MIDDLE EAST TECHNICAL UNIVERSITY

EARLY CHILDHOOD EDUCATION

DEPARTMENT

ECE 215

PLAY IN EARLY CHILDHOOD EDUCATION

CONCEPTS AND USES OF PLAY

IN EDUCATION

Nisa Şevval KAHYAOĞLU

2156784

On 22.05.2018
 CONCEPTS AND USES OF PLAY IN EDUCATION
The play is extremely complicated subject. It is a phenomenon that focuses one point to a
whole, involve a variety of ideas and experiences. The play, which is sometimes used in
different meanings, constitutes the basic word of the children's world (Gönen & Dalkılıç,
2002). Throughout history, children's play has been seen as children's leisure time activities
and it is thought of as a method used to spend their power accumulations and keep them from
naughtiness (Özdenk, 2007). Many of people think that children's play is fun but aimless. For
this reason, according to the viewpoints of parents, administrators and even teachers, the play
has no place in education. For instance, it is the academic achievement that is important to the
families, and therefore they show an anti-play attitude. Only educational toys can be accepted
for them because they are necessary for their future academic success (Johnson, Christie
&Wardle, 2005). In the same way, the viewpoint of the administrators is also not very
different. They think of the play as a break between academic activities. Their aim to teach
academic concepts and skills only in a didactic manner in schools and in general most school
principals and administrators have no early childhood background (Johnson, Christie
&Wardle, 2005). Thus, it is very difficult to tell them the importance of the play in education,
to show that they can be combined with education, and so it is also tough to get support from
them. Teachers have not enough encouraged to fight both the family and the administration.
They also have the necessary reasons for them. According to the Wood (2004), teachers argue
that there are pressures and expectations from parents, colleagues and school inspectors, there
is no time for parent involvement, there is a strict curriculum that needs to be adhered to, days
in school have fixed structure and there is constant emphasis on the development of children's
literacy and math skills. When looking at from this perspective, it will be a wrong act to
blame teachers on this issue. As we have seen, academic skills-focused curricula are far more
popular than play-focused ones because most people, especially parents and administrators,
do not think that their children have received appropriate education through a play-based
curriculum. In the pre-school era, which we can call the play period, it can be discussed how
accurate is it to impose only academic skills on children (Uluhan, 2015). This may be leaves
question marks in mind. What happens when play combined with the education. According to
the Johnson, Christie &Wardle (2005), it can be called an educational play. At first glance the
meanings of the two terms seem to be very contrary to each other, educational games link the
goals, targets and outputs of education to one or more important characteristics of the play.
There are many different types of educational play such as games, simulations (Sim city:
social studies or Oregon Trail II-Anniversary: history, geography and social studies etc.),
different playground activities and the like. These plays can provide children with a
foundation in different academic fields and so children may gain many academic skills such
as problem solving, creative thinking, even geography or history (Johnson, Christie &Wardle,
2005). Of course, all these skills can be gained, and necessary points can be taught without the
play. The main reason why educational play is used in here is to provide the inner motivation
of the children. Teachers do not have to motivate children for learning because the play is a
sincere motivation for children and it has positive affect on them (Johnson, Christie &Wardle,
2005). To illustrate, consider an alphabet writing activity. If this activity was given to children
in the form of an assignment, presumably they would be bored and their desire to learn
something would be disappear. However, when this assignment is turned into a post office-
theme letter-writing play, children can do it with enthusiastic and motivated way (Johnson,
Christie & Yawkey, 1999). It can also be a strong reinforcement for them at the same time.
Therefore, the play helps the children to acquire new information and to assimilate them into
the knowledge that exists at their mind (Johnson, Christie &Wardle, 2005). As we can
understand from these, the fact that educational plays are included in our curriculum offers
great advantages. On the other hand, there are many other types of play. For instance, if the
play involves gross and fine motor activities or children need to use their body parts in their
play, it is defined as physical or motor play (Johnson, Christie & Yawkey, 1999). According to
Athey (1984), the repetitions of the movements together with the games help to keep these
movements in an enjoyable way so that the muscles and nerves that facilitate this move are
become more accessible. With this explanation, we are getting a little more closer to the
connection between play and movement. For instance, manipulative play is also the first stage
of physical game (Frost, Wortham, Reifel, 2012). When considered this, movements such as
push-pull, grasp etc., which the children make with objects, are very important for their motor
development, or the use of small playgrounds for children has even decreased their age for
walking to start, because they first completed their mastership and then they try to begin their
new skills (Frost, Wortham, Reifel, 2012). Play in the different playground areas help the
children gross and fine motor developments, and I believe that the development in these
muscles also improves the skills they can use in academic fields, such as holding scissors or
pencil. Of course, it makes it easier to learn the body, body parts and much more. In other
words, it helps and reinforces for learning as it is in educational games. The other type of play
is social play. In fact, most of the play played with the group can be called social play.
Children should be learning to demonstrate acceptable behavior in their team and group work
in order to fulfill their wills (Johnson, Christie & Yawkey, 1999). I think that if children can
choose a peer for themselves, and interact with them and create a play, it will be a sign that
social child. The fact that children can learn significant social skills such as sharing,
cooperation, feelings of other people's thoughts and perspectives, so play is a key role in
social development (Johnson, Christie &Wardle, 2005). This social development usually takes
place with imitations taken from the children's surroundings. They can receive and apply the
behaviors and abilities they need from their parents, teachers or other children (Johnson,
Christie &Wardle, 2005). Thus, they interact with their environment and can find an
opportunity to improve their social skills. However, they need to come up with solutions for
any problems that may arise in the group. This will help both their creative thinking and the
development of problem-solving skills. When we look at it all, we can see that all kinds of
play make education and teaching fun and attractive, and besides, play provides many
objectives even if teachers or children are not being aware of this. In brief, sometimes we can
get feedback in a short time or sometimes in the long run but, the any types of play reflect,
reinforces and results the development of the children (Johnson, Christie &Wardle, 2005). We
can incorporate the play in our curriculum, just because of any kind of developmental support.
A play-centered curriculum is not a laissez-faire curriculum in which anything goes. These
types of curriculum use the power of the play in all kinds of development of children. It is an
emergent curriculum that plays an active role in balancing unprepared play, free play, guided
play and teacher-directed play (Van Hoorn, Nourot, Scales, & Alward, 2007). I think these
play types are all valuable and should be used. For example, there are many advantages to
free play provides to children. Free play is a type of play unstructured that encourages
children to use their imagination, and it comes from their natural curiosity and discovery
request so that, Peter Gray (1989), argues that children will have a more passionate and
energetic learning process as they have the opportunity to act in their own interests in the free
play. Children feel they have control in their own free play. In this way the child develops a
feeling of independence. The fact that the children determines the limits of the play makes
them feel free and independent in the game (Güven, 2003). There is also a guided play which
is a midpoint between the free play and the teacher directed play, this gives children a great
control over their learning while at the same time providing a learning goal (Weisber, Hirsh-
Pasek& Golinkoff, 2013). I believe that it is a great advantage to be able to direct the child at
the same time as we give the freedom to them. Research shows that child-centered approaches
in which adults have established a skeleton are a more effective form of teaching in the
academic achievement of pre-school children than in free play and teacher-directed play
(Honomichl & Chen, 2012; Lillard & Else-Quest, 2006). In fact, according to the general
idea, there is guided play on the basis of the play-based curriculum. Besides these, there is a
teacher-directed play that is not greet warmly. For instance, Bredekamp (1987) states that the
curriculum that includes teacher-directed play is developmentally inappropriate programs. In
teacher-directed play, teacher is primarily responsible for creating and presenting play. For
this reason, children cannot communicate in the way they want and cannot create anything
with other children. When this happens, their intrinsic motivations for learning are decreased
and they can develop a negative attitude towards learning, and learning can become difficult,
stressful and frustrating for them (Bredekamp, 1987). This type of play is also unsuccessful in
terms of academic success and the child‘s sense of comfort (Turk, 2015). Thus, a play-based
curriculum is important, but how set it up is also as important as curriculum. Of course, the
preparing an environment is one of the significant steps to organize space for the play and to
be able to create an efficient playground. For example, the environment should have certain
characteristics that encourage play (Johnson, Christie &Wardle, 2005). Johnson, Christie
&Wardle (2005) have identified some basic needs, according to them, there must be a
sufficient number of materials for each child and also materials should be different levels,
complexity and variety, most of the materials in the classroom should be at the children’s
level, it must have allowed to make noise and mess, it should be easily kept under watch and
keep clean easily. These basic requests are very logical for areas which is created for children
and play, because play can be messy, noisy and dirty sometimes. Therefore, teacher need to
have solutions like not placing quiet and noisy areas side by side or placing the art area next
to the water (Johnson, Christie &Wardle, 2005). When we look at these requirements, we
especially can see the importance of materials in the environment. They are very crucial in the
development and learning of the child. Materials play a direct or indirect role in the
development of children, and at the same time the child's level of development influences
his/her choice of material (Johnson, Christie &Wardle, 2005). There are many dimensions to
consider in material selection because they are so much of an effect on children. In order to be
able to capture the ideal match between children and play materials, teachers need to consider
children's previous experiences, observations and abilities now (Bronson, 1995). Separate
material selection should be made for almost every play type. For instance, it attention should
be paid that there are a large number of wooden blocks that different customized forms, such
as arches and triangles, when choosing construction materials for the children in kindergarten
(Bronson, 1995). Most educational systems have different approaches to these issues. For
Montessori, when designing the environment, attention should be paid to features that educate
the senses, stimulate curiosity, and protect the child from unnecessary mistakes. There is a
sense of order in their class. The equipment is child-sized, the materials have a clear
organization and the levels that children can reach and they also free to move between the
areas instead of staying the desk all day (Erden, 2018). This is an important feature for
playing because play generally needs space. Montessori education is designed to enable
children to be actively involved in materials and play independently of their teachers. It has
different type of material such as practical life, sensorial, academic and cultural. The broad
variety of materials encompass many area of learning and the most important things about
their play understanding is that there is no pretend or fantasy. Everything is real, and children
are prepared for real life (Johnson, Christie &Wardle, 2005). In Reggio Emilia, another
successful educational model, environment is seen as the third teacher. They design the
environment to encourage communication and raising the relationships because they believe
that “children learn through social interactions” (Erden, 2018). Creative expressions are also
major point to them. Hundreds of languages of childhood provide many things for these
expressions, and the game is one of the leaders of these expressions. Because it is given great
importance to this, teachers respect children's play and provide as much time and material as
they want (Johnson, Christie &Wardle, 2005). They generally use natural materials like
branches, leaves, stones, sand etc. but not only use these but also different paper types, paint
types, fabrics, threads even dolls and housekeeping items, and the like. On the other hand,
Waldorf education values imitation and play. Especially play helps to rehearse social
interactions and this is playing a big role in the sense of community. Children can try
themselves in different roles and this helps them to develop their social skills and how they
can function within the group. Besides of these, their play materials are open-ended, because
Waldorf believes that all play materials must have part may be open-ended. For example,
dolls are faceless so that the children can think them in the way they want. This model also
uses large number of wooden blocks, baskets from sea shells or driftwood, for instance, in
their environment (Johnson, Christie &Wardle, 2005). When we come to the High-Scope, we
see a different perspective. Play and materials do not restrict with certain lines, this model can
use any material that is existing in the place. They can be from nature or found objects in
there. Teachers are only participants in the experiences of children and encourage children to
engage in play activities in the unstructured environment. In addition to this, they have long
active play period, but it is called “work time” surprisingly and play is seen as a basis for
reaching the specific goals set by the teachers (Johnson, Christie &Wardle, 2005). We talk
about the play, we claim that it makes learning easy, but how we are proving it. We are talking
about the play, claiming it makes learning easier, and telling us that it should be the basis of
the curriculum. How could we be sure that play is so beneficial? Of course, the children are
observed, evaluated, documented, and their progress shared with the family and other required
people. To give an illustration, in the Montessori education model, evaluations are done with
the teacher's portfolio, observations and recordings. The teacher notes most of the child's
process. S/he takes care of the point where child has difficulty and interferes with things that
may cause it. Whether the system works or not is tested by looking at important points such as
the child's success, behavior, happiness, and liking to work, and most importantly, children's
levels are never comparable to each other (Erden, 2018). Reggio Emilia is another case in
point. Teachers often take photographs of children, make a video and sometimes even record
their verbal expressions while they are playing. They use these data to learn more about
children’s emotions and thoughts (Johnson, Christie &Wardle, 2005), and they follow their
development in concrete way. These are tangible examples of how the play-based curriculum
can be assessed and that they have been demanding for many years as very successful
educational systems, I can make the conclusion that there is nothing wrong with it. Besides, it
is very important to have a good communication plan because it strengthens communication
with the target groups. To be in contact with family about their children's process is significant
undoubtedly, for instance. You should always be clear about your mission and vision so that
families can see things clearly. Communication tools, such as a site or mail group, where you
can quickly and accurately provide information over the Internet, also make work very easy.
Except those, teacher family meetings can be made, or informal contact with the family, such
as phone calls or messaging (Olgan, 2018). Although we understand that it is very useful to
use play in our curriculum, we have also many policy issues that prevent it. Firstly, even if the
teachers want to use the play, they are under pressure enough not to do so. There are certain
curriculums and assessments that are expected from them and schools want everything to be
teacher-directed because of their academic concerns (Johnson et al, 2005). As I emphasized
when mention about the barriers to play, children's school days are scheduled in a way that
will be too much for children. Teachers are expected to finish them and there is an academic
pressure on them. So there does not have time for the play and most of the people who works
in schools do not see it as a way of learning the play (Johnson et al, 2005). That is why
teachers are usually trying to use the play as reinforcements. Teachers know that the children
are missing play and they can provide play time for them if they can complete given tasks.
However, children may also think that the game is a leisure activity and that they do not need
to learn anything from games. Therefore, using the play as a positive or negative
reinforcement is not the right behavior. Of course, there are also affects that education system
does not cause like media. Today, the impact this on children is considerable. It seems to be
the number one hero to entertain children, but there are also some very important dangers that
are even reflected in their play at the same time. They can be much more aggressive in their
play, and now they become less productive as most of what they do is imitation. Some
imitations can be harmful to children's health, for example, superhero imitations can cause
injuries (Johnson, Christie &Wardle, 2005). What can we do to get rid of all these bad effects
and gain play for our curriculum? First, policy makers need to take action. If they can
understand the importance of the play for children and set the policies for it, the pressure may
start to disappear. I also think some policies need to be set up for people who do not have
early childhood education not to become administrators. This may reduce the anti-play
behavior in kindergartens. Administrations must be aware of this issue. They should not insist
in old-fashioned methods, must be open to innovation and research first about something that
is said to be useful. The same goes for families. They should try to change their
misperceptions about the play and observe their children's processes. They should even be
involved in the process and support teacher on this issue.

In conclusion, the play is the foundation of the children's world. It positively contributes to
the all kinds of development of children. However, we are experiencing a lot of difficulties in
putting the play into our education system and our curriculum. Despite all these positive
contributions of play, there are many barriers against it. These obstacles can sometimes
originate from families, sometimes from administrators, and sometimes from teachers
themselves. At first glance, though education and play seem to be very opposite, there are a
lot of researches that can prove the opposite. Different kinds of play can support different
objectives in children. It can support them both academically, socially and physically. Of
course, even if a teacher is a play advocate, the play may not have included in curriculum due
to the pressures coming from school. By implementing some suggestions, these barriers may
be overcome, and children can be encouraged to learn in their own child world. I hope the
next generation of teachers will recognize the importance of the game and start to work for
the good of the children.
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