The Importance of Play
According to the Association for Childhood International (ACEI) , play is a "dynamic, active, and constructive behavior that is an essential and integral part of all children's healthy growth, development, and learning across all ages, domains, and cultures". I truly believe that play is fundamental for every child's development. Throughout the year, your children will be growing physically, socially, emotionally, cognitively, and linguistically. By incorporating play as a teaching strategy in our classroom, growth is encouraged across all the domains as children communicate with one another, learn from each other, and develop fine and gross motor skills. One important way to encourage development through play is by being intentional about the centers available to students. Below you will see a few of the centers in our classroom, and a brief description of how they are designed intentionally to promote development in the four main domains.
Block Station
When children play with blocks they are engaging in play cognitively by learning mathematic skills such as: creating patterns, recognizing blocks by shape and size (geometry), experimenting with area and space, and measuring their structures using their own units. Cognitively, children are also developing architecture and engineering skills as they practice building towers, bridges, tunnels, and creative structures personal to their imaginations. Block play can also promote social development as students use teamwork to cooperate and build together. Creativity and feelings of pride are fostered as children express themselves through unique designs and structures. You'll often times hear students in this center asking for praise when they call out, "hey, come look at what we made!" This is a wonderful opportunity to help child build self-esteem, which is essential in emotional development. Building with blocks also promotes physical development as children use fine motor skills and hand-eye coordination to balance blocks on top of each other .
Pretend Play Center
In an article published by the NAEYC make-believe play is described as "a fantasy world created by children where their imagination soars, their language expands, and their social skills develop." In our pretend play center we combat stereotypes that boys play with blocks and girls play in the kitchen. In our pretend play center, all children are welcome and encouraged to use their imaginations. Make-believe is extremely beneficial in encouraging social and emotional development. As students take on different roles, they are revealing what they see and know to be true about the world. When these ideas come into the pretend play center, children learn from each other and learn to accept the ideas of others. This not only builds social skills but also emotional skills as children express themselves in a safe environment. Cognitively student's language develops as they communicate using language brought from outside of the classroom. To encourage literacy development items in the kitchen are labeled. Finally, physical development is fostered in fine motor activities such as buttoning and zipping dress up clothes, and learning to tie shoes and aprons.
Art Center
In our art center children are given creative freedom to create whatever they want. New mediums and materials are introduced into the Art Center every few weeks to encourage students to explore cognitively through activating their sense of touch. Art projects encourage focus and hand-eye coordination as students transfer their creative ideas from their mind onto the paper or project they are working on. The Art Center also gives students the freedom to express themselves and take pride in their work. This is essential in building self-esteem and emotional wellness. Physically, students are working on fine motor skills as they open markers or paints, draw, color, cut with scissors, and glue.
To read more about how creative arts support development across the domains click the button below.
To read more about how creative arts support development across the domains click the button below.
Sensory Station
The sensory station changes throughout the year to incorporate different materials for students to play and experiment with through hands-on experience. This center is based on Piaget's constructivist theory, that children construct understanding through active experiences. During this hands-on play, children are developing cognitively through the use of four of the senses: touch, smell, sight, and sound. Math and science skills are also promoted as students measure, sort, and build depending on the materials. Students also build social skills as they play and cooperatively. As kids ask each other questions and make predictions about the objects they are playing with, language skills are also able to flourish. This center also encourages fine motor skills to develop as students work with different size objects. Depending on the materials students could be shucking corn, pouring water, squeezing sponges, digging in dirt, sifting sand, and more!
If you would like to donate objects or materials to our sensory station please contact me!
If you would like to donate objects or materials to our sensory station please contact me!
References: |
Bullard, B. J., (2010). How the art center enhances child
development. education.com. Retrieved from: http://www.education.com/reference/article/art-center- enhances-children-development/?page=2 Colker, L. J., Block off time for learning. Teaching Young Children, 1(3), 14-16. doi:http://www.naeyc.org/files/tyc/file /Block%20Off%20Time.pdf Isenberg, J. P., & Quisenberry, N. (2002) Play: essential for all children. Association for Childhood Education International. 1-8. Leong, D. J. & Bodrova, E., (2012). Assessing and scaffolding make- believe play. YoungChildren.Retrieved from: http://www. naeyc.org/files/yc/file/201201/Leong_Make_Believe_ Play_Jan2012.pdf National Association for the Education of Young People. 10 Ways to use the sensory table. Teaching Young Children 8(1) . doi:http://www.naeyc.org/tyc/article/10-ways-to-use-the- sensory-table |
