Learning Outside the Classroom: Play

'Besides creative activity in play; dancing, making rhymes and tunes, painting and dramatics were profoundly expressive' (E. R. Boyce, Stepney, London, 1936)

By encouraging children to learn through play it can help to develop positive attitudes towards learning, and also improve on their language and communication skills amongst and around others.

The positive aspects of learning through play:

• Children can explore new feelings and ideas
• They can develop on skills or even develop new skills
• Help to build children's confidence and personalities
• Encouraged to use their imagination and their own experiences
• Opportunity to think for themselves

Children need to be given the opportunity to work collaboratively with others, and by learning through play they are experiencing team work from a very young age, putting new skills into practice and being able to become far more confident in thinking for themselves.

Professor Tina Bruce CBE, supports the importance of play within children’s education, and that children should share new knowledge about the world with adults as they can further this knowledge into play situations from real life experiences. Bruce argues ‘the importance of play for children as a rehearsal for the future’. I agree with this statement as I too believe play can help guide and support children for future situations that might formulate in reality.

http://www.froebeltrust.org.uk/docs/Froebel-Conference-at-Canterbury.doc (2014)

   

I came across this video whilst researching the use of play within schools. It shows schools which use natural resources for play such as tyres, trees, sand and plants. This enabled and encouraged the children to use their imagination to the best of their ability, and fully involves them in using the natural play resources to build areas and create games as well as exploring with different materials.

The video does comment on the risks that have to be considered when children are using play as a technique of learning, such as the children not using the resources in the right way.

There have been some criticisms of children learning through play with risk taking being the main issue, but also the consideration that children can develop emotions from play as it allows them to deal with different issues. Play needs to be appropriate for the children, in order for them to benefit and learn from it positively.