To What Extent Is Play Necessary For Child Development

Is play necessary for Development?

Introduction

Fantasy, make believe, fun, pretending! These words express the innocence and creativity every child has as they grow up. When we are kids we can’t wait to be adults and now that we are adults, we dream of being kid’s again. Little boys pretend to be superheroes saving the world and girls dream of being princesses searching for their perfect prince. This is all part of the process of growing up. Children are constantly finding new ways of playing with their favorite toy or passing onto a new level on their game consoles. Whether or not these challenges are aiding a child’s development as they become adults is something that needs to be explored.

Play is a concept that has been studied by

The two most influential psychologists who have explored this area are Jean Piaget and Lev Vygotsky. Both of these psychologists viewed play as important for a child’s cognitive and social development.
Like Groos, Piaget also accepted that play prepared children for adulthood. However, he expanded on this theory and realized that play has vital importance on a child’s social and cognitive abilities. Through his stage theory, he believed that a new capability could be achieved at each level. Piaget looked at play as more related to the process of assimilation and accommodation. For example, a little boy who is used to playing football with a ball would, in a new game, use the ball as a weapon to kill his opponents. He would use his knowledge of the ball to apply it to a new situation.
Piaget also believed that roles and rules were important in cognitive development. He believed that if a child was playing a game with his friends, it is important for the children to choose different roles for each other and have rules as to how the game would be played. This allowed the child to act out the desired character they may want to be when they grow up. For example, a little girl may play a game of teacher with a black board and friends or toys as her students. He saw this as important for their intellectual, social and problem solving

He regarded play as aiding cognitive and language skills which helped prepare them for adulthood. Vygotsky referred to play as only occurring in the preschool ages. He observed that children at a pre school age experience more cognitive development than children of an older age. He argued (Vygotsky, 1933) that “there arise in a child of this age many unrealizable tendencies and immediately unrealizable desires. A very young child tends to gratify his desires at once” (p.2). He contrasted this with children who are older with them being able to identify their needs and give a reason as to why they do a certain