Many individuals have thoroughly researched the role of play in the early childhood classroom. Besides enjoying the play, children also benefit from it in numerous ways and hence the importance of play. In the education world, the play might seem a vague term because of the unclear definition mainly when placing it in the classroom context. A play is anything the learner does in the social context as well as during the free time. Both free and guided play is essential in education. According to Van Hoorn, (2014), the play presents four components including non-literality, free choice, motivation from within, and simulation of the real emotion. The free play is centred on the student and often guided by themselves. In this type of play, leaners are at their liberty to choose the manner in which they are going to play as well as what to play which. Free play enhances the development of problem-solving skills, collaboration skills, conflict negotiation, and social-emotional growth (Salamon et al., 2016). Structured play, on the other hand, is teacher-centred whereby the instructor controls the play environment. Structured play helps learners to develop cooperative skills, strategy, adhering to instructions and unleashing a specific learning content.
Benefits of Play
Play in early childhood education is essential to the child’s development because it significantly impacts the cognitive, social, emotional, and physical well-being of the child (Stern, 2017). Children acquire knowledge via their play. It helps them to learn to think, recall, and solve the problems. Through play, children have the opportunity of testing their beliefs concerning the world. Using games and puzzles, children enhance their problem-solving abilities. Ginsburg, (2013), points out that play enables children to develop new competencies that result in improved confidence as well as resiliency needed in dealing with future challenges. The learners taking part in the make-believe play can simulate numerous forms of learning. They can enhance the language skills via modelling other children as well as adults. When children are engaged in house games, they can formulate stories about their roles. Through getting involves in play that imitates their family experiences, children learn about particular positions of the family members. According to Ginsburg, (2013), play enables children in the creation and exploration of the world they can master, overcoming the fears and practising the adult roles in collaboration with the peers or the instructor.
Besides, children acquire a better comprehension of size, texture, and shape which helps them in learning the relationships. Play enables children to be creative as they develop their imaginations and therefore crucial to the healthy development of the brain. A play is a very first tool through a child discovers the world around him. It gives the child an ability of mastering skills necessary for the development of self-confidence as well as ability quickly recover from the setbacks. Play helps a child to appreciate being part of the group which eventually enables them to learn other skills such as negotiation, sharing, working within a group, and problem-solving among others. During play, children put into practice decision-making skills enabling them to move at their pace as well as the discovery of their interests.
Their identity determines the ability of educators to create and facilitate an engaging learning environment as well as engaging learning environments for children. Several principles and practices underpin the learning and development of policy frameworks. The five core principles include respect for diversity, partnerships, secure, respectful, and reciprocal relationships, high expectations and equity, and ongoing learning and reflective practice (Sumsion et al., 2014). The play-based curriculum takes into consideration all these principles, and therefore the educator needs to clearly understand the actual purpose behind these principles and the way they relate to his/her pedagogical practice (Burchinal, 2018). The practice underpinning this framework include holistic approaches, learning through play, responsiveness to children, cultural competence, and intentional teaching.
Relationships and intentional scaffolding
As an early childhood educator, I perceive relationships being at the centre of everything I do. Establishing genuine, and positive relationships with children, their families, and relationships with each other are significant in achieving positive outcomes. As highlighted by the Early Year Learning Framework, the best results for children are achieved when both families and educators work together. To achieve this goal, I intend to create the relationship with learners, their parents, and other educators. Da Ros-Voseles " Fowler-Haughey, (2007), points out that the relationship between early childhood educator and children enables educators to identify their essential role in strengthening desirable disposition in learners. These relations favours scaffolding and Burchinal, (2018), points out that research indicates that embracing the teaching practice of scaffolding brings immense benefits. Relationship with the parents is significant because, through it, educators can be able to influence perceptions of parents towards their children dispositions (Da Ros-Voseles " Fowler-Haughey, 2007).
Co-playing
As an educator, dealing with the play-based curriculum demands co-playing with children to facilitate the play and report and extend what learners learn from the play. The practice of learning through play as stipulated by the EYLF framework can be adopted through playing with children in various roles.
Supporting learning and development
Various strategies are effective in engaging children to support their education and development. First is through scaffolding learning. The early year learning framework identifies the responsive teaching as the best mechanism for scaffolding learning. Therefore, the educate assessing, anticipating, and extending the learning of children through open-ended questioning, challenging their thinking, providing feedback, and guiding their learning are essential in responding to the evolving interests and ideas of learners (Sumsion et al., 2014). Getting involved via utilising the spontaneous teachable moments as a way of scaffolding learning dramatically impacts the early childhood education. Learning and development will also be supported by adopting children's disposition and other techniques that strengthen the desirable dispositions in the children. Acknowledgement and appreciation of children's efforts, provision of specific feedbacks, and avoiding the use of the extrinsic rewards such as prizes will to a greater extent impact the child's development. According to Dziurgot and Trawick, (2011), adults modify their engagement in play to achieve the needs of a learner in particular situations within the specific timeframes in a child's development. With regards to this, the educator observing the trial and error while a child is playing and asks the child his/her thoughts about what is likely to occur if a particular activity is done. Out of curiosity, the child will go ahead testing this idea hence developing his creative skills.
Role of an educator
The benefits of a play can be maximised when the early childhood educator facilitates the play; otherwise limited learning is likely to take place. The educator supports the child play which is a necessary component of the developmentally appropriate practice (Ebbeck " Waniganayake, 2016). Also, the teacher takes interventions in the play on many possibilities ranging from assisting in problem-solving, redirecting undesired behaviours, enticing the learner to play themes, and questioning. In addition to these, the educator teaches the child play skills particularly those with difficulty to get involved in the play scenario. Often, the curriculum content is presented in the form of a play as educators introduce play themes, help learners expand on their ideas, and prove the materials. Also, the teacher plays the role of assisting children in planning tasks, pose open-ended questions, extends and enhances learning, and encourages children to talk to their peers.
Educators must be intentional in planning for play. In this particular context, the intentional teaching techniques used by the educator include utilising their understanding of growth and development in the determination of what is age as well as stage appropriate, culturally appropriate, and individually appropriate for each child within the classroom. Also, the educator negotiates roles, express a different point of view, share space and material, and resolve disputes. The teacher, however, should give children a chance of dealing with their emotions, feelings, and fears which they are not able to address.
Challenging children’s choices in play
Since the educator has a broader understanding of what a child requires to be a successful learner, they can set a stage for learning that favours broadening the objectives of the desired child outcomes. At some point, the teacher challenges the thinking of children by taking part in the thinking process with learners (Van Hoorn, 2014). This challenge occurs when an educator intends to achieve sustained shared thought. In this situation, the educator is not involved in the play as a provider of knowledge, instead, scaffold the learners with questions that assist them in finding answers to their questions or solutions to their problems. In the case of a child playing with blocks, the educator can challenge the learner not only to focus on continued block exploration and constructions but also encouraging individual interests and needs for the child to experience the more profound satisfaction of attaining a goal (Ginsburg, 2013). The educator poses this challenge because he understands the rich opportunities present in blocks that enhance social, language, physical, and cognitive development.
Conclusion
Adopting the play-based curriculum into the early childhood education programming enhances children development and improves the performance of their academic activities. Play in childhood education enhances social growth, language skills, cognitive development, and physical development.
References
Salamon, A., Sumsion, J., Press, F., " Harrison, L. (2016). Implicit theories and naïve beliefs: Using the theory of practice architectures to deconstruct the practices of early childhood educators. Journal of Early Childhood Research, 14(4), 431-443.
Da Ros-Voseles, D., " Fowler-Haughey, S. (2007). Why children’s dispositions should matter to all teachers. Beyond the Journal: Young Children on the Web, 1(3), 1-7.
Burchinal, M. (2018). Measuring early care and education quality. Child Development Perspectives, 12(1), 3-9.
Van Hoorn, J. L., Monighan-Nourot, P., Scales, B., " Alward, K. R. (2014). Play at the centre of the curriculum. Pearson.
Stern, W. (2017). Psychology of early childhood: up to the sixth year of age. Routledge.
Ebbeck, M., " Waniganayake, M. (2016). Play in early childhood education: Learning in diverse contexts.
Sumsion, J., Grieshaber, S., McArdle, F., " Shield, P. (2014). The'state of play'in Australia: Early childhood educators and play-based learning. Australasian Journal of early childhood, 39(3), 4.
Ginsburg, K. R. (2013). The importance of play in promoting healthy child development and maintaining a strong parent-child bond, Journal of American Academy of Pediatrics, 119 (1), 183-185.
