|
 |
|
|
|
|
Let's Go Play: Why Playful Parents Get Smart Kids |
|
|
Let's Go Play: Why Playful Parents Get Smart Kids
Play promotes learning, and you can influence the pace of your child's development by providing the right stimulation. Merlene Michael gets a lesson on play from a US child expert.
Play is the foundation of all learning. It can actually encourage children to explore their world, and motivate them to be adults who love to learn for life. As Dr Kathleen Alfano, head of the Fisher-Price Child Research Centre in the US and a member of the International Toy Research Association explains, "Play is important for the development of a child because it helps children learn about themselves and their understandings of their expanding physical and social world. It gives kids opportunities to figure out how things work, how to get along with others and to try on new roles."
What Play's All About
Studies have shown that playful children often reach higher levels of intellectual development. Besides being fun, play has a lot of intangible benefits, too. And as a rule, playful children have been found to be happier, more co-operative and better adjusted.
"Children who are good players are well on the road to being that eager learner as a student and then as an adult," says Dr Alfano. "This happens because toys give children confidence, and it starts right from infancy. For example, when a baby hits a toy and watches it move or react, he feels empowered to explore and try other things. So by providing toys for your child, you are instilling an adventure and zest for learning," she explains.
Here's what play can do for your child:
Physical skills. Playing with clay for example is known to improve manual dexterity - forming a shape, or building an object teaches a child to make his hands work for him as tools. As he kneads the clay and manipulates accessories such as rolling pins and cutters, he is also developing hand-eye co-ordination.
Social skills. Usually, young children are not ready to share. But play is able to fuel such social skills because when they socialise and interact with other young children, they learn to take turns playing with a toy. They learn about manners and showing consideration for other people.
Emotional skills. Play serves as an excellent tool for introverted children to release their emotions. Tactile experiences help a child gain self-esteem because playing with plasticine for example responds to his touch, offering him a feeling of success.
Cognitive skills. Problem-solving skills are enhanced as children try to figure out how to put together pieces of a puzzle. Along with it, reasoning skills and learning about dimensions are enhance and improved.
Is There A Right Way To Play?
More often than not, parents seem to know how to play with babies better than they do with pre-schoolers, reveals Dr Alfano. "With babies, parents will coo, talk and sing to them. But because pre-schoolers begin to display that little spark of independence, parents seem to be at a loss on what to do. However, what parents fail to realise is that most kids don't need to be shown how to play because it comes naturally to them."
Even hand-held computer games are good, she adds, as they act as positive coaches, encouraging a child to try again even when he gets an answer wrong.
Parents should provide support with a positive play environment, she says. To help your child get the most out of play, Dr Alfano suggests these approaches:
Participate. Join in your child's games willingly. Take the role he assigns you and let him tell you what to do. If he doesn't want you to be a participant, then observe. This allows you to find out about his interests and keep in tune with them.
Offer choices. If your child is playing 'restaurant' and offers you a menu, take it and pretend to be a diner. Tell him that the food is good and let him take it from there. Let your child lead; don't force him into doing activities that you like.
Create opportunities. Provide toys in sets such as an entire group of farm animals and a toy barn will spur your child to invent more scenarios than just one or two individual playthings. See what your child is interested in and provide those opportunities.
Don't worry if your child seems to prefer to play alone. Dr Alfano says that solitary play is common among children. "Most of the time, children start out with solitary play," she says, adding that pre-schoolers particularly should not engage entirely in solitary play as they need to socialise and interact.
How To Make "Good" Play
Firstly, says Dr Alfano, there is involvement on the child's part. To play together, however, you have to get creative on how to play with your child. For instance, you can incorporate literacy skills in how you design the play. For example, she says, get your child to set the table for meals, or get him to help you make the phone call.
"Ask your child to help out by setting the table for three. Or, when you are making a phone call, ask your child to help press the numbers. This helps reinforce numbers and memory. What you want to avoid is to make learning feel like a chore," she says.
Another good way to engage in play is role-playing. In fact, research has shown that children's literacy skills are sharpened, social skills are expanded, and their senses are awakened when they engage in role-play.
"When a child pretends to be a firefighter, he imagines himself manoeuvring through the traffic and putting out the fire. He is engaging his brain to do this and it solidifies the learning experience," explains Dr Alfano.
By using real-life situations, you help to instil that love and zest for learning. What you must not do, however, is to hurry your child along. "Children will eventually develop their potential and catch up with their peers when they start school. Moreover, at the ages of five and six, children are at their peak of creative and imaginative play."
It is important to talk with respect to children when playing with them. "They are little people in progress; they are developing into unique individuals. By instilling respect in them, they will definitely respond with respect. Ultimately, you'll know your child has had good play when he's happy and feels empowered to learn on his own.
Says Dr Alfano:"Good play should be an enriching experience that should engage and uplift a child. Excitement, laughter, joy for life come out of good play. Time to play is a time to be valued because the benefits of family play last a lifetime."
Date reviewed: 20 April 2000
|
|
| |
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
