Search for notes by fellow students, in your own course and all over the country.

Browse our notes for titles which look like what you need, you can preview any of the notes via a sample of the contents. After you're happy these are the notes you're after simply pop them into your shopping cart.

My Basket

Gas law£1.50

Title: Theories of play
Description: These theories appeared in the latter part of the 19th and the early 20th period

Document Preview

Extracts from the notes are below, to see the PDF you'll receive please use the links above


Theories on Play in Early Childhood
Classical Theories (Ancient theories)
The classical theories focus on the biological and psychological functions of play
...

- In play children discharged the excess energy
...

Criticism
The theory has been dismissed by critics for the following reasons;
i) No research has been conducted to support the claim
...

iii) The theory is not supported by Darwinian Knowledge (species are supposed to be engaged in
productive activities)
...

iv) According to the theory, play focuses on some goal
...
T
...
To Patrick, when children are tired, they become depleted of energyplay keeps
their occupied and helps them to avoid boredom
...
Patrick sees play as a process of rejuvenation
Criticism
The theory has also been dismissed by critics on the basis that;
i) Mental work could be draining but children who engage in physical labour also play
...


Pre-exercise Theory – 1901 (Groos)
- Play is the body’s natural way of preparing for adult life tasks
...

Criticism
- Children may not have conceptualized activities for adulthood and they may not therefore
practice for them
...


Recapitulation Theory - G
...

- Says that at person’s development is a re-play of the evolutionary progression of the
human species e
...
when an infant crawls at play he is seen as reflecting some historical
period in human evolution when human beings walked on all fours
...

- The theory finds little acceptance among the contemporary developmental psychologists
because;
a) There is no evidence to support this theory
...

c) The evolutionary process is not reflected in the modern society
...
From Sigmund Freud’s view the value of play is primarily emotional
...
There are 2 types of anxiety
a) Objective anxiety (real, object, tangible)
The fear of the external world (pple, cars, buildings)
...
They realize that they fully
depend on others
...
As they play, they reduce this
anxiety through illusionary power and control
...

- This provides a child with temporary illusion of being in authority
...
in pretend play and injects the dolls
...

- These play activities help a child to deal with objective anxiety
...


- This means that demands of doing bad things that are unacceptable by society or human ethics
are never met
...

- Children have many feelings (anger, unreasonable fear, curiosity, a wish to be messy,
destructive behaviours) but the society cannot allow them fulfill these wishes
...
The feelings of fear trigger a relation of anxiety
(instinctual anxiety)
- Play allows children to fulfill their feelings that could not be appreciated in the world of adults
e
...
the desire to break a glass; or strike a playmate
...

Play thus, has a cathartic effect (an outlet of feelings)
...




Wish fulfillment provides pleasure as the child take part in make believe activities
...


Psychosocial Approach
Erikson did not agree with Freud in the view of play as mainly functioning as anxiety reduction
...
This perspective sets the stage for
play therapy
...

- Erickson proposed three broad levels of play development that were hierarchical in nature
but could be experienced again in later stages
...
The child plays with own body
...

- During this stage, the infants and adults bodies are the sources of sense and interaction
ii) Microsphere: It occurs in the 2nd year as the child’s world expands to include interaction with
play materials
...
This is not through
fantasy power per say
...

iii) Macrosphere play: Involves building on the physical manipulation of the body and objects
to learn about social interaction
...


-

This eventually helps children to understand their culture
...


BEHAVIOURIST’S THEORIES
They argue that play is learnt behaviour that is both experiential and constructive
...
g
...

- As they play, they acquire a diversity of motor skills that may be hard to develop
otherwise
- At play, reinforcement, rewards or punishments are not as severe or extreme as in nonsituations
- Play may be viewed as reinforcement of learning of future roles because
- children are able to model behaviours of numerous people and they settle for those in
which they receive encouragement
...
They also learn certain roles that are
associated with their sex through play
...

- Play is viewed as a process of integrating actions and thought
...

- Through play children gain more confidence and competence
- Brunner (1973) and Sutton – Smith (1967) argued that play allows children to solve
problems in a relatively stress-free atmosphere
...
g
...
According to him adaptation is crucial for survival
...

- Adaptation involves assimilation and accommodation
...
e
...

- Piaget says that although play isn’t the same as learning it leads to learning
...
This rehearsal involves the old learning rather than new
...
Play also exposes a child to new
experiences and new possibilities for dealing with ideas
...

Unlike the psychoanalysts who were inclined to fantasy Piaget saw this is a cognitive
function where a child changes the meaning of a scaring real life situation
...
According to Piaget tension is relieved by cognitive evaluation rather than
a cathartic effect
...

- The ideal environment is the one that provides neither too much nor too little stimulation but
enough to keep a person optimally aroused
...

- This elevates the level of CNS arousal
...

- Ellis (1973) and Fein (1981) suggested that children’s play provides a variety of
stimulation forms to an organism in need of it
...

- The uncertainty is reduced by play and the child gets bored again
...

- This is the reason why children flirt with danger in their play
...
g
...

Vygotsky’s Social Historical Theory
- Vygotsky used a social constructivist approach
...

- According to him there are two simultaneous lines of development which continually
interact;
- Natural line: This is development from within (the unfolding)
- Social Historical line: i
...

After two years, the social historical line becomes increasingly influential
...
This is based on the fact
that when working without assistance a child displays a particular level of performance
that may not reflect his true potential
...
The difference between the child’s actual performance when working
alone and his potential ability in a different social context is the (zone of proximal
development)
...
As a
child performs with others, he gets challenges that prompt more input
...

- In this view social play is paramount
...
This may adversely impact on their proximal
development
...
It is therefore necessary for the
teacher/caregiver to understand the context that promotes a child’s optimum
participation
...
M
...
Learning through play and fantasy, EC 1297E, Corvallis,
State University
...
& Leong D
...
The importance of play, why children need to
Childhood Today, 20 (3), 6-7
...
Early

Erickson RJ
...
Education
...
An examination of the contributions of interactive peer play to
salient classroom competencies for urban head start children
...
2004;41 :323–
336
Ginsburg,K
...
(2007)
...

Hurwitz SC
...
2002/2003;79 :101– 102

Isenberg, Packer, J
...
(2002)
...
highbeam
...
html March 16, 2017
...
Play: a necessity for all children
...
Parent-Child Play: Descriptions and Implications
...
Convention on the Rights
of the Child
...
Available at:
www
...
ch/html/menu3/b/k2crc
...
Accessed June 22, 2006
Pellegrini AD, Smith PK(1998)
...
Child Psychol Psychiatry Rev:51– 57
Pellegrini AD, Boyd B
...
The role of play in early childhood development and education:
issues in
definition and function
...
Handbook of Research on the
Education of Young Children
...
From Neurons to Neighborhoods: The Science of Early
Childhood Development
...

Wadley, A
...
Just Playing, Permission to print granted by author and
request
...
a

available on


Title: Theories of play
Description: These theories appeared in the latter part of the 19th and the early 20th period