Play in a child’s life

Play is the reproduction of a behavior or elements of it, simply because it is enjoyable or interesting.

The game is one of the forms of learning, when in the process of playing children (and adults) receive the knowledge and improve those skills that will be involved in life in the future. Children are most disposed to play, but even at a later age, play moments are often preserved in a veiled form.

Regardless of its form or structure, a game is motivated by the interaction of the player’s states with the states of the environment. The environment must contain elements that allow the alternation of elements of the motivational state of the individual. This generates activity characterized by pleasure, interest, and relaxation of tension. The elements that generate play behavior may be similar to those that arouse curiosity and evoke exploratory (or exploratory) behavior.

Game types

Day distinguishes 5 types of play and argues that external, observable characteristics do not always make it possible to distinguish between these types; they differ chiefly in their source and purpose. This is:

• exploration game. This type is motivated by uncertainty about objects and events in the external environment.
• Creative game. This type is a more complex manifestation of exploratory play, requiring the ability to symbolize and knowledge of the external or physical characteristics of stimuli (toys).
• Variety game. Such a game looks like an aimless interaction with the environment in general when it gets boring. See Entertainment Games
• Mimetic game. This one is usually repetitive, structured and symbolic. Its goal is to achieve competence and mastery.
• Cathartic game. Being therapeutic in its purpose, it can take any form. Although it tends to reduce arousal, this game does not appear to be associated with a positive hedonic effect or pleasure.

Why should a child play role-playing games?

The author of this fragment is Anna Vladlenovna Knyazeva

The game for a preschool child is the main means of understanding the world, learning and education. Therefore, the quality of children’s play is directly related to the further development of the child. For many famous people, children’s play has grown into a profession that has become the meaning of life. Here are examples of such destinies: Stanislavsky, Agatha Christie, Peter the Great, Marina Tsvetaeva, Svyatoslav Richter and many others.

In today’s society, there are many activities that rival and even supplant children’s play, such as the computer, television, and early learning. Nowadays, there are more and more children who practically do not play with other children. In this regard, questions arise: What is the meaning of children’s play? Are there age limits for children’s play? When should parents be concerned? What to play with the child and how? — Let’s figure it out together.

There are few activities in the family that affect the development of the child, these are work, productive activities and play.

The work of children in the family is now historically being supplanted. The fact that parents have few children, housing conditions, the availability of household appliances, the active development of the sphere of domestic services, leads to the fact that parents do not need to involve their child in housework, except for educational purposes. Girls no longer need to wash, sew, make food preparations, even the dishes are now washed in dishwashers (which, by the way, is beneficial for the family, because it saves water). For a long time, boys have not needed to chop wood, graze cattle, heat the stove, repair dishes and shoes, or do construction work around the house. Sometimes, the only thing a child has to do is put away their belongings (toys, clothes, books). And even such a small amount of work can be boycotted by the child, because he does not feel the real need of the family for his help (the mother herself copes with this work faster and better). If the parents do not have sufficient authority, especially if the family is in fact led by children, the children in the family will not work, because they do not want to. How to treat it? It should be bad to deal with it. An adult person knows how to work and loves, and he can and should acquire this skill in the family from childhood. Clever parents do not nod at historical circumstances, but accustom the child to household chores, switching to the mode: “Children should not help their parents!”. It is parents who should help their children in their household chores, because children are responsible for household chores.

All conditions have now been created for the development of a child’s productive or aesthetic activity. Almost any child now has access to drawing, modeling, singing, dancing, needlework, modeling and other types of children’s creativity. Shops abound with a selection of materials, a variety of creative studios and teachers offer their services. But, unfortunately, even these educational and developmental activities cannot always be realized in a modern family. The reason is the presence of a TV and a computer, as well as the emotional fatigue of parents. As surveys conducted among parents of preschoolers show, most parents do not draw, do not sculpt, or do needlework with their children at home. Moms and dads who are busy at work, at best, take their children to various circles and studios, and prefer to relax at home, giving children the opportunity to choose their own leisure time. But after all, preschoolers, firstly, imitate their parents, and secondly, they need a partner in common activities. Therefore, they also enjoy watching TV and playing at the computer, despite the fact that there are paints, plasticine, music and many toys in the house.

There remains one more magic tool that is useful for children’s development — a role-playing game. Let’s see, what is the meaning, meaning, of a child’s game?

• The game develops the motives and needs of the child — in the game the desire to act is formed, the development of morality in human relations (honesty, patience, initiative, mutual understanding, mutual assistance …).
• In the game, the child develops a desire to grow up — to perform (so far only in the game) socially significant activities: to heal, teach, build, raise children, perform feats, etc.
• The game develops the management of one’s behavior: the subordination of one’s actions to a role, understanding the need for rules, creating rules, understanding the rights and obligations of the players, developing the will.
• In the game, egocentrism is overcome — the development of the ability to take the position of another is impossible without game partners.
• In the game, the development of mental actions takes place: generalization of actions, development of the logic of actions, preliminary design, planning, control, development of arbitrary speech, development of attention, memory, imagination.
• It is the role-playing game of preschoolers that is the best means of preparing a child for school, because the main secret of school success lies not in the child’s skills, but in his social maturity.

Games at different stages of child development

Piaget, basing his taxonomy of play on his own theory of cognitive development, argued that a certain type of play predominates at each stage of development: See Play at different stages of a child’s development

play therapy

Play is used by some therapists as a form of treatment. It is difficult for children to clearly describe their thoughts and feelings to the therapist, but they are able to “show” their thoughts, experiences, desires and fears in the game. See Play Therapy