The Importance of Play

Reading 13 July 2018 - The Importance of Play By Dr David Whitebread 2012
Senior lecturer in psychology and education at university of Cambridge
Follow up on previous play research.
This reading pulls together research from many researchers.

All agreed that  play is highly important and influences children's social, emotional and cognitive development.
(pg31). Debate about use of play for other purposes e.g. educational goals as opposed to play being for its own sake. More research needed

Important to note at the foot of this cover it states this has been written for Toy industries of Europe (TIE) April 2012. There is also recognition for the need of further research

Keeping in mind the possibility that this research is biased towards commercial interests this was not evident when reading the paper. There are some interesting key point made in this paper. Also important to note very soon half of all the children in the world will be living in cities. 
"A rage of evidence has indicated that playfulness in children is both an indication of mental well being and is supported by it."
Play deprivation is mentioned however pg 28 states the evidence for this is not valid as its circumstantial or based on animal studies.

Play is difficult to define as it is multifaceted, spontaneous and unpredictable thus it is difficult to clearly understand the full potential - benefits of play in educational contexts.

Play is under threat as our society is changing
Earlier is better attitude of society regarding academic achievement -This is harmful to the provision and support for rich play opportunities
Curriculum standards set by governments
Increasing urbanization - lack of safe outdoor places to play -separation from nature
Over supervision - lack of risk taking -Risk adverse society - safety, germs, traffic, crime
Over scheduling-engagement in extra activities-reduces free time
Poverty- increased stress, results in less than optimal parenting
Low income stats show-low income households three time more likely to suffer mental health problems.
Parents often- lack time to engage in play with their children or to provide opportunities for children to engage in play with other children

Urbanization and the stressors of modern life are negatively impacting on children's play experiences - children are more heavily scheduled  and more supervised, during their leisure time than in the past.

Chudakoff (2007) documented a sharp decline in children's free play with other children across the western world.

Research that shows the area where children are allowed to range unsupervised has shrunk by 90% since 1970s (pg26)

Concern is growing that as children are over scheduled. over supervised and have decreasing amounts of time to play they will be adversely affected. This will most likely effect their independence skills, self reliance, independent mobility, resourcefulness and development.

Keep in mind this is a European context - However many of these factors are beginning to impact on NZ lifestyles.

Research says about play

Playfulness is strongly related to cognitive development and emotional well being. Play supports the development of language, abstract thinking, meta cognitive and self regulation.
Five types of play:
Physical play - includes active exercise and fine motor practice e.g. sewing, coloring, cutting, construction these are often solitary due to their absorbing nature help children to develop concentration and perseverance skills,
Play with objects, often encompass other forms of play simultaneously (e.g. children using objects may also be making up a narrative or drama), related to development of thinking, reasoning and problem solving skills. Children set themselves goals, challenges and monitor their progress, and consequently develop an increasing repertoire of cognitive skills and strategies. Play with objects also associated with children engaging in 'private speech' -as child commentates the activity-this appears to support self regulation and focus on task. Construction and problem solving play - is associated with dev of perseverance and positive attitudes to challenge.
Symbolic play,  drawing -supports ability to understand pictures, photos, diagrams, scale models, plans, maps etc
Pretense or socio dramatic play,- most researched and lots of evidence of the impact of this type of play on children's self regulation,self restraint, enhances social connections. Often children engage in 'private speech'
Games with rules. - Often invented by the children, card games, hide and seek etc -development of taking turns, understanding rules, sharing, understanding others perspectives. Computer games that are well designed and open ended or problem solving are ok.

A good balance of all types of play is considered healthy.
Playful children have secure emotional attachments to significant adults.
Children suffering from from severe play deprivation have abnormalities in neurological development -the provision of play can partially remediate this.
Play provides a trial and error environment where new behaviors, scenarios can be repeated and modified
Play develops problem solving skills
Strong relationship between play and emotional well being

N.B. Tamis- LeMonda and Bornstein (1998)  found infants ability to process information, strongly related to cognitive abilities and this predicted the amount of symbolic play a child engaged in a few years later.

Vygotsky- saw play as crucial to language development and self regulation - Recent research shows these are interrelated and together are very powerful predictors of a childs academic achievement and emotional well being

Has been clearly established that children develop meta cognitive and emotional awareness and develop strategies to control them very early in life-there are significant individual differences -these are established quickly and have long lasting consequences for achievement  and well being. These are learnt and can be taught and play is a powerful context fro their development 

Children need time, space and the independence to develop their own spontaneous and self imitated play activities. 
Richest play spaces are mostly natural and unplanned
Materials and toy are most effective when they are open and flexible and give child opportunities to be creative, have social interaction, have authorship and deep engagement.
Important that child perceives situation as playful.



Where to next for play?

I will continue to ponder the implications of this and continue to provide opportunities for children to engage n play within my class programmer - With a focus on supporting children to negoiate and resolve conflict and self regulate.  How will I do this Enzos choices, IY strateges especially role play of scenarios and problem solving-using puppets.