“In play, a child is always above his average age, above his daily behavior.” (Vigotsky 1966) This makes play one of the most important parts of the child’s early development. From the first days of a child’s life, he is engaged in playing; not only as an enjoyable activity but as one of the most important actions to nurture his development. The most important play for the child is the interaction with the parent; they are the child’s favorite playmate. Play brings together ideas and creativity, relationships, physical co-ordination, feelings and it helps the child to use what he knows and understand about the world and the people around him. When playing, his brain is at work and while playing the brain is progressively influenced by the environment, on what he’s being exposed to. This will have a long term impact on him.
When parents play regularly with him they impart their family values and influence his behavior and attitude at home and at school. Play enables the child to explore his aptitude and personality. Through play, his social skills are also developed, to help him to be aware of other people around him and to learn how to respect them. Playing for a child means
• getting things under control so that he can face the world and deal with it
• getting ready for the future
• thinking about things that have happened to him in the past.
Play is a most powerful learning vehicle for young children. Early childhood should offer children a wide variety of developmentally appropriate experiences. It may look like “just play” to the casual observer, but for a child play is a serious thing; it is the way he learns what he needs to know in order to find his optimal place as a creative, responsible adult in a complex society. This count also for a child with special needs; it too has the right to function in the best individual way in society. Play is the most important thing a young child can do. Play is not only the essence of a happy childhood, it also is the way children learn – about their bodies, about their environment, about ideas, events and the people and objects around them. Playing with him contributes to his physical, emotional and intellectual development. Already almost from his conception he starts to learn. His mind is like empty memory cache; whatever you feed to his mind will be stored in his memory. Through play he learns to communicate with his environment, to count and to solve problems. He also learns to respect and to get on with others like his peers, siblings and teachers which is especially important for his social development.
Child development play helps him in developing an individual personality. It will contribute to:
• have a sense of well being and good self-esteem
• deal with tragedies and setbacks
• have a sense of control
• make good relationships with the parents and his peers
• understand and care about others
• be creative and imaginative, to think and to have ideas and to develop concentration
• be physically co-ordinated.
When it is about the functionality, children learn and develop while they’re playing:
• large muscle skills like reaching, grasping, crawling, running, climbing, skipping, balancing
• hand-eye coordination skills as handling objects
• language skills by communicating on increasingly mature levels: coo and babble games, making-up stories, telling jokes and communicating thoughts and feelings. Also children that need other ways of communication develop these language skills, be it to their own possibilities
• social skills through experiences from simple contact with another person to learning to cooperate, taking turns and playing by the rules
• cognitive skills as a result of problem solving with play materials, ideas, events and people. This begins in infancy when the baby makes the startling discovery that his action causes a reaction, such as when a shaken rattle produces a sound. Stimulating play environments facilitate progress to higher levels of thought throughout childhood.
• emotional development through positive play experiences that allow children to feel successful and capable. Sharing positive play experiences forges strong bonds between adult and child from the earliest stages of infancy through childhood.
