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The Importance of Play in The Preschool Classroom: by Karen Sue Sussman
The Importance of Play in The Preschool Classroom: by Karen Sue Sussman
“I’m sorting the bears,” says 4-year-old Mark to Julia. social worlds. In play, children learn collaboration
“I got red, blue, yellow, and green bears. You want and conflict resolution with friends as they investi-
to play with me?” gate the properties of equipment, materials, and rou-
“OK,” says Julia. tines. Through the phenomenon of play, children
After playing for a while, they take out the balanc- develop and learn as they participate in activities in
ing scale. Their teacher moves closer to observe. every area of the classroom. Play affords children the
“The red bears are heavier than the blue bears,” ability to improve their language, social, physical,
Mark says to his teacher. math, science, and thinking skills. The development
“How do you know?” she asks. and enhancement of these skills promotes their self-
“They make the scale go down,” says Mark. esteem.
“There are more red bears than blue bears.” Parten (1932) describes play in which children are
observers, engage with materials independently (sol-
n n n itary play or parallel play), or interact or cooperate
with others.
dren use to explore the mysteries of the physical and tend you’re a butterfly),
■ to act or imitate the part of a person or character
photo b y s usan gaet z
blocks),
■ exercise or activity for amusement or recreation
goose).”
Children get involved in many different kinds of
play in preschool. As they move from one activity
center to another, they adjust the level of interaction
with others, assume roles, negotiate problems, and
reflect preferences.
A growing body of research shows a connection
between play—especially imaginative, pretend
play—and the development of cognitive and social
© Texas Child Care quarterly / winter 2012 / VOLUME 36, NO. 3 / childcarequarterly.com
skills that are needed for learning more complex begin to think and use their own skills to plan inter-
concepts. Play is linked to growth in memory, self- actions and temper behavior. Sometimes adults do
regulation, language, and symbol recognition. have to step in to maintain safety or encourage har-
“Play has also been linked to increased literacy mony, but with adequate play experiences children
skills and other areas of academic learning (a view become more likely to resolve their own conflicts:
held by Piagetian and Vygotskian theories of child “Let’s both use it and play together.”
development)” (Leong and Bodrova 2005). Just as a
child’s daily use of the monkey bars builds strength
and more fluid physical skills, opportunities for
daily play build social, emotional, and cognitive play is linked to growth in memory,
strength. self-regulation, language, and
Solitary Children play alone. Lori completes a puzzle, plays with a doll, or rides
a bicycle.
Onlooker Child watches, but does not engage in Mari and Will watch two classmates negotiate the
play. use of a balance scale.
Parallel Children play independently, but side Jen and Carlos read books or build blocks next to
by side. each other with no interaction.
Associative Children share materials, make their Margo and Lynn share crayons at the art table and
own projects, and tell stories about make their own pictures and talk about them, or pre-
them. tend to run a restaurant in the dramatic play area.
Cooperative Child is engaged in the activity and Emily, Austin, and Ashlyn invite others to join a
with other people involved. game of hide-and-seek after negotiating and shar-
ing the game rules and goals.
© Texas Child Care quarterly / winter 2012 / VOLUME 36, NO. 3 / childcarequarterly.com
help build their vocabularies, comprehension, imagi- to divergent thinking” (2009). As children become
nation, and oral communication skills. more engaged in pretend play, the play gets more
Thiel (2010) has done research in how children complicated and different situations arise. The chil-
learn mathematical concepts through play. When dren start to solve their own problems with help as
playing on the playground, for example, children necessary from teachers. Emfinger identified “numer-
collect rocks, leaves, pine cones, and branches. They ical conceptions” as children talked, used fingers and
count, sort, and gather—precursors of counting and tally marks, and read numbers.
basic mathematical computation. Vanfossen (2008) has investigated the social
aspects of play in young children. He claims that
young children do not have adequate opportunity to
play games, interact in small groups, or explore arti-
assuming new roles helps facts that help them build background knowledge in
children enhance social studies—history, geography, civics, the envi-
ronment, and the economy.
peer relationships. But children do have opportunities to learn about
themselves, others, and the environment in which
they live through imaginary play (Benson 2004).
Dramatic play allows children to act out stories, dress
Emfinger (2009), also interested in the develop- up, be creative, and socialize with friends. According
ment of number skills, has examined how mathe- to the Center for Best Practices in Early Childhood
matics is used on a regular basis in play activities. In (2002), dramatic play “permits children to fit the real-
a study of children from preschool to fifth grade in a ity of the world into their own interests and knowl-
summer program, she found that their play “includ- edge. In doing so, children are able to problem solve,
ed the following arithmetic mathematical behaviors: work through conflicts, socialize, gain realistic expe-
one-to-one correspondence, counting, adding, sub- riences, and make sense of their environment.”
tracting, and representing number via written and In addition, “Children experiment with different
spoken signs and symbols.” roles as they explore the familiar and the unknown
She has described dramatic play, in which two or through pretend play” (Townsend-Butterworth
more children adapt roles and play out a script, as 2012). For many children, taking risks and trying out
play that “involves representation, negotiation, per- new activities—and trying on new behaviors—is
spective taking, and problem solving—the precursors often easier in dramatic play.
photo b y s usan gaet z
© Texas Child Care quarterly / winter 2012 / VOLUME 36, NO. 3 / childcarequarterly.com
Assuming new roles helps children enhance peer Strasser and Koppel (2010), who also studied gender
relationships. “For example, young children use differences, have reported: “When we encouraged
social skills to get a friend’s attention, offer or ask to children to take materials from one area to another,
share something, and say something to a friend,” they moved naturally between centers as they extend-
(Ostrosky and Meadan 2010). Sharing, negotiating, ed their play scenarios.” Teachers also added books,
and interacting with props often encourages a quiet photos, stuffed animals, and other props to allow
observer to engage and respond with less hesitation more gender mixing in play areas. Some girls played
and may allow a child to demonstrate a skill or in the block area, and boys went to the kitchen and
knowledge that is unfamiliar to the group. Ostrosky dramatic area to investigate and explore.
and Meadan (2010) believe teachers can stimulate Holmes and Procaccino (2009) have observed
children’s play using prompting, modeling, and European-American children (3- and 4-year-olds)
active role playing with peer groups. participating in outdoor play at nursery school. As a
Burton and Edwards (2009) have identified multi- result of their study, they found that a child’s gender
fold rewards of play for English language learners: played an important role in the choice of outdoor
“Play is extremely beneficial in overcoming commu- play. Girls went to play in the sandbox, whereas
nication challenges between English speakers and boys gravitated to the swings and the jungle gym.
speakers of other languages.” By sharing toys, role Boys used the riding toys more than the girls.
playing, and building together, children foster “Once children engage in gender-specific play,
friendships in the classroom. Through pretend play, they tend to play more with same-gender peers and
children build vocabulary that allows them to nego- play less with opposite-gender peers” (Frost,
tiate with one another. English language learners Wortham, and Reifel 2008). According to these
become more independent, use self-regulation, and authors, boys play more with blocks and toys, while
develop self-esteem. girls use art materials and dolls.
Weinberger and Stein (2008) have studied selected “Children learn to communicate their feelings,
differences in boys’ and girls’ play in preschool: thoughts, and needs through movement and play,”
“Typically, girls arrange themselves in small groups of according to Stephens and Crowe (2008). Their small
two or three with play that is relatively cooperative, study of six 3-year-olds (three boys and three girls),
whereas boys congregate in larger groups and are which focused on gender differences in language
more likely than girls to be involved in direct compe- and physical movement, found that girls conversed
tition with each other.” They found that in mixed- more than boys in their play. Boys were involved
gender groups all children are competitive. with discovery and adventure, while girls were
engaged in dramatic play. Children who did physi-
photo b y s usan gaet z
© Texas Child Care quarterly / winter 2012 / VOLUME 36, NO. 3 / childcarequarterly.com
children; the autistic children talked more than develop social and emotional skills in play by
before but mostly to themselves. sharing, taking turns, resolving conflict, and learn-
ing self-regulation.
What do we need to play? ■ Use movement activities during transitions. These
child-directed approach that focuses on developing engrossed in their play activities in the various
autonomy and self-reliance.” With that in mind, we centers, use open-ended questions to encourage
offer the following recommendations: interaction with teachers and peers. Provide props
■ Schedule time for children’s free play. Provide that help children pretend, imagine, create,
choices via learning centers in the classroom. explore, discover, and communicate as they play.
Encourage the children, and act as facilitators to Model interactions that promote children’s social
support the children in their many endeavors. If a skills, stimulate their sense of self-worth, and
child dresses up like a fire fighter, for example, encourage collaboration.
ask, “What are you dressed as? What do you do?” As teachers of young children, we need to facili-
■ Ensure a curriculum that allows preschool children tate the most natural and innate teaching tool at our
many times of varied play throughout the day. disposal—play!
According to Stregelin (2009), children participat-
ing in physical, cognitive, language, and social References
play will develop and succeed in school as they Bergen, D. 2001. Pretend play and young children’s
get older. development. ERIC Digest ED4445805. Chicago:
■ Give children opportunities to engage in non- ERIC Clearinghouse on Elementary and Early
structured and structured play in the classroom. Childhood Education. Retrieved Dec. 26, 2011,
Reading aloud, engaging children in class discus- from www.eric.ed.gov/ERICWebPortal/
sions, re-enacting stories, and role playing improve recordDetail?accno=ED458045.
verbal communication and literacy skills. Puzzles, Benson, T. R. August 2004. The importance of dramat-
counting and sorting toys, and cooking activities ic play. Retrieved April 22, 2012, from www.Pbs.
involve children in mathematics. Science is ongo- org/teachers/earlychildhood/articles/dramatic.
ing as children discover and use inquiry skills Burton, S., and L. C. Edwards. 2009. Creative play:
while they play with grass, twigs, bottle caps, and Building connections with children who are learn-
buttons in their classroom or outdoors. Children ing English. In K. M. Paciorek (Ed.), Early
© Texas Child Care quarterly / winter 2012 / VOLUME 36, NO. 3 / childcarequarterly.com
Play materials in early care and education classrooms
Pretending and Blocks; transportation toys; construction Many blocks for building complex structures; trans-
building sets, child-sized furniture (kitchen sets, portation toys; construction sets, child-sized furni-
chairs, play food); dress-up clothes; ture, play food and home-life tools; dress-up
dolls with accessories; puppets; sand clothes; dolls with accessories; puppets and simple
and water play toys puppet theaters; sand and water play toys
Creativity Large non-toxic, washable crayons and Large and small crayons and markers; large and
markers; large paintbrushes; finger small paintbrushes; finger paint; large and small
paint; large paper for drawing and paper for drawing and painting; colored construc-
painting; colored construction paper; tion paper; preschooler-sized scissors, chalkboard
toddler-sized scissors with blunt tips; and large and small chalk; modeling clay and play
chalkboard and large chalk; rhythm dough with shaping tools; paste, paper and cloth
instruments scraps for collage; musical instruments including
rhythm instruments, keyboards, xylophones, mara-
cas and tambourines
Listening and visual Books and pictures with realistic images Books with more visual detail, more words, and
skills and clear, life-like detail new vocabulary; nonsense and realistic stories and
songs; pictures that help draw associations
between the known and the unknown
Listening Skills Recorded and live sounds—both musi- Musical and environmental sound (recorded or
cal and environmental real); stories with surprise endings, stories with pre-
dictable endings; rhymes; finger plays; puppets;
opportunities to make up and repeat stories
Fine- and Large and small balls for kicking and Large and small balls for kicking and throwing and
gross-motor throwing, ride-on toys; push and pull catching; ride-on equipment including wagons,
development toys; tunnels, low climbers with soft wheelbarrows, and tricycles; tunnels, taller climbers
material underneath; pounding and and wheelbarrows; plastic bats and balls; plastic
hammering toys bowling pins; targets and balls or beanbags; a
workbench with vise, hammer, nails and saw
Technology Not recommended Programs that promote interaction (the child can
do something), can be understood by children (the
software uses graphics, spoken instruction, and
print), allow children to control the software’s pace
and paths, and provide opportunities to explore a
variety of concepts on several levels
Source: National Association for the Education of Young Children, Good Toys for Young Children, Dec. 14, 2011.
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© Texas Child Care quarterly / winter 2012 / VOLUME 36, NO. 3 / childcarequarterly.com