Although it should be a fun experience for the child, often many skills can be learned through play. Functional play helps children to develop motor and practice skills. This kind of play is normally done with toys or objects that are stackable, can be filled with water or sand or playing outdoors. Water play or sand play is a favorite amongst pre-school children and a valuable teaching tool. Constructive play is characterized by building or creating something.
Toys that encourage this type of play are simple puzzles, building blocks, easy craft activities, and puppets. Normally 4 or 5 year old children enjoy this type of play, but it continues to be enjoyable into the first and second grades of school. Hands and fingers are the best first art tools. Soon they will manage thick paint brushes, wedges of sponge, wax crayons, and thick chalks.
It is advised to avoid rushing a child into making something in particular. Letting them do what they want encourages individuality and decision making. Toddlers also enjoy play dough because they can get hands and fingers in it for poking, rolling, and shaping. This type of play develops thinking and reasoning skills, problem solving, and creativity.
Pretend play allows children to express themselves and events in their lives. Normally a child will transform themselves or a play object into someone or something else. This type of play is popular with children in preschool and kindergarten and it tends to fade out as they enter primary school.
Pretend play helps children process emotions and events in their lives, practice social skills, learn values, develop language skills, and develop a rich imagination. Because of the important skills that are developed through this type of play, efforts should be made to encourage children to pretend.
Playing games that have a definite structure or rules do not become dominant until children start to enter elementary school. Board games, simple card games, ball games or skipping games that have specific rules will teach children cooperation, mutual understanding, and logical thinking. A playground can be a turned into a learning experience for a child.
Although a playground traditionally has certain elements, these elements may pose an unsafe surrounding for your child if the equipment is not properly supervised or built of unsafe materials. A safe environment that allows gross motor activity is important for children. The following elements have been found to be unsafe in group care settings:. I t is important that when considering an early education facility, caregivers and teacher in the facility have knowledge of the cultural supports for the language and literacy learning of the children and families they are serving.
They need to be able to draw out shy children while they help very talkative ones begin to listen to others as well as to speak.
Caregivers or teachers need to arrange environments that are symbol rich and interesting without being overwhelming to infants and toddlers. Even the simplest exchange becomes a literacy lesson when it includes the warmth of a relationship coupled with words, their concepts, and perhaps a graphic symbol. According to the United States Department of Education , graduates of early childhood education programs can be qualified for a variety of positions beyond teaching preschool, including:.
Before joining the full-time faculty at National, Alvarado served as an adjunct professor for eight years. What struck her most about the program during her early years at the university was its focus on the students and the commitment level of faculty members. National students complete approximately five hours of field experience for each class they take.
Alvarado explains the field experience learning component is always tied to a specific assignment in class. For example, if an in-class topic is learning how to create lesson plans, a student could then go into an actual classroom to put that concept into practice.
Alvarado cites two examples of classes that, while different from one another, have been critical in giving her students the skills and confidence they need to succeed as early childhood educators. In Early Cognition , one of the first courses in the program, students learn about the nature and tasks of early cognition including social, cultural, and biological foundations. They also learn how to collaborate with families and staff in supporting active learning environments.
Students look at current research implications in brain development and cognition and how they can affect classroom instruction. Play as Pedagogy is a case study class that focuses on play as the primary learning modality for young children. The course reinforces how impactful it can be for teachers to observe children at play.
Each week students learn how to design lesson plans on an aspect of play, as well as learn how to explain play as a teaching tool and how to extend it through art, music, and dance. Kirsten Slyter Brianna Flavin Carrie Mesrobian This piece of ad content was created by Rasmussen University to support its educational programs. Rasmussen University may not prepare students for all positions featured within this content.
Please visit www. External links provided on rasmussen. Rasmussen University is accredited by the Higher Learning Commission, an institutional accreditation agency recognized by the U. Department of Education. The U. As of , only a portion of children under five were enrolled in a preprimary programs, according to the National Center for Education Statistics : 7 42 percent of 3-year-olds 66 percent of 4-year-olds 86 percent of 5-year-olds Unfortunately, these numbers have not changed much since Can you play a role in early childhood development?
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