Play in the Preschool Classroom

Play in the Preschool Classroom The article I chose to read is called “Play in the Preschool Classroom: Its Socioemotional Significance and the Teacher’s Role in Play.” This article is about the emotional and social developmental value at play in the early childhood classroom. It also questions about the developmental benefits of play. The article also discusses the role teachers could play in making play a developmental and educational experience. There are many different ways that children’s play can be categorized. It can be creativity, adaptation, exploration, experimentation, learning, communication, socialization, acculturation, and mastery play. Play helps children build and extend their knowledge and skills, as they interact with their environment, others and on their own. When children engage in play, they choose how and what to play by using their imagination. They engage in pretense, and are not concerned with the outcomes as they are with how they are playing. Sociodramatic or pretend play makes-up about two-thirds of all pretend play in preschool. In this type of play, children take on the roles played by others. Sociodramatic play themes fall into three categories. They are family, character, and functional. Sociodramatic play helps the development and promotion of children’s socioemotional skills. It requires the capacities for reflecting before acting, sensing the perspective of others, and emotional understanding and regulations. It also helps children understand other people’s emotions. There are two types of teacher involvement during play: outside the flow and inside the flow. When a teacher is outside the flow, their involvement is meant to prompt reflection, and may lead to the modification and extension of play. When a teacher is inside the flow of play, they take on a role of participant, and can communicate to extend play. The communication with the children is direct and unmediated. When the teacher is either on the inside or

References: Ashiabi, G. S. (2007). Play in the Preschool Classroom: Its Socioemotional Significance and the Teacher 's Role in Play. Early Childhood Education Journal, 199-207.