1.1 Explain The Importance Of Play

I believe that children can and do learn a variety of different skills while playing and because of this I also believe that play and learning go hand and hand. Play is the serious business of young children and the opportunity to play freely is vital to their healthy development. I believe that there are also a good deal of different benefits that children gain from play like, play fosters physical development by promoting the development of sensory exploration and motor skills. Through play and the repetition of basic physical skills, children perfect their abilities and become competent at increasingly difficult physical tasks. Play fosters mental development and new ways of thinking and problem solving. Through block play, children are
confronted with many mental challenges having to do with measurement, equality, balance, shape, spatial relationships and physical properties. One of the strongest benefits of play is the way it enhances social development. Playful social interactions begin from the moment of birth. Play can help children experiment with and understand social roles and children can gradually learn to take each other's needs into account, and appreciate different values and perspectives. It can also give them countless opportunities for acquiring social skills as they play with others. Through play, children are able to express and cope with their feelings. Play also helps relieve stress and pressure for children. Play also can reduce stress for children and help them grow emotionally, since it provides an outlet for anxiety. When they go run around outside or maybe swing on the swing, trying to go higher and higher, they tend to get their minds off of things that might have gotten them upset. Play is healthy, because it gets children to be more active. Even if the children aren’t going outside, while playing inside the children are still using their brains and staying active. Even more so play is healthy when the children are outside and running around and burning calories.
Play is a child’s context for learning. Children practice and reinforce their learning in multiple areas during play, play gives them a place and a time for learning that cannot be achieved through completing a worksheet. For example, in playing restaurant, children write and draw menus, set prices, take orders, and make out checks. Play provides rich learning opportunities and also leads to children’s success and self-esteem. There are so many different types of play and each one in its own way can help children in one area or another grow stronger and stronger in a certain area. A few of the different types of play are symbolic, sociodramatic, functional, and games with rules. As a teacher I want the children in my class to be able to play how they want and be able to use there imaginations in a way that keeps them growing and evolving, by helping them learn new skills or new words that they might not have known before. I want the children to enjoying coming to school and learning not only while we are doing classroom work, but also while playing. I want to be able to achieve this by, being careful to avoid dominating the play
ourselves. Play should be the result of the children's ideas and not directed by the teacher/or caregiver. Through play, I need to try and foster children's abilities to express themselves. As well as I should also try to help children base play on their own inspirations - not mine. My goal should be to stimulate play - not control it - and to encourage children's satisfaction in playing with each other. Another great way to make sure I foster an environment that supports play is to pay attention to play, plan for it, and encourage it. Learn how to extend children's play through comments and questions. Stimulate creative ideas by encouraging children to come up with new and unusual uses of equipment. Try to remain open to new and original ideas, and encourage children to come up with more than one solution or answer.