learning from play

What is play?

Play is what you do when you’re not trying to do anything; it’s an activity whose goal is not to have a goal

What are the qualities of play?

• Play is not work nor is it incompetent work

• Play is fun

• Play is voluntary

• Play is not like other basic drives - they play when needs are met

• Play has a special structure, a pattern of repetition, and variation

In children, what is rough and tumble play? and what is it associated with?

Rough and tumble play is rolling, wrestling, nipping, pinning, and general roughhousing that we see as a sign of friendship. Early rough and tumble play in children is associated with better social competence later on.

What is the role of the frontal cortex in play?

Social coordination; rats who play produce certain chemicals called cholinergic that make their more plastic.

What is the name of the chemicals released in rats during play that makes their brain more plastic?

Cholinergic

What was found when administering nicotine into rats who had and hadn’t played when they were young?

Nicotine had a much greater effect on rats who has roughhoused when they were young.

What does an enriching environment for play do to the brain?

The “enriched” environments where animals and children are provided with toys, sticks and palm leaves helps them make for a more plastic brain and allows them to develop intelligence.

What kind of play is pop-beads and popper?

It’s the idea that children will play with a gadget in a structured way that gives them information they need to figure out what the gadget does - a form of experimentation.

Why don’t adults play with gadgets in the same way babies do?

Adults suffer from “confirmation bias” where we pa attention to things that fit what we already know and ignore things that might shake up our perceptions. Babies have a positive hunger for the unexpected.

Piaget’s theory on why children play pretend?

They can’t distinguish between reality and fantasy

Why is piaget’s theory on playing pretend wrong?

Children at a young age are adept at distinguishing between the two (reality and fantasy)

Why do kids’s play pretend?

It’s related to a distinctively human ability; hypothetical and counterfactual thinking. The ability to consider alternate ways the world might be is a central learning ability in human.

According to Marjorie Taylor, what percent of preschoolers have some kind of imaginary companion?

66%

What was found with Bayesian babies research?

Most children not only pretend, but they spontaneously elaborated on the pretend premise, and only about a third of the children were sternly literal.

What is theory of mind?

The ability to figure out the desires, perceptions, emotions, and beliefs of other people. It is the most important learning people will do.

What is the period of time for developing theory of mind?

Typically 18 months - 5 years; asd children have a harder time

Why does play help children?

It teaches them how to deal with the unexpected, lets children randomly and variably try out a range of actions and ideas, and then work out the consequences. However, we don’t play because it gives us robust cognitive functions, we play because it is fun.

What is scaffolding in play?

The grown-up does not build knowledge for the child, the grown-up builds a scaffold, and the scaffold helps the child build knowledge themselves. This form of guided play parallels work on children’s learning and listening.

How can caregivers contribute to play without telling children to play or how to play?

• Finding resources to create a safe & stable environment

• Giving children a chance to master the tools of their particular culture

• Sometimes join play themselves. Through guided play, caregivers allow the children to lead the way, but they also are there to suggest or elaborate

What is Vygotsky’s definition of play?

Play fulfills children’s needs, when their desires are not met, they enter an imaginary illusory world in which the desires can be met.

According to vygotsky, what are two characteristics of play

• imaginary situation

• rules exist in play - even in pretend scenarios, rules exist to guide behaviour.

What is the role of play on children’s development?

• Play helps children break free from situational constraints that limit their real-life actions

• Psychologist Kurt Lewin demonstrated that young children are highly constrained by their immediate environment, however, with play, children act based on internal motivations rather than external stimuli. This ability to operate independently of external forces is a key developmental milestone.

• Play allows children to create and navigate an internal cognitive world, making choices based on imagination and self-imposed rules rather than being dictated by their surroundings.

Why is detachment a major cognitive milestone in children?

It allows for imagination and abstract thinkinf

What is the symbolic nature of play? and how is it a transitional stage?

Play follows a structured symbolic relationship, and represents a shift from early childhood constraints to abstract thought.

How is play a path for self-regulation?

The child plays in an imaginary situation while following rules, but they do what feels easy while also learning self-restraint, since immediate desire is often part of the game. Games often require children to act against their spontaneous impulses.

How does play inver the action-meaning relationship?

In early development, action dominates meaning, but in play, the structure is reversed, meaning becomes dominate and action is subordinated. A child can act out meaning without a physical object, this is a critical step towards abstract thinking.

How does play evolve as children grow up?

Young children do not distinguish between imagination and reality in play, as they grow older, play becomes more limited in form but doesn’t disappear, just evolves into other activities like school work and sports, where rules and structure take over.

According to Vygotsky’s theory on tools of the mind, how can teachers use scaffolding to help children develop mental tools?

• use of mediators

• improve quality of play