Website Archive - September
Spotlight on Play
This month’s topic is Play. Play is a natural learning activity for children and the most effective way for young children to learn and develop. As they play, children use their experiences and personal knowledge about what they have seen, heard, and imagined and the results of their daily experiments to predict what will happen as they watch, listen, and move themselves and animate and inanimate objects.
Through play children develop the following skills:
- social skills including cooperation and sharing,
- communication skills,
- ability to explain their ideas in various forms (drawing, pictures, models, etc.) as they engage in information-sharing and team work,
- self-awareness as they begin to understand themselves and the world around them,
- imagination and flexibility– as they creatively adapt to new situations, and
- problem-solving – as they find solutions to problems they encounter.
The importance of play on a young child's development cannot be understated. Play gives children opportunities to understand the world, interact with others, express and control emotions, develop symbolic capabilities, attempt novel or challenging tasks, solve problems, and practice skills. Play may contribute to the development of posture, movement, and self-sufficiency. There also appears to be a positive relationships between the frequency and complexity of young children's play and IQ, problem-solving, creativity, language and literacy, and social competence. This paper provides a review of the literature and describes the development of a preschool play-based curriculum for children with disabilities. “Developing a Preschool Play-based Curriculum” by M. F. Hanline.
Children
Another great PBS play and learn site, Caillou offers: Matching game (match types of leaves), Spelling with Caillou (spell words with blocks), Puzzle Game (put together a picture puzzle), Memory Game (matching picture cards), Find Gilbert (locate Gilbert as he hides in pictures), Magic Keyboard (letters typed with the keyboard become musical sounds), Follow the Stars (repeat the patterns as the stars flash), and Dress Caillou (help Caillou dress according to the weather). Most games require minimal adult assistance.
Other Dress Up Sites:
Dress the Berenstain Bears in different rooms of their house with different outfits and accessories; even decorate the rooms with pictures and trimmings.
Decide how to dress Max and Ruby before they go out to play. There are many other activities at this site. Click on TOP FIVE to try La Casa de Dora’s cooking lessons; Blue’s Room to play Guess and Draw, Bubble Puzzle, and Birthday Party Dress up; and Backyardigans Adventure Maker to select and dress up characters in a scene of your choice. There are stories under STORIES and many more activities under ALL GAMES.
Scholastics’ Preschool Playground has six activities for preschoolers to explore.
- Create Playful Poetry allows children to listen to and choose the final word of rhymes and to play word scramble.
- Get to Know offers Peek-a-Boo Puppy (find puppy Clifford as he hides in the house), Puppy Pals (match the puppy cards game), and Flo & Zo Sort It Out (help clean the playroom by placing items in the correct bins by colors and shapes.
- Listen offers Music Match (match the sounds to the pictures), Clifford’s Xylobone (play notes or have xylobone play one of 4 tunes), and Traffic Noise (match 5 trucks with their respective sounds).
- Color offers Match Animal Underwear (where else can kids select and color underwear for crocodiles?) as well as painting and coloring activities.
- Explore offers Chase a Runaway Dog (kids use a flashlight to find a puppy),
- Fly Away with Butterflies (five pictures of caterpillar to butterfly metamorphosis to put in order), and Build a Monster Bug (select head, body, legs, and wings to create “new” bugs).
- Count offers Play Pattern Fun (sequencing patterns), Get Set to Count (place set number of objects in a box), Flo & Zo Sort It Out (help clean the playroom by placing items in the correct bins by colors and shapes), and Practice With Favorite Characters (mazes, word scrambles, patterns, and sequencing shapes).
Parents
Looking for stimulating and creative play ideas for your young children?
BBC’s Parenting offers books, activities, games and outdoor fun for parents and children. The Play and Do section site includes: Books for preschool children, Singing and dancing, Rhythm and music, Letters, Numbers, Colors, Shapes, Opposites, Dressing up, Play dough, Puppets, Physical fun, and Outdoor play. Here’s just a sample of some indoor and outdoor suggestions.
Rhythm and Music includes a number of activities in the following categories:
- Songtime
- Finger games
- Action rhymes
- Stretching and bending
- Dance together
Physical Fun includes a number of physical activities in the following categories:
- Swimming
- Soft play
- Park clubs
- Hide and seek
- Indoor gym
- Skittles
Preschool Children and Pretend Play by Amy Halliburton, University of Missouri-Columbia
This article offers parents insights on the skills developed through pretend play and also provides suggestions for creating an environment which supports pretend play.
The Power Of Pretend Play by Anna Salleh – ABC Science Online discusses the benefits of pretend play especially when a child plays with a slightly older familiar child.
"The older peers used communicative behaviours that often served to 'tutor' the younger children's play," she said. There are benefits for the preschooler too. This type of interaction enables them to practice their language and communication skills and helps their socio-emotional development.
Learn more about the benefits of mixed age group play at this site.
Scholastic offers more than just Book Fairs. This web site offers parents a web of useful information about playing and learning. There’s even a Virtual Classroom Tour that helps parents understand what children are learning at school and how to support that learning at home.
Check out Time Together Activities at this site.
Eric Strickland, Ph.D.’s article “Why Play Outdoors? will encourage parents to turn off the televisions and get their children moving – outside!
Teachers
“What Are Children Learning When They Play” by Marian Edelman Borden. This excerpt from SMART START The Parents' Guide To Preschool Education by Marian Edelman Borden explains what children learn through circle play, music appreciation/creative movement, art projects, outdoor play, cooking, snack time, free-play activities, building with blocks, dramatic play, manipulative toys, cooperative play, sand/water table, puzzles, books, and even cleanup.
Play as a Golden Route to Learning and Development in Preschool Year” by Arve Gunnestad. This comprehensive article covers why and how children need to play, the theories of play, the skills developed through play, and the role of the teacher in play.
[Updated on September 2, 2005]
