Unit - VIII

Play and Child

Development
Meaning

Play is an activity undertaken by

children which they enjoy and feel
pleasurable.
Definition

Play is an unstructured, without having any

rules and regulations and not requiring any
specific tools and place but consists of
spontaneous activities.
Games / Sports
Games:
As children start growing, they take interest in structured
plays having definite rules and regulations. This kind of
planned and structured play is called games. (e.g) long
jump, kabadi, hide and seek etc.
Sports:
Those plays which are not only structured and have
definite rules and regulations, but also require specific
tools and venue are called sports.
Characteristics of Play
 Play is selected by the child itself.
 It is subjective, directed by the child itself.
 Acting according to one’s own rules.
 Play is imaginative.
 It involves actions.
 It does not produce any mental stress.
Kinds of Play

Depending upon the acts involved , plays could be

categorized into six types.
 Physical play
 Expressive play
 Manipulative play
 Symbolic play
 Dramatic play
 Familiarization play
Physical Play

When children run, jump and play games such as chase,

hide-and-seek and tag, they engage in physical play. It
provides exercise which is essential for normal
development.
(e.g) chase
hide-and-seek
tag etc
Expressive Play

 Certain forms of play give children opportunities

to express their feelings by engaging with
materials.

 Materials used in expressive play include paints,

finger paints, water colours, crayons, colour
pencils, markers, drawing paper, clay, water etc
Manipulative Play
 Children control or master their environment through
manipulative play.
 Manipulative play starts in infancy.
 Infancy play with their parents.
(e.g)
 They drop a toy, wait for the parent to pick it up, clean it
and return it and they drop it again.
 This interaction brings the infant and parent together in
a game.
Symbolic Play

 Certain games can symbolically express a child’s

problems
 There is no rules in symbolic play.
 Child can use this play to reinforce, learn about
imaginatively alter painful experience.
 In this type child might act out abusive experience by
hitting or screaming at a doll that symbolizes the child.
Dramatic Play

 Childrenact out situations that suspect may

happen to them, that they fear will happen.
 Dramatic play can be either spontaneous or
guided and may be therapeutic for children in the
hospital.
Familiarization Play

 Childrenhandles materials and explore

experiences in reassuring, enjoyable
ways such as surgey or parental
separation.
Play activities of Childhood

 How play develops in children was carried out by Mildred

Patern in 1920 at the institute of Child development in
Minnessota, America.
 Mildred Patern was an American sociologist, a researcher
at university of Minnesota‘s institute of child
development.
 She identified six stages of play that children progress
through.
Unoccupied Play

 Infants from birth to six months appear to

be performing random movements with
their limbs with no apparent purpose. This
is relatively infrequent style of play.
Solitary Play/ Independent Play

 Children up to the age of 2, are completely engaged in

playing alone with their toys and do not seem to notice
other children.
 They may manipulate their toys according to their models,
either placing one over other or rolling them hither to
thither.
 The playing toys of a child may differ from these of other
children.
 Children of this age group play, simply for their pleasure.
Parallel Play

 Children between 2 and 3 years old may sit with their

respective toys side by side with others but not allow to
share with any one.
 After some months, they may play by sharing with their
toys.
 They may use the same toy but play separately.
Onlooker Play

 A child of 3 ½ years old takes an interest in other

children’s play but does not join in.
 This kind of play helps to increase the vocabulary of
children.
 Shyness, lack of knowledge etc may be the reason for
children not joining others to play. But simply watch
others play.
Associative Play

 Children of age 3 ½ years to 5 years may be

interested in each other than toys they are using.
 This kind of play may not be structured and lack
rules and regulations.
 This type of play children may talk among
themselves, share the toys and some children
following what others are doing.
Co- Operative Play

Play becomes structure.

Playing has some goal and children
often adopt roles and act as a
group.
At the age of 8 children get
attracted towards co- operative
plays.
Types of Co-operative Play

 Dramatic and Fantasy play

 Competitive play
 Physical play
 Constructive play
Dramatic and Fantasy play

Team play involving role playing of

doctor – patient, Teacher – Pupils,
Shop keeper – Customers, Police-
Thief etc are included in this category.
Competitive play

 Children by observing directly or through

television, may come to know how to play
cricket, tennis, football etc.
Physical play

 Children will be interested in taking part and win

prizes in plays such as running race, cycling,
weight lifting, disc throw, long jump, high jump
etc. which require more stamina and physical
strength.
Constructive play

 This type of play includes assembling the parts to

form the whole structure, constructing sand
figures and houses, making a bridge, constructing
house with ice fruit sticks, models like temples,
Taj mahal with thermocoal etc.
Benefits Derived by Children Through
Play
 Communication
 Knowledge about rules and regulations.
 Friendship with warm relationship.
 Sharing with others.
 Sacrifice self interest for the sake of the team.
 Training in team work.
 Being proud to be a member of a team.
 Language development
 Learning to control emotions.
 Respecting rules and regulations.
 Respecting other’s feelings.
 Patiently waiting to take one’s turn.
THANK YOU