulary, get a chance to exercise their small and large motor skills; while playing they at the same time learn to share, to take turns, and to cooperate. Little kids enjoy playing role games, when they can freely be someone else, for example Cinderella, princess, teacher, doctor, mother and so on. In this period, kids observed enough to try or to test their knowledge in the experience of being in the other shoes.
When a kid plays a role that is different from his / her everyday viewpoint, new insight is developed by stepping into the other personality. It is also very interesting to interact with the person who plays the role you have already performed. When children play with friends, parents or teachers in the story-like games they learn good manners and use them, such as please, excuse me, thank you and so on. Again, they practice how to sequence, and to put things in the correct order: first, we will set a table, make some coffee and cookies, and give a doll to drink and eat are having a tea party.
While playing story-like games children also learn to control their impulses, these kids are found to be less aggressive. Children-imaginary players tend to smile more and have longer periods of attention and concentration; they grow up flexible and creative. As I said earlier when parents join in, the possibilities for kids multiply. While kids show natural tendencies to initiate make-believe play in the preschool and elementary school periods, they are more likely to sustain and extend their pretend game with adult encouragement. Children usually use in their games the materials from books parents have read them or they read on their own or use ideas from an educational TV program. In fact, reliving the places the kids visit such as circus, zoo, train stations, subways, parks, and museums can become great themes for the plays of make-believe and grounds for young imaginations to take a flight.
Many educators in the whole world struggle to provide successful educational environments, but rarely use play in learning even thought it is formulated by many psychologists that people learn better, when they enjoy. We are talking about the group of kids ages four to eleven, that enjoy playing alot, then it becomes obvious that the results will be higher if children will combine play and education, which is possible now in the age of technological and strategically innovations. It is possible to teach math, science, history, literature, drama, and any other subject through play, and the results are worth the efforts. Some gifted teachers do it everyday, but mainly without a support from administrators of education and anxious parents that are more interested in the score on the test than the particular knowledge and understanding.
Many of them are afraid that playing reduces learning, but it surely increases learning when the plays are related to the subject studied. Todays kids are under increasing pressure to perform, achieve, and win at learning, but they are less interested in the field that they are studying which leads to decreasing of performance. The motor of logics is the play of chess. I think it is probably the best game there is...
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