1.

2. Things to come in this subject

Links with the EYLF

Connections with the first years of school and beyond.

Outdoor and physical play, including rough and tumble.

Play and observation/assessment.

Special education needs and play.

Teachers role in enriching play

3. Play in our lives

Play is a legitimate and important part of early childhood.

It is a form of disciplined freedom.It continues throughout the lifespan and is valuable in itself as well as a vehicle for transporting and integrating development

(Pronin-Fromberg 2002, p. 20)

4. Play (Ginsburg 2007,pp.182 191)

is essential to development

contributes to the cognitive, physical, social, and emotional well-being of children and youth.

offers an ideal opportunity for parents to engage fully with their children.

allows children to use their creativity while developing their imagination, dexterity, and physical, cognitive, and emotional strength.

is important to healthy brain development.

allows children to create and explore a world they can master, conquering their fears while practicing adult roles

5. Quotes on play

Play is a uniquely adaptive act, not subordinate to some other adaptive act, but with a special function of its own in human experience.Johan Huizinga

Play is the exultation of the possible.Martin Buber

Play keeps us vital and alive. It gives us an enthusiasm for life that is irreplaceable. Without it, life just doesnt taste goodLucia Capocchione

We dont stop playing because we grow old; we grow old because we stop playing.George Bernard Shaw

You can discover more about a person in an hour of play than in a year of conversation.Plato

Play is the only way the highest intelligence of humankind can unfold.Joseph Chilton Pearce

6. Benefits of play

Play enables children to find out about themselves and the world.

Play helps towards happiness.

Play helps prevent boredom.

Play can help reduce stress.

Play can help divert aggressive instincts.

http:// www.learningchild.com.au/ccd/play

7. The Importance of Play

Most powerful learning medium- multifaceted

Helps children make sense of situations and their world- allows them to discover

Allows development of new concepts

Evolves over time, with constant changes and adaptations

Facilitates risk taking and problem solving

Increases social skills and emotional support

Children can take responsibility for their own learning

(Isenberg & Renck Jalongo 1997)

8. False dichotomy

Education for young children should resemble

play, with children delighting in acquiring

knowledge and skills in ways that make them

feel competent and capable

(Hirsh-Pasek;,Michnik Golinkoff, Berk & Singer 2009, p. 15)

It is paradoxical that many educators and parents still differentiate between a time for learning and a time for play without seeing the vital connection between them.Leo F.Buscaglia

9. Vygotsky and Play

http:// www.youtube.com/watch?v =-SpC0INWo3o&feature=related

Consistent with a wealth of current research, sociocultural theory stresses that children contribute actively to their own development, etching their unique imprint on everything they learn

(Berk 2001, P. 245)

10. Howard Gardner

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=uBknM7-AkAM

Theory of Multiple Intelligences

Could play be an intelligence of its own accord?

11. Fromberg: 3 parallel theories in dynamic interaction 12. Theory of Mind (TOM)

is a specific cognitive ability to understand others as intentional agents. That is, to interpret their minds in terms of theoretical concepts of intentional states such as beliefs and desires

There seems to be evidence of a steep development of TOM around age 3.

http://www.abc.net.au/catalyst/stories/s1320498.htm

13. Script Theory

This is a theory which posits that human behavior largely falls into patterns called scripts. These scripts provide a program for action in a particular situation.

Particularly important in early childhood educationas they develop relatively early in life and are seen as the foundation for the formation of more abstract and complicated situational knowledge.

14. Chaos Theory

It is the study of dynamic systems that are highly sensitive to initial conditions.

Small differences in initial conditions yield widely diverging outcomes for chaotic systems rendering long-term prediction impossible in general.

Non-linear environmental conditions

Can you see the relationship to play here?

15. References

Berk, L. (2001).Awakening childrens minds:how parents and

teachers can make a difference.NY:Oxford University Press

Ginsburg, K. R. (2007). The Importance of Play in Promoting Healthy Child Development and Maintaining Strong Parent-Child Bonds.Paediatrics 119, 1, 182 191

Hirsh-Pasek, K;Michnik Golinkoff, R; Berk , L. & Singer, D. (2009).A mandate for playful learning in preschool:presenting the evidence.NY:Oxford University Press

Isenberg, J. & Renck Jalongo, M. (1997).Creative expression and play in early childhood.2 ndedn.Upper Saddle River NJ:Prentice Hall

Moyles, J. (2005).The excellence of play (2nd edn).Maidenhead : Open University Press

Pronin-Fromberg, D. (2002).Play and meaning in early childhood education.Mass:Allyn & Bacon