Play is important for a child’s development regardless of the background or physical attributes. Scholars have done extensive research on the topic and found at that play has an important role in learning, acquisition of social skills, creativity, emotional wellbeing, and good physical health just to mention a few. Although play has several benefits, its value is determined by the socio-cultural, historical, educational, economic, and political factors of the society (Nahar & Corine, 2012).
Guest (2013)’s study provides some insight on how play is perceived differently depending on culture. In Chicago, play is part of a child’s development process to adulthood and it is handled with seriousness, individualism, and competitiveness (Guest, 2013). In the same study, he discovered that in Angola, play takes a discrete role in a child’s life and its emphasis is on social roles and inclusion (Guest, 2013). Nahar & Corine (2012)’s study provides the point of view of families in Bangladesh whereby some parents consider play to be a leisure activity while teachers have the view play speeds up learning and assists in the preparation of kids for school. In addition, the experiment’s participants acknowledged that play assists children to overcome the fear of school (Nahar & Corine, 2012).
Various forms of play contribute to different aspects of child development and growth (Frahsek et al., 2010). For instance, counterfactuals contribute to causal relationship reasoning (Walker & Gopnik, 2013). Moreover, counterfactuals increase the child’s creativity because of the generation of possible worlds; some of which are real and others are factual just as it is done in fiction (Walker & Gopnik, 2013). Child directed plays in the form of pretend play foster the development of various aspects of causal recognition while exploratory play allows children to identify the causal makeup of the physical world (Walker & Gopnik, 2013). Pretend play is facilitated by mechanisms related to causal cognition and provides an opportunity for children to learn reasoning and to learn about causal models (Walker & Gopnik, 2013). Another benefit of pretend play is that it contributes to the engagement in counterfactual reasoning, which is important in identifying causal relationships (Walker & Gopnik, 2013). Hence, through pretend play and counterfactual reasoning, children are able to recognize unreal events as well as to distinguish the representations of those events from reality and to visualize on the outcome of those events.
Play enhances the social skills of children (Freeman & Kasari, 2013). For instance, children with autism engage in stereotypic behavior and often refrain from play (Jung & Sainato, 2013). Jung & Sainato (2013) did a study to identify effective instructional methods for teaching play skills to children with autism. They found out that the use of combined interventions to teach children with autism how to play increased their social interaction and reduced inappropriate behavior (Jung & Sainato, 2013). Based on the various research findings on the benefits of play, influences that negatively affect a child’s access to play can be counteracted by increased education on the benefits of play so that guardians can make sure that play is part of their child’s life. In addition, knowledge on the benefits of various forms of play enables a parent to ensure that his/her child engages and benefits from the various forms of play. Lastly, it is important to engage children with disabilities and other health conditions in play via interventions and other programs so that they can enjoy the benefits of play.
References
Frahsek, S., Mack, W., Mack, C., Pfalz-Blezinger, C., & Knopf, M. (2010). Assessing different aspects of pretend play within a play setting: Towards a standardized assessment of pretend play in young children. British Journal of Developmental Psychology, Vol. 28 Issue 2, p331-345.
Freeman, S. & Kasari, C. (2013). Parent–child interactions in autism: Characteristics of play. The International Journal of Research & Practice, Vol. 17 Issue 2, p147-161.
Guest, A.(2013). Cultures of play during middle childhood: interpretive perspectives from two distinct marginalized communities. Academic Search Elite, DOI:10.1080/13573322.2011.555478.
Jung, S. & Sainato, D. M. (2013). Teaching play skills to young children with autism. Journal of Intellectual & Developmental Disability, Vol. 38 Issue 1, p74-90.
Nahar, C. N. & Corine, R. (2012). Embracing Complexity: Rethinking the Relation Between Play and Learning. Australasian Journal of Early Childhood. Vol. 37 Issue 4, p115-122.
Walker, C.M. & Gopnik. (2013). Pretense and Possibility—A Theoretical Proposal About the Effects of Pretend Play on Development: Comment on Lillard et al. (2013). PsycARTICLES. DOI: 00332909.
