newsletter article
home > newsletter articles > april 2006 > the power of play - enhancing your child's social & cognitive development


The Power of Play - Enhancing Your Child’s Social & Cognitive Development
Bub Hub E-Newsletter, April 2006, Issue 45 - Article 2


 

Renowned psychologist, Jean Piaget, summed it up best: "play is a child's work." During play children develop cognitive abilities like abstract thinking and problem solving. Opportunities to play also present opportunities to socialize.

As a parent, you become the prime candidate for channeling your child's play experiences in a way that is challenging and developmentally appropriate. Here are some key points regarding play behaviour to guide you in the process of enhancing your child's social and cognitive development.

From Toy to Social Tool
In the beginning, toys and objects serve as play things for infants to suck, grab and swat and to eventually push, pull, drop and stack in an exploratory manner. It is common to see a 1-year-old pick up an object and look at it as if he is thinking: What is this? How can I play with this?

What will happen if I drop it? Will it move? Does it smell? Make noise? Through experimentation with toys and objects and through trial and error, the young child begins to make sense of the world.

Sometime between 12 to 18 months, children begin to use toys and objects for more than just it's function, but as objects that can represent something else entirely - the first foray into abstract thinking. Toys, then, are tools for imaginative play. To the toddler, a beanbag is no longer just a soft weighted object that can be held or tossed. It becomes a telephone to hold at your ear, cheese to put on a sandwich, or a present to give to a friend.

Pretend Play, Real Learning
The toddler's ability to use a toy as a tool for imaginative play is an important step for being able to engage in pretend play, an inevitable social milestone in the young child's development. The ability to pretend emerges by 18 months of age and pretend play becomes more sophisticated by 3 years. It may seem like make believe to the adult eye, but really the child is practicing adult roles like going to the grocery store or taking care of a baby.

It's no coincidence that expressive language skills rapidly grow around the same time that pretend play begins to emerge-social and cognitive abilities do not develop independently; they are intertwined. The use of language supports and enhances imaginary play and vice versa. When a child pretends, she uses words to express feelings and ideas. As pretend play becomes more sophisticated, so do language skills.

  

Make it a Play Date
Peers become more interesting to young children, especially throughout the preschool years and beyond. A prominent researcher of social development, Kenneth H. Rubin et al., recently demonstrated that infants imitate simple toy actions of their peers as early as 12 months. Not only does this finding suggest that children as young as 1 year are trying to make sense of what their peers do, it supports the importance of the role peers play in a child's development.

 

Scheduling play dates with other parents and children is an effective and fun way to provide your child with unstructured time to explore and play at her own pace and with peers. Playgroups also provide you a place to share concerns, parenting tips, and adult conversation with other parents.

What makes the playgroup setting so effective is that it offers an arena for your child to practice social skills with peers but with the security of having you close by for guidance and to reward the positive interactions. And herein lies the true catalyst for meaningful play - children learn best from the people they love and trust, and there is no better teacher for a child than his parent.

This is especially relevant for children under three years of age, before patterns of behaviour start to become 'hard-wired'. Eventually your child will form her own way of interacting with peers that satisfies you and works for her.

In summary, play is a powerful thing for both you and your child. It emerges on its own, but your involvement and guidance play an important role in your child's social and cognitive development.


Article kindly supplied by Gymboree Play & Music. Article written by Vanessa Gallo, Program Developer and Trainer for Gymboree Play & Music (USA)

 

Gymboree Play & Music   more info

locations: Gymboree centres are located in South East Queensland only ?Indooroopilly, Sunnybank and Parkwood (Gold Coast).

phone: 1300 722 944

 

Participating in Gymboree programs allows you to expose your child to their peers in a social environment, in a similar way that a playgroup will. However, Gymboree also brings a degree of structure and focus through instructor led, play based learning using programs, props and equipment developed by specialists especially for children from birth to 5 years. Programs are offered across three disciplines ?play (with emphasis on gross motor development), music and art. All programs are designed to support cognitive development, but in a fun way that children love.

back to top




Related pages/viewer stories:

local information


viewer stories & advice


back to top

spacer

spacer