Play & Learning > About Learning through Play
About Learning through Play
Eureka! believes play is a natural, child-directed way for children to learn new concepts and to develop skills that will provide the basis for success in life inside and outside the formal education system.
It is through play that children explore their world, take risks, make mistakes and achieve success. Play helps children learn to use their imaginations, develop creative thinking and learn to express themselves. Through play children build relationships with each other and the adults who play along side them. Play offers choice, control and freedom within reasonable boundaries and thus helps children develop emotionally, physically and intellectually.
The following table, devised by Doris Bergen (2006), highlights some of the types of learning that can occur during typical types of play...
| Physical | Fitness and health as a life practice | Mastery of fundamental movements | Motor coordination for complex tasks | Preparation for actions required for acedemics and spots | Persistence in practice and focused on increasing skills |
| Cognitive | Imagination, creativity, ability to risk in thinking | Problem finding and solving | Discrimination, categorisation and concept development | Academic readiness and skill | Meta-cognitive awareness and good learning strategies |
| Language | Verbal fluency and vocabulary growth | Mastery of language sounds, structures and meanings | Abiltiy to use narrative and inner speech to solve problems | Ability to transform objects symbolically | Pragmatics of communication and meta-linguistic awareness |
| Social | Knowledge of social scripts and appropriate behaviours | Appropriate role taking in learning situations | Practice in leading and following peers as well as adults | Conflict negotiation skills, self control and empathy | Understanding of social comparisions, cooperation and competition |
| Emotional | Appropriate expression of positive and negative emotions | Control of excessive emotions, self regulation skills | Growth of self efficacy and self esteem in learning situations | Ability to use coping skills, such as humour | Gaining concepts of fairness, sharing, respect for others |
| Academic readiness | Ability to use concrete materials to explore spatial, logical and mathematical relationships | Use a rich range of language and print symbols | Experience with a wide range of media and ability to express self in that wide range | Practice using find motor skills, coordination and self regulation skills | Increased attention to self chosen tasks and persistence in completing them |
Related Articles
- Learning through Play
Developing an understanding of young children's learning through play by Pat Broadhead, Professor of Playful Learning at Leeds Met.
- Play, Learn, Create, Discover
Download these postcards from Early Arts to find out about the benefits of different types of play.
