4 minute read
It’s child’s play
Did you know that 90% of a child brain is developed before the age of 5, and this development occurs through play opportunities?
Research suggests that opportunities to play are a significant factor related to brain and muscle development, and that purposeful play within the context of nurturing relationships and responsive interactions supports this development of the brain. Play is thought to stimulate imagination and creativity, to encourage problemsolving, and to offer children opportunities to experiment with their understandings and test their theories of how the world works. When children use props or materials to symbolise something else, it allows children to be involved in and be the conductor of their brain development. For example, a block becomes a mobile phone, this can be linked with language and literacy development along with skills in representing ideas and transforming materials. Imaginative play assists children to use objects and events in their play to make sense of the world and understand the process of how things work. Play is also thought to be an excellent context for parents to promote vocabulary learning by extending children’s interests and offering opportunities to acquire new words related to their interests through everyday interactions. By using the process of trial and error in their play children are also found to have better thinking abilities, such as the ability to reason and conceptualise actions, and are also more able to transfer learning into problem-solving tasks. Children who engage in imaginative play and fantasy play are found to demonstrate better cognitive control and resilience as they are the organisers and directors of their play. Tips for effective play experiences: • Use simple toys that encourage imagination and creativity, including household objects such as boxes, blankets, pots and pans, as well as playdough, blocks, sand, paper and crayons. Offer versatile and open-ended dress ups such as capes, scarves and aprons. • Be available to children as they play. Encourage children in their play trough being involved or questioning the reason why they are playing that character, building that cubby or drawing a particular picture.
This engagement is more likely to engage children in cognitively challenging conversations.
• Initiate conversation, model language use, and facilitate and expand on pretend talk.
Describe the play by asking open-ended questions to elaborate on play themes and introduce relevant knowledge and concepts. For example, I can see you are cuddling your teddy, do you think teddy is sad or is he feeling hungry?
Encouraging shared problem-solving
Play activities encourage discussions on ways to problem solve with peers, siblings or parents to build knowledge and understanding. Problem-solving opportunities can emerge from the issues, problems and questions in children’s everyday lives, such as reaching the top of shelf to get a toy, making a tunnel in the sandpit, or helping set the table. Tips for engaging in shared problem-solving: • Create opportunities for shared endeavours: even the briefest of moments of shared attention with young infants are valuable. • Provide open-ended activities and authentic materials (such as seeds and real gardening tools, or actual supermarket items for playing shop) this facilitates children’s thinking and language as they participate in the experience. Plan activities which encourage challenging conversations, for example how many placemats do we need for our family to sit together for dinner? • Make the problematic situation explicit, asking children to give their account of the problem and offer their perspective. Hold off giving direct answers or evaluating responses as good or correct. Encourage children to share knowledge, ideas and hypotheses, challenge and evaluate each other’s ideas, and consider choices. For example, I am wondering if we keep filling the basket with blocks that it will overflow, is the basket too small for all our blocks? • Support children in extending their abilities to meet problem-solving tasks. Unpack problems (whether these are task-focused or emotional problems) through question sequences, and model strategies such as observing and monitoring your own actions and thinking. For example, what is stopping you from placing your arm in your jumper, is the sleeve of the jumper tangled? I wonder how we can untangle the sleeve.
The most important concept to remember is that play is the avenue for children to work out their world and build their understanding by being actively involved and have ownership over their play event. Allowing children time to discover, think, predict and problem solve through play with an adult’s guidance is the best way to build your children brain. By Suzie Wood – Head of Quality and Compliance – Story House Early Learning
