Pedagogy

Play is considered to be essential to the social, emotional, physical and cognitive development of children since it provides good opportunity for them to investigate, discover, test and explore many things in the world.

One of the common explanations on the purpose of play is the so-called practice or pre-exercise theory. Play is considered to be essential need of childhood since it can reinforce the attitudes that allow children to prepare skills for the future (Sadacho  Spodek, 2003). Children will have the opportunity to acquire the necessary skills for them to survive through engaging to play. It allows them to practice, elaborate and perfect their skills before they become adult.

Even before the schooling of children, moreover, play is viewed as important in early childhood because it helps prepare children for school. Engaging in play activities helps to develop and nourish the social and language skills of children. Children refine their listening and reasoning skills when they are engaging to outdoor activities. Many multi-sensory play activities teach children to understand and learn by using the different senses such as touch, sight, sound and the like (Buzzle.com 2010).

Playing along with children or singing with them which involves rhymes and vocabularies enhances their language acquisition and learning. It is found out that early involvement of children to oral language skills, word recognition, and letter sounds helps them to have balanced and excellent development in language learning. Through play, children will have the opportunity to enhance their language skills while enjoying childhood play.  

Aside from the social and language skills, play also helps in the physical development of children. Since obesity is one of the pressing problems in the country nowadays, engaging in outdoor games can be a good avenue to prevent childhood obesity. Outdoor games, likewise, help to nurture and coordinate the development of the sensory motor of children.

Another important contribution of play to children is the development of their creativity and imagination. It is observed that  children pretended predominantly with realistic objects...long past the point at which they became able to pretend with substitute objects  (Haight  Miller, 1993, p.98). Through play, children are able to pretend and simulate with objects which are considered to be important in the holistic development of children. When children are exposed to the limitless world of play, they are given the chance explore and discover many things while developing their sense of creativity and imagination.

Because of these advantages that it can offer to children, play is now viewed as an essential part of the teaching-learning process. It is now considered to be one of the effective methods for the learning and development of children. Notwithstanding the fact that play has a lot of contributions to the development of children, some are arguing that play only lessen the time of children to formal class sessions and play only makes the children lazy to study subjects and make assignments. Some say that children growth and development is sometimes hindered by outdoor play.

On the contrary to this perception of some people, many institutions and educators nowadays are recognizing the importance of play in the growth and developmental stages of children especially those who are in the pre-primary classes. This is thus the reason why some schools are sparing time for the children to play and exercise. It is because through play, the child builds self-esteem, develops social and language skills, improves motor and physical development and stimulates creativity and imagination.
 
Play builds self esteem
Since children often play at something they know they can excel, they can do well and they can be successful, it is observed that play helps build self esteem to children which is very important in the growth and developmental stage of the children.

Self-esteem is defined as how one feels about oneself and the extent how a person likes, respects and accepts himself overall as an individual (suite101.com, 2010). If children will have a good perception about themselves, there would be a greater chance that they will have an excellent growth and developmental stages from early childhood up to adulthood. On the contrary, if children will have low self-esteem, there would also be a greater that children will suffer poor from development because of frustrations and disappointments.

It is believed that children with high self-esteem are able to handle conflicts effectively and easily, assume responsibility and accountability, deal with their emotions and fears, accept challenges, and take pride in their abilities (suite101.com, 2010). Hence, if they will be exposed early to play, there would be a chance that they will develop their high self-esteem and they will become successful in the future.

On the other hand, those who have low self-esteem are considered to be individuals who are avoiding challenges, feeling unloved and unwanted, blaming others for their mistakes and discrediting their own abilities (suite101.com, 2010). Play would be a good avenue to overcome this incident and children will have the opportunity to develop good self-esteem.

Because play gives children the opportunity to create and explore a world they can master to conquer their worries and fears, it is advantageous if children will be exposed to play activities (Zins, 2004). As children master their world with the aid of play, they eventually develop new competencies for improved confidence and resilience. If children will have good sense of self-esteem, they will eventually develop their good sense on learning and adaptation. For instance, children in the pre-primary classes will develop self-esteem if they will be exposed to play activities. It is because through play, children learn and discover new things which are not familiar to them before. And when they have the mastery of those things, they will eventually build confidence in doing them which will lead them to enhance good self-esteem.

Play builds social skills
During the early years of children, they tend to play with inanimate objects such as toys, dolls, bricks, cars and the like. Through this interaction with the inanimate objects, the children are somehow practicing their interactive skills. Then, when the children are on the stage of needing companionship during their play, they eventually learn how to share their toys and take their turns during their play with other children. In this light, they are eventually learning how to communicate and socialize with other children who are involved in their play.

Play allows children to learn how to work in groups, to negotiate, to share, to resolve conflicts and to learn self-advocacy skills (Pellegrini, 1993).  Through this, children develop their sense of socializing and relating with other children. This is very important so that when they have reached their later stages of development, they will have good sense on the importance of social skills.

Play provides opportunity for children to work out for their emotions
Simulation is very common during the play of the children. During the play, they are pretending to be someone they want to be like a doctor, dentist, teacher, fireman, police, politician and the like. Children, through the aid of play, are also educated on the roles and importance of the different people in the society. And because of this, they can work out their worries and fears on visiting a doctor or a dentist.  

For instance, if children will always simulate the role of a doctor or a dentist, they would eventually conquer their fears on these people. This would help them to realize that going to a doctor or to a dentist is a thing that should not be feared of. And through playing and simulating the roles of these people, they would have the chance to work out for their emotions and fears. Hence, it can be considered that play is not merely about fun because deeper meanings lie behind playful activities such as working out of the children with their emotions and fears (Tsao, 2010).

Play aids in language development of children

Different games and plays of the children allow them to use variety of words. These help in the language development of the children as they grow old (Hall  Abbott, 1991. When the children are playing, they are using language to communicate with other children. This helps them to develop their linguistic capabilities as they are enjoying the fun of playing.

Since most of the games require language for communication, play would be a good outlet for the children to enhance their language learning and acquisition. For instance, singing during play which involves rhymes and letters or words helps children to achieve their language development to the fullest.

Play helps in the motor and physical development
Children develop their muscles and exercise their body parts while playing. This must be one of the good benefits that play can bring to children. Aside from developing their cognitive, social, language acquisition and other developmental aspects, play is a good source for strengthening the motor and physical development of children (Hall  Abbott, 1991).

Since it usually involves the use of senses, the body and the extremities, play can really serve as a big help in the development of strong bones and muscles of the children. Aside from that, abilities like flexibility and endurance are also developed in engaging with childhood play. Hence, play is indeed important in the holistic development of the children.  

Play stimulates creativity and imagination

Aside from its contribution to the motor and physical development of the children, play is also regarded to be essential in the development of creativity and imagination of the children.

Play allows children to explore their creativity while enhancing their dexterity, imagination, and physical, emotional and cognitive aspects (Shonkoff  Phillips, 2000). It is through play that children have the opportunity to interact and engage to their environment.

Autistic children have found out to have difficulties on three main aspects namely the skills on social interaction, communication and imagination (Lindon, 2001). These three aspects are very crucial in the development of play relationships. If autistic children will be taught how to engage themselves to play, there would be a greater possibility that they can improve their social and communication skills.

Hence, play is not only good for those who are in school but also for those who have special cases such as autism. Since it helps children to become creative and imaginative, play would be a good avenue for the children to develop their cognitive aspect.

Conclusion
Since play constitutes to the holistic growth and development of children, it should be highly encouraged in the curriculum not only of the pre-primary classes but also to the other levels of schooling. Play will not only help children to develop their motor and physical aspects but will also help them to build high self-esteem, develop social skills, enhance language acquisition and learning, and stimulate creativity and imagination.