Developmental Benefits of Play
Play aids in physical development
• Gross motor skills (like running and whole-body movements)
• Fine motor skills (like hand-eye coordination)
• Play can also be important in movement-based learning, which incorporates the idea of learning by doing
Play aids in social development
• We learn play signals - to know when others are playing around
• Play teaches us important interactive skills like turn-taking
• How we play with others can affect identity development
• Play teaches us about cooperation and competition (Jerome Bruner)
• Play teaches us about sex roles (do boys get teased for playing with dolls?) and cultural norms (Jerome Bruner)
• The social aspects of play have been categorized by Mildred Parten (1932)
into:
- Uninvolved Play (totally detached)
- Onlooker Play (watching others, but not interacting)
- Solitary Play (playing alone)
- Parallel Play (playing alone, but alongside another)
- Cooperative Play (playing together with rules and a plan)
Play aids in cognitive development
• We often learn to assimilate (come to understand) new objects or rules when playing (Jean Piaget)
• Play can help us learn to think abstractly (think about objects that may not be right in front of us). This is especially true in imaginary/pretend play (Lev Vygotsky)
• Play helps us learn language and problem solving (playing with words, numbers, rhyming, puzzles, etc.) and promotes creative thinking (Jerome Bruner)
References
• Gross motor skills (like running and whole-body movements)
• Fine motor skills (like hand-eye coordination)
• Play can also be important in movement-based learning, which incorporates the idea of learning by doing
Play aids in social development
• We learn play signals - to know when others are playing around
• Play teaches us important interactive skills like turn-taking
• How we play with others can affect identity development
• Play teaches us about cooperation and competition (Jerome Bruner)
• Play teaches us about sex roles (do boys get teased for playing with dolls?) and cultural norms (Jerome Bruner)
• The social aspects of play have been categorized by Mildred Parten (1932)
into:
- Uninvolved Play (totally detached)
- Onlooker Play (watching others, but not interacting)
- Solitary Play (playing alone)
- Parallel Play (playing alone, but alongside another)
- Cooperative Play (playing together with rules and a plan)
Play aids in cognitive development
• We often learn to assimilate (come to understand) new objects or rules when playing (Jean Piaget)
• Play can help us learn to think abstractly (think about objects that may not be right in front of us). This is especially true in imaginary/pretend play (Lev Vygotsky)
• Play helps us learn language and problem solving (playing with words, numbers, rhyming, puzzles, etc.) and promotes creative thinking (Jerome Bruner)
References
