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HDFR 3050 Lit Review Play
HDFR 3050 Lit Review Play
Savannah Thompson
Introduction
Tender, love, and care is what a baby needs. There are endless studies on attachment and
bonding between infants and care givers and obviously touch, warmth and care are essential for
those tiny bundles of joy but what is critical for growth, what is essential for development and
Children need time to express themselves and learn about the world through play because
play time will help a child grow and develop into a bright and intelligent individual. In 1962
Piaget wrote a book called Play, Dreams, and Imitation, where he discussed these three abstract
ideas in a childs life through six different sub stages. He talks about how children develop these
things, and when they are seen throughout a childs life, but why is this important.
Government policies regarding play usually do not matter. When taking care of a child
often times play, and dreams even imitation are disregarded. Give kids a bed and food and they
will survive. That is the key word. Survive. As human beings and mammals may survive given
As a child, I was given (mostly, because I was spoiled) a whole room to play in. I had
different boxes with different toys. I had Barbies galore, probably fifteen different baby dolls, a
giant doll house, a kitchen set, etc. Basically anything a little girl would want I had. I was also
Play is one of the critical parts of development because it allows children to develop,
form a personality, express themselves, and learn about the world through a creative lens. Play is
important in the home, in the classroom, in hospitals, and serves a big purpose for kids with
disabilities.
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Before preschool a child spends all of its time at home or at a daycare facility. Assuming
that the child gets to spend its early years at home there is a huge chunk of childhood when the
child is developing that play needs to be incorporated inside the home. This is where a child will
build foundations for play, and to build imagination. Young children used to play with siblings,
neighbors, friends, and by themselves during their free time. It was common to see children
running through neighborhoods, playing pretend house, making up creative games, and spending
time engaged in play was not led or structured by adults. Many would suggest that times have
changed, leading to the shift away from child-led, open-ended play to more of a structured
approach to activities (Raphael-Leff, 2012). This article talks about how important play is but
that there is beginning to see a shift in less play which could be a cause for the common
behavioral issues. In reference to the tittle of the article Terrible Twos and Terrible Teens: The
Importance of Play The article references that when toddlers play games like house, or school
Another article talks about the importance of play for other reasons not related to
behavior but to overall development, As early toddlers, children begin to construct relationships
that exploit the unique physical properties of objects (Williams & Wilkins, 2011). This is the
most important part of play in young children because this is when they are learning essential
skills to help them develop harder skills like holding a pencil, or learning to write their name. In
a research study looking at dynamic Synchrony (Rader, 2011) they were looking at learning
language when being presented with an object. The researchers looked at if a child could learn a
word better if it was presented with an item and then the word. These researchers didnt look
directly at play itself but they can predict that when a young child is playing and hearing words
Play is Critical 4
they will have a better grasp on language and on the words around them. Although, this research
article didnt directly link them using the evidence from their research there can be a conclusion
made about how play will enhance a childrens learning ability of language.
When a child is at home, it is very important for the child to engage in play for other
health reasons. In recent years there has been a rise in obesity for a multitude of reasons. In an
article about the benefits of play in poverty it discusses many benefits of play that can help even
in kids that are not dealing with poverty because every child is at risk for obesity play enhances
physical health by building active, healthy bodies. Physical activity beginning in early childhood
Not only will it help with obesity the article also describes that play will benefit the brain
development in children, and may increase childrens capacity to store new information, as their
cognitive capacity is enhanced when they are offered drastic change in activity (Muligan, 2012).
Often times children can become frustrated when changing task often but this article talks about
how play can help this frustration that children may get.
Play is an essential part to a child when developing as almost every article talks about
play will have some sort of benefit on a child as they develop. That is why it is important to bring
play into the childs world at a very young age and help them learn how to play. Another
important aspect of play is the relationship of play that a parent or caregiver creates. There is two
types of play. Parent-directed play and child-directed play. A study called Structured Parent-
Negative Attention in Child-Directed play looked at how the types of play in a home have an
affect on conduct problems, CP includes a broad spectrum of acting out behavior, ranging
from relatively minor oppositional behavior to more serious antisocial behavior such as
Play is Critical 5
stealing (Fleming, 2016). The study found that positive parent involvement in child-directed
play is important in helping stop CP problems for kids in school. The article agrees with the other
play in the home articles in that parent involvement in encouraging play inside the home as well
as in the neighborhood is vital to a kids development for the present and for their futures. Play
during the early years creates a solid ground for the later school years.
After a child leaves the nest, they will spend a majority of there time in school.
Sometimes kids even attend before or after school because of a parents work schedule. Play
cannot stop once a child reaches elementary school or preschool. Often times there is a struggle
between education and play. Why? Play should be incorporated into schooling all the way
through high school. Play is even seen in college. As discussed in the previous section play is so
important to everyday activities and absolutely critical to life. While school teachers do have a
lot to focus on with state testing it is important to always include play, because play will allow
As mentioned above the biggest struggle that presents itself with play in schools is
because more often than not play is not included in schools, Anette Sandberg and Rebecca Heden
did a study to figure out just how teachers feel about play and how play helps students. They
begin by saying that they need to know how each of the teachers feel about play inside the
classroom because they say most educational studies regarding childrens play are made within
pre-school and after-school recreation centers and not in schools (Sandberg, Heden 2009). They
are doing this research because they want to show that play has to be made in school but that
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you are not to leave the children to themselves, but use play in connection with education and
also organize play so that the learning aspects can be utilized (Sandberg, Heden 2009).
What they found after completing this experiment is that students benefitted from play in
almost every category. They were able to benefit on a social scale, they were able to use play to
teach things such as spelling, they were able to use play to get students to refocus by giving them
a study break. This article proves exactly how important play is in the classrooms because they
were able to prove that play was able to better students on almost every aspect on the education
foundations.
Just like the memorization of a song comes easier than remember all fifty states and
capitals; play can be used to leave a lasting impact on students. Math is historically a hard
subject for many students. Most often students will say that math is boring or that it is too hard.
Just like in Sandbergs research Mary-Anne Kefaloukos and Janette Bobis looked at how play
Bobis and kefaloukos explain that Measurement is a strand that has the capacity to
make or break a childs confidence in mathematics (Kefaloukos, Bobis 2011). They believe that
measurement is so important that students must learn this foundation and they believe that this
can happen because Playful investigations will form the prior knowledge needed for practical
investigations in the later years of learning in measurement (Kefaloukos, Bobis 2011). Like the
previous article they too believe that play has the capacity to create benefits for children inside
the classroom simply because Play provides a memorable experience for children (Kefaloukos
Bobis 2011).
That is what is so essential of play is that it creates a memory for kids. They learn
because they are having fun. More often than not playing a PowerPoint presentation of all the
Play is Critical 7
ways students will be measuring will loose kids focus and will basically become a waste of time
because the students will not be listening or be able to put the information into their memory
banks.
Maria Engel a teacher herself talks about how she sees that play is being pushed out of
the classrooms because of the high demands on teachers. She says that many articles explain the
benefits but she doesnt understand why play has been diminished so much. She says that every
year she finds [herself] having to defend play more and more (Engel 2015). She believes of
course that in no way do I [Maria Engel] think kindergarten should be ALL play. Of course,
children need to master basic skills in this crucial year, and children should be challenged and
expected to make progress (Engel 2015). She then goes on to say that while the basics are
important it is not fair to label kids. If they are getting the right support and they are able to have
friends and socialize then the more advanced skills will come later.
As with all the articles they all agree that play is being lost inside the classroom, and
because of that children are not able to learn the basic social skills. Students arent able to
connect with others and even more so now that technology has become so advanced. While
autism is a huge issue and social isolation becomes an issue we are still not including play in
everyday school life for children, and while sometimes it is included it is very limited.
Play with normal children inside the classroom is very important and almost all people
working with kids would agree the other thing to look at is students with disabilities and how
Play is a huge part of all kids life, and as mentioned above play inside the home and
inside a classroom is essential for kids to learn, grow, and develop and then to keep a person
healthy play is critical throughout the rest of life. Why do grown-ups have Dave and Busters
Play is a huge aspect in a childs life when they have disabilities. One disability that is
very overlooked is underprivileged kids. Often times these kids living in poverty or without a
home are completely denied the ability to include play in their life. When living in poverty kids
are usually expected to work or their parents arent home much so they are responsible.
Sometimes these kids dont even have a home and dont have the ability to play because they are
Looking at just schools alone and how students living in poverty are affected by play is
huge. Poor children enter the educational system at a lower level of readiness averaging 2 years
behind their middle- and upper- class peers ( Milter and Ginsburg). The article says that because
they are so behind and because of state testing in schools the schools reduce the amount of recess
and activity time they get. As previously discussed opportunities for play and social and
emotional learning enhance school engagement (Milteer, Ginsburg 2012). The article tackles the
tough topic of poverty and explains that underprivileged children do not get play time in schools
On top of play being taken out of schools for the underprivileged kids they dont get play
time at home either. Often times their home environment makes in unsafe to pay outside, or
depending on the situation it may be unsafe to play inside the home as well. A problem that all
the articles discussed say is that in education there is too much pressure on students to preform
academically that the foundations of life is taken away in order to increase test scores. But, based
on that information what many articles and researchers are trying to do is prove that taking away
Other disabilities that children can have is things like autism or down syndrome, these
issues may not inhibit one from having play time but these children may not know how to play.
In an article by Dana C. Chidress called Play Behaviors of Parents and their Young Children
with Disabilities she talks about how kids with different dissabilites will need more parent-
directed play and she talks about how play can help these children. One of the biggest disabilities
that hurts kids during play is autism. This is because autism takes away the ability for kids/
people to communicate and understand social clues. Children with ASD show deficits even in
the most basic forms of play (Warreyn 2014). With that said, and with already previously
Play can be corrected in children with Autism by focusing their play time on things they
are interested in. With autism disorder the child will be fixated on one subject such as cars or
trains. A way to incorporate natural play with other kids is the engage them in play of the thing
that they are specifically interested in (Warreyn 2014). There is also things like therapy play in
which the therapist will lead play exercises to help a child grow and develop.
Play is Critical 10
Play in Hospitals
Sometimes the unimaginable can happen. That is your child gets sick with a disease such
as cancer and the child has to be in the hospital. Sometimes this happens at a very young age,
and while the child may have to miss out on school or some other important milestones because
play is so critical to child development and thinking when a child is in the hospital you have to
Play during hospitalization will help the child as well as show improvement. Play is a
form of communication and self-expression, which gives them the possibility of communicating
with both the family and the medical and nursing staff, while helping them process a series of
emotions (Koukourikos 2015). This article about play in a hospital discusses how play will help
children in their unknown situation. Being in the hospital is scary for kids, they dont know what
all the machines do or what all the nurses are running around for therefor play can give them a
way to cope with all of that. Play can be especially effective with a childs thinking before going
anxiety, since it is based on the patients history, any previous negative experiences from
Sometimes children will have terminal illnesses that keeps them hospitalized for a while.
This can be very hard on a child and can cause depression, Play therapy among children
suffering from a terminal disease may create an atmosphere where young patients, even for a
short period of time, will be able to develop a sense of control of the situation, they will have the
chance to handle their lives in their own way, and will be able to externalize their frustrations,
fears, and feelings (Koukourikos 2015). This article explains that play can be used as a form of
Play is Critical 11
treatment. Lifting up the spirits using play of a child that is in the hospital can be very helpful to
their treatment and their quality of life while they are there.
In an article by Sherwood Burns-Nadar the author talks about two different types of play
that can be very helpful. The first being normative play; this type of play is effective because it
brings in play that would be normal outside the home. Normative play is good for hospitalized
children because it can lower their anxiety. Their anxiety will be lowered when they are able to
think and experience things other than what their treatment is.
The other type of play the author talks about is medical play. Medical play is especially
important for kids in helping them cope with being in the hospital because it allows them to play
and experience all the instruments that they may be afraid of. The hardest part of kids being in
the hospital is often times they will feel as if they lost control of their lives. Medical play can
somewhat allow them to get that control back. This play can also just help kids that are going to
the doctor for an annual check up. It can put the child in control of an unfamiliar situation that
play and imitation. He explains that play was founded in very young infants, surprising to him at
Conclusion
Play is overlooked for many reasons. The first one is that in education teachers,
administrators and states are very focused on getting the kids the be as book smart as possible.
They are always striving to make higher test scores, and the problem with this is that they use
those test scores to judge how well the teachers are teaching the students.
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Because the teachers are constantly worried about keeping their job with better test scores
they have to constantly cut out fun time for the kids. There are thousands of studies and articles
talking about all the benefits of play, and how play will help kids develop therefor it needs to be
As it pertains to childs thinking, play really helps a child develop mentally. As discussed
above when play is introduced in a childs life they will have better time learning, and they will
develop socially at a much higher rate than kids where play is not in their lives.
Play is Critical 13
References
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doi:10.3390/ijerph9093134
Burns-Nader, S., & Hernandez-Reif, M. (2014). Facilitating play for hospitalized children
doi:10.1080/02739615.2014.948161
Childress, D. C. (2010). Play Behaviors of Parents and Their Young Children With Disabilities.
doi:10.1177/0271121410390526
Childress, D. C. (2010). Play Behaviors of Parents and Their Young Children With Disabilities.
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De Villers Fader, N., & Zukow-Goldring, P. (2012). Caregivers gestures direct infant attention
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Engel, M. (2015). The Importance of Free Play in the Early Childhood Classroom: Perspectives
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Play is Critical 14
Fleming, A. P., Mcmahon, R. J., & King, K. M. (2016). Structured Parent-Child Observations
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Shimada, M. (2014). The importance of social play network for infant or juvenile wild
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