Impact that Play has on Early Childhood Development

As I reflect on my early experiences that I had growing up as child I feel that play had significant impact on my life. There were so many great memories when it came to my childhood that had to do with indoor and outdoor interactions with my family and friends. One particular thing that stood out to me was summer vacations.  Every summer growing up all of my cousins would stay with my grandmother due to our parents having to work. So we played and played while learning from each other life experiences.

As I think about specific memories I feel that play impacted my developmental skills cognitively, physically, socially, and emotionally. My cognitive skills allow me to think outside the box when it comes to problem solving and reasoning decision making. While exploring inside and outside it helped me build gross motor skills by running, jumping, playing, and staying active. While being active as a child it helped me to grow socially and emotionally. I was given the ability to feel comfortable expressing my needs and wants.

So when given the topic of discussion on rather to discuss play or relationship/attachment when it comes to child development, I decided to focus on play. Children’s play has a big impact on where they are developmentally in so many ways.  As teachers in the early childhood field we sometimes look at center based activities as just play/free time but it so much more.

Those centers are designed for learners to explore in the classroom and connect to real world experiences. As they are playing in the dramatic play area they make a connection for what topics that are being taught in classroom (i.e. money and community helpers) and building upon their prior knowledge.  Also, during play students are communicating both verbally and nonverbal to their peers which will increase their vocabulary and language skills. During play or gross motors time it will help students understand the reason why we teach them to share and to respect their friends.  It will allow students to openly express their feeling and feel safe in their classroom.

In the article of Pre-school peer play: The beginning of Social Competence Mathieson and Banerjee stated that, “Peer play provides an important learning context for the early development of social competence, but not enough is known about the emergence of peer relationships in the pre-school year (Mathieson & Banerjee, 2010).” After reading this article I feel it supported my view on the importance of play when it comes to child development.

Reference

Mathieson, K., & Banerjee, R. (2010). Pre-school peer play: The beginnings of social competence. Educational & Child Psychology, 27(1), 9-20.

How do you feel that play impacted your childhood development?