This blog post is from Lily’s book summary of Einstein Never Used Flashcards. This particular part of the book summary comes from Chapter 9 and discusses the basics of play and learning.
Chapter 9 Play, The Crucible of Learning
Playful moments are really learning opportunities in disguise. The evidence is very clear. Play promotes development-and in a number of areas. Play promotes problem solving and creativity. It also helps to build better attention spans and encourages social development.
Self-exploration through play is a learning experience that “teaches” problem solving in a fun way.
Researchers have discovered that play is related to greater creativity and imagination and even to higher reading levels and IQ scores.
The level of children’s play rises when adults play with them.
One of the key components of development is learning to manipulate symbols and reason abstractly.
Play 101
Play must be pleasurable and enjoyable. Play must have no extrinsic goals. Third, play is spontaneous and voluntary, freely chosen by the player. Fourth, play involves active engagement. And finally, play contains a certain element of make-believe. Play needs to stem from a child’s desire.
It is through free play that children learn not only to have fun with children in organized activates, but also to create activities themselves. They learn initiative. According to Susan Bredekamp of the National Association for the Education of Young Children, writes, “Children will feel successful when they engage in a task that they have defined for themselves.” It is not considered developmentally appropriate for teachers to use “highly structured, teacher-directed lessons almost exclusively,…deciding what the children will do and when while expecting the children to listen passively or do pencil and paper tasks for long periods of time.”
It’s just not true that the best kind of learning takes place only when a big, smart adult directs the child’s every move.
Play is to early childhood what gas is to a car. Play provides a strong foundation for intellectual growth, creativity, and problem solving. And it also serves as a vehicle for emotional development, and for the development of essential social skills. In the 21st century, creative problem solvers, independent thinkers, and people with expert social acumen will inevitably surpass those who have simply learned to be efficient at getting the right answers.
Play builds versatile and supple intellectual skills; play is the place where problem solving comes alive.
Free play and guided play hold the key to more fulfilling lives.
One of the hallmarks of the advancement of play is the decrease in using objects one at a time and the increase in using them two or three at a time.
So pretend play is practice for children in freeing themselves from what is right in front of their eyes. Pretend play allows children to consider answers outside the box.
Availability of play materials is one of the most consistent predictors of intelligence even when the children entered school. Have a range of toys.
Divergent problems when playing have multiple solutions, such as when you play with blocks. There are a variety of ways a structure can be built, and require a greater amount of creativity.
We want children to know how to find the right answer when there is one, but we also want them to be able to think outside the box.
Research has shown that the more advanced children’s pretend play is, the better they do on divergent problem-solving tasks.
In play, we do learn about objects and their relations, but we also learn about people and relationships. Children create emotional comfort for themselves through play. After about 2½, pretend play starts to take place with other children and, if the child is lucky, with parents and caregivers.
Children are at the highest level of their development when they are at play. Play serves three functions:
First, it creates the child’s “zone of proximal development.” This is where the child goes a little further than what she can accomplish alone. Another function of play is to help the child separate thought and action. Finally, play as facilitating the development of self-regulation. Play also helps children work through difficult emotional events. Socio-dramatic play feeds into literacy because it becomes practice for storytelling.
By 13 or 14 months, children begin to use cooperative play. They might seek out one another, or take toys from one another. Sharing is not one of their better qualities at this age. They are much more sophisticated in their play with familiar children than with unfamiliar children who come over to play.
Professor Marjorie Taylor tells us that children with imaginary companions tend to be more intelligent and more creative than children who don’t have such friends.
It is not until age 7 or 8 that our children can truly understand the rules and play with strategy and planning. This applies to activities such as board games and soccer.
Play is a mirror of children’s thinking and motor abilities.
Playing outdoors, supervised, is important to help stimulate creativity.
Summary
- Become an advocate for play. Let us transform preschool rooms back into indoor playgrounds that encourage and promote learning in a playful way.
- Provide the resources for stimulating play.
- Join in the fun.
- Let your child take the lead.
- Encourage your child to use his imagination.
- Evaluate your child’s structured activities.
