For a child to learn about the world around them they need to have appropriate activities for their age and stage of development and doing this through play will help to promote and enhance their development.
This can be started when the children are babies they learn about cause and effect when they drop items on the floor the staff member will go an pick them up again so the children will notice how the adults respond to them when they do this so the baby is starting to learn about communication.
As the children grow their inquisitiveness and curiosity become more prevalent, meaning their play becomes more exploratory, and their problem-solving skills grow through the different games and activities that they take part in.
During play a child gains knowledge, they can learn how to think for themselves, solve problems, learn social skills, become independent, their fine motor skills develop, they can learn new words and how to use them.
If the activity is a puzzle a child can develop their knowledge of shapes of where a piece fits due to the shape of it, they are problem solving, they are developing their fine motor skills, the child can also use their language by talking about what they see or asking for help.
Children also learn about the world around them through role play, this also gives them the opportunity to “act out” things they have seen at home from their parents or siblings such as cooking dinner or at shops. As they become older children can use their imagination to make up entire games be it from something they have seen in a film such as super heroes and princesses to family life such as “you are the baby, I am mummy, you are daddy and you are sister/brother” and making up role playing games from their own experiences.
Children develop their language and social skills through play, even young babies will scream or shriek when another baby has taken a toy off them and this is their way of communicating that they are not happy about it.
Play helps children to gain confidence and build relationships with their peers.
It can help them to learn how to count in situations such as going down a slide “1,2,3 go”, how many children can be at an activity so the children count how many are already there and if there is room for them to be able to join the activity.
Having books out for the children to look at when they want to will give them the opportunity to tell stories either from memory or making one up through their imagination when looking at the pictures. The children can also if at the stage of development can start to recognise letters in the book which are in their name.
The children can then go and mark make, which in turn they can give meanings to if it is not clear to adults and they will be gaining control of the pencils which will then in time will mean they can form letters.
Play is where they children are learning in a less structured way in which they find fun and will want to continue to do without them realising its importance until later on in their life.
