Exploring the reasons why imaginative play is so important in Early Childhood.
Why is imaginative or pretend play important in Early Childhood? We see that some of the leaders in this field, Piaget and Vygotsky place great importance in imaginative play in early childhood.
'There is no activity for which young children are better prepared than fantasy play. Nothing is more dependable and risk-free, and the dangers are only pretend.' Paley, 2004
THE STAGES OF PLAY IN EARLY CHILDHOOD
Three stages have now been identified in the development of make-believe play which 'reflects the preschool child’s growing symbolic mastery:
· Play increasingly detaches from the real-life conditions associated with it.
· Play becomes less self-centred.
· Play includes more complex combinations of schemes' (Berk, 2009).
Imaginative play is also considered important for the development of children’s cognitive and social skills.Sociodramatic play or the make-believe play with others, allows for ideas to be passed around, built onto and understood by the many different players.
Many studies show that 'make-believe strengthens a wide variety of mental abilities, including sustained attention, memory, logical reasoning, language and literacy skills, imagination, creativity, understanding emotions, and the ability to reflect on one’s thinking, inhibit impulses, control one’s own behaviour, and take another’s perspective' (Berk, 2009).
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'In play, a child stands taller than himself. Vygotsky'He regarded imaginative play as a 'unique, broadly influential zone of proximal development in which children advance themselves' (Berk, 2009).
According to Vygotsky, the relationship between child’s intentions and their actions changes in the preschool years.
While younger preschoolers act spontaneously with little thought given to possible consequences, children by the end of preschool acquire the ability to plan their actions before executing them
THE CONCEPT OF SELF REGULATION
The concept of self-regulation plays an essential role in Vygotsky’s view of child development in the preschool years.
Vygotsky wrote about the development of self-regulation in two contexts – private speech and make-believe play (Kozulin et al., 2003).
He found private speech is used increasingly by preschool children to regulate a variety of their mental processes and their practical actions for the purposes of self-regulation.
Make believe play Vygotsky believed provided a unique context that strengthens the use of self-regulation through a system of roles and corresponding rules. Through the creation of imagined situations, children separate mental representations from the objects and events for which they stand during pretend play – a broom might become a horse for instance. As a result, children gradually come to 'realise that thinking (or the meaning of words) is separate from objects and that ideas can be used to guide behaviour' (Berk, 2009) thereby strengthen their internal capacity to become self-regulating.
Vygotsky wrote about the development of self-regulation in two contexts – private speech and make-believe play (Kozulin et al., 2003).
He found private speech is used increasingly by preschool children to regulate a variety of their mental processes and their practical actions for the purposes of self-regulation.
Make believe play Vygotsky believed provided a unique context that strengthens the use of self-regulation through a system of roles and corresponding rules. Through the creation of imagined situations, children separate mental representations from the objects and events for which they stand during pretend play – a broom might become a horse for instance. As a result, children gradually come to 'realise that thinking (or the meaning of words) is separate from objects and that ideas can be used to guide behaviour' (Berk, 2009) thereby strengthen their internal capacity to become self-regulating.
RULES OF PLAY
Make-believe play is also rule-based. Through pretend play, young children are learning to control their impulses and follow the rules of play; moreover, drawing on their own experiences, children develop an understanding of social norms and strive to act in socially desirable ways.HOW CAN I SUPPORT THIS IN THE CLASSROOM?
· Providing sufficient space and play materials.
· Supervising and encouraging children’s play without controlling it.
· Offering a variety of both realistic materials and materials without clear functions.
· Ensuring that children have many rich real-world experiences to inspire positive fantasy play.
· Helping children solve social conflicts constructively.
