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Stages of Child Development Three to Six years and Six to Eight Years

the first three years, play helps children to learn about the world through
listening, looking, touching, tasting and smelling. During play, children also
Notes increase their social competence and emotional maturity.

Play is an essential and critical part of all children’s development. Play is how
children learn to socialise, think, solve problems, mature and most importantly,
to have fun. All early childhood practitioners need to know the significance of
play and implement a play-based programme. According to Froebel, play is not
a trivial pursuit but a serious occupation for a child. It has a deep significance
on the development of children. Maria Montessori also stresses free and
spontaneous play as an important activity for the development of children.
Piaget defines play consisting of responses repeated purely for functional
pleasures.

Young children are curious beings, discovering and investigating the world around
them. Play is the tool for young children to explore the mysteries of the physical
and social worlds. In play, children learn collaboration and conflict resolution
with friends as they investigate the properties of equipment, materials, and
routines. Through the phenomenon of play, children develop and learn as they
participate in activities in every area of the classroom. At different ages, children
indulge in different types of play.

Let us read the role of play in early childhood development.

• Play lays the foundation for literacy. Through play children learn to make
and practice new sounds. They try out new vocabulary on their own or with
friends, and exercise their imagination.

• Play is learning. Play nurtures development and fulfils children’s inborn
need to learn. Play takes many forms, from shaking a rattle to peek-a-boo
to hide-and-seek. Play can be done by a child alone, with another child, in
a group or with an adult.
• Play gives children choice. Having enough toys or activities to choose from
will allow children to express themselves.

• Play gives children space to practice physical movement, balance and to
test their own limits.

• Play allows adults to learn children’s body language.

• Play is fun. Learning to play well, both by themselves and with others, sets
children up to be contented and sociable.

Let us now study the significance of play in promoting holistic development
among children.

130 EARLY CHILDHOOD CARE AND EDUCATION