My thoughts of role on "play," now and when I was a child; it is essential for children to be introduced to "play," but in a positve form. Children need to experience as many forms of positve "play" as to their developmental growth. Growing up, we all played together in the neighborhood and in pre-school. I remember playing with friends and experiencing times, were I may have cried or my feelings got hurt, but in the end, I learned different types of "play." Play is beneficial for children to go through in order to grow and learn from. I learned problem-solving skills, and how to deal with certain things through interacting with my peers. It is crucial in todays early childhood programs for children to experinces "play." Play stimulates children thoughts and allows them to make their on decisions. It is crucial for children to experience and learn things on thier own; this enables them to grow into productive individuals. Play is the first opportunity for children to discover the world in which they live in (Jona K. Anderson-McNamee, 2010).
Play is important because it is the way in which children are able to to use and reflect on their experiences, to represent their ideas and to ask answer questions that preoccupy them (Smidt 2006).
I never thought of play a a "way in which children are able to use and reflect on their experiences," but I can see how that could be. I know as I child I often played school after school, and I can imagine that I acted like whatever teacher I currently had. In the last class, Dr. Alison Gropnik said that "Play allows children to explore the possibilities." I like to think of dramatic play in this way. It allows children to become someone or something else and to see how that makes them feel. I wonder if my playing school has anything to do with why I became a teacher?
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