Pedagogy

1. a) The definition of play      
Play can be defined as the process through which one uses hisher mind in order to understand the world around him or her. The propensity to play is voluntary and the motivation for it comes purely from the individual. It can also be defined as that absorbing activity in which children participate with enthusiasm and abandon (Excelligence Learning Corporation 2008). Play is often a way of entertainment used by people though it could also be used for maintaining the physical health and psychological health through reduction of stress.                                                        

Background
a)   The Early Years Foundation Stage  
The new Early Years Foundation Stage (EYFS) was begun with an aim of looking at the welfare of the children by the government. The aim was to see to it that the childrens rights were taken into account and not violated. The first step was to lay down the requirements that are necessary in raising children. According to information given, it is essential that children are provided with safe and secure environments in which to interact and explore rich and diverse learning and development opportunities (The national strategies 2005). It is very important for the teachers and all other people concerned with children to see to it that the environment that the children play is free from obstacles that may endanger them.

b)  The Standards of Early Years Foundation Stages and some Policies          
The EYFS bear in mind that for children to perform better, they need a healthy, safe and secure environment, hence setting this as one of the main requirement for the caregivers. It is the work of the Practice Guidance for the Early Years Foundation Stage and supporting resources to provide information and advice designed to help practitioners meet these legal requirements in a way that reflects the needs of the individual children in their care and is appropriate to their setting. These measures are designed with an aim of ensuring that children are able to enjoy learning through play, to grow in confidence and to fulfill their potential.    

Others affected by the same requirements are schools and kindergartens who will be required to provide the same conditions to the children to facilitate learning. Teachers are expected to ensure that co-curriculum activities such as games are integrated within the school program with an aim of ensuring that children get time to interact with the external environment through play. This aspect of play is a philosophy underpinning the Foundation Stage curriculum requiring that in order for the children to enjoy learning it is important that interesting games that are related to what is being taught to be incorporated in the curriculum. This is vital for the reason that it revitalizes the mind of these children and helps to improve their concentration rates. Therefore, all institutions dealing with the children are advised to have time set for games in their learning curriculum.      

The national strategy of 2005, realized the need for the programs in schools to be flexible. This was observed as the only way to cater for the needs of each and every child. As a way to support these sentiments, the proponents of this proposal cited the different needs in children as the main reason. This will ensure that every child is well represented. It is also important to note that every child poses different gifts and talents that will be realized mostly out of class activities. The managers and all stakeholders of these learning institutions are therefore urged to ensure that the program caters for all.

Discussion 2    
a) The Children Act              
The rights of children were laid down during the UN Convention of 1991.according to that convention, it was passed that, government agencies should recognize the rights of the children to engage in play and recreational activities appropriate to the age of the child and to participate fully in cultural life and the arts(UNCRC 1991). The right of the child to play is therefore well spelt out under this article showing the commitment of those commissions in ensuring that the rights of these children are met.  Apart from the right to play, there are other child rights spelt in that same article. The article spells out that a child will need to be given registration after birth the registration is to ensure that the child has a name, a place to belong (nationality), and also the registration document must acknowledge the parents of the child who will take care of the child. The fate of the child who has lost contact with both parents has also been taken care of as the state is supposed to respect the rights of a child who is without a parent or guardian. Contact with the parents shall also be maintained, all in the best interest of the child.  

b) Theory and Context as discussed by Vygotsky      
Vygotsky looked at how play and culture correlated. He observed that, through a childs interaction with either their friends or even older people, they are able to learn a lot of things contained in their culture (Santrock 2004). He urged that the child is able to learn the values and beliefs of the group that they belong including the standards of conduct of behavior in that particular group. With this in mind, Vygotsky said that through play then, children will develop skills that are meant to help them understand even the symbolic meaning of objects found in their culture.          

He also talks about internalization. This is basically a process by which all the information that has been gained through interaction with the members of the family becomes part of the child and shapes their behavior. Most of the information is socialized in children through communication with their parents or amongst themselves but others will be learnt from observation as the other members of the group carry on their daily routines (Santrock 2004, 200)  Vygitsky also says that through play the child is able to look at the world from a wider perspective. They are able to think in the absence of the actual objects in the environment, and this is what he terms as abstract reasoning. He insists that the childs mind develops from the point where they experience tunnel vision to a point where they look at life phenomena from a wider scope using their reasoning. He also notes some sense of creativity and imagination from the mind of these children as they engage in play. ( Santrock 2004, 200-500). What he means by this is that children become innovative in a way and have the ability to bring out new events, for instance they can construct their own toys using materials from the atmosphere. Apart from this, they become very inquisitive as a way to seek for an explanation as to why different phenomena work as they do in the society.  

c) Theory and Practice by other scholars      
Dr Anna Targowska from Edith Cowan University has identified the characteristics of play as, intrinsically motivated, pleasurable where actions take on new meaning and that it is freely chosen has written an importantarticle on the power of play (Every Child Magazine, 2008). This leads us to the discussion to look at the importance of play to a child.    Importance of outdoor play  Outdoor games are important in that they provide the children with a variety of things that are found in the environment. As they interact with this materials in the surrounding they develop curiosity to know and understand why things are the way they are. In that process, they have great cognitive development and acquire skills for sound critical thinking and decision making. Also due to the nature of the environment, they are able to realize their different talents and skills. These physical skills include sports (The Great Outdoors, 1995).  To support the above point, children undertaking outside activities are likely to burn the most calories, which helps prevent obesity, a heart disease risk factor that has doubled in the past decade (Excelligence Learning Corporation 2008). With studies showing that as many children are not getting enough exercise and that risk factors like hypertension and arteriosclerosis are showing up at age five, parents and teachers need to give serious consideration to ways in which to prevent such health problems.            

The importance of play        
The United Nations High Commissions for Human Rights, in their General Assembly of 20th November 1989 recognized the importance of every child to play. The article written after that meeting read, play is important since it will help the children to develop in their motor coordination, develop in their minds and also gain emotional growth and stability. Pellegrini AD and Smith PK (1998) also noted that play is important since it allows children time to check on their talents and to test their weaknesses. They are also able to have a greater understanding of the world that surrounds them. It is with this in mind that the UNHCR saw the importance of passing play as a very important right for the children.    

b) Play and cognitive development   Vygotsky believes that through playing children are not only practicing their experiences but are also developing in their minds through new experiences in life (Vandenberg 1986). Several researches also conducted also agree with that sentiment. Therefore playing is so vital since it exposes children to new environments where they expound on their reasoning. It has also been noted by other scholars that for proper functioning of the mind, play is imperative (Tsao 2000). play and emotional development children will increase their self-esteem, self confidence and gain emotional stability when they are allowed to play with other children outside(Government of Saskatchewan 2007) they learn how to deal with their emotions in terms of expressing them (Erikson 1963). They will learn how to cope with their emotions so that they dont hurt other people.

d) The importance of outdoor play and the Environment
Dr. Montessori was also very involved in knowing about the child development and the importance of the environment in shaping the child. Dr. Montessori carried out an experiment and made a discovery of what she referred to as the childs true normal nature(Elizabeth Hainstock, 1997).in order to put this to practice, Dr. Montessori  decided to come up with a special method aimed at ensuring that these children grow naturally without any interference.      

According to her, applying this method involves the teacher looking at a child as a person who has control of events that surround them in the course of their development. Children to teachers, may seen helpless but in the real sense they posses special gifts and talents. In other words, she was looking at a child as someone who is able to control events of his or her life. It is the responsibility of the teacher to ensure that the environment that the child is in is safe for their play (Della Terra Montessori School 2010).Through the keen role of the teachers observation this forms what she refers to lessons (Elizabeth Hainstock, 87, 1997). The children are allowed to interact freely with the objects in the environment and with time they are able to give meaning to what they observe. In her experiment, Montessori noted that a lesson is an experimental way of moving together with children to support their true normal development.   Dr. Montessori urged that these lessons be left out entirely for the children to have full control over them. The teacher or any other person should only be there to provide the necessary equipment that is aimed at facilitating the need of the children to play. Leaving them to find their way to the field has been seen as the only way to assist these children to gain their independent of thought and action and as a way of inculcating autonomy in them. For instance a child is able to realize their strengths and weaknesses, such as whether they can be good at athletics, swimming or any other thing. When this is done, the children are able to appreciate what they can do best and the teachers likewise will be there to provide support. Therefore, the key point here is letting the children find their own identity.

The other important figure who looked at the importance of play in children was Reggio Emilia. According to her, the organization of the physical environment is crucial to  early childhood program, and is often referred to as the childs third teacher (Cadwell 2005).This aims planning of new spaces and the remodeling of old ones including  the integration of each classroom with the rest of the school, and the school with the surrounding community. The goodness of the surrounding factors  lies in the belief that children can best create meaning and make sense of their world through environments which support complex, varied, sustained, and changing relationships between people, the world of experience, ideas and the many ways of expressing ideas (Fantuzzo J, McWayne C., 2000).

d) The importance of play in development of mathematics and science          
There is also a close relationship between play and science. While playing, the children begin to use their senses so as to understand the world as a whole. They apply the senses of touch, smell, sight, hearing and taste. According to Janet Moyles (2005), science is aimed at helping the children to not only understand the environment that they belong to but also make also be in a position to explain the phenomena. It is through play and interaction with objects in the environment that the children will know to make use of the five senses and also learn how to explain them when given proper direction and support.          

The application of senses should not be narrowed down to  knowledge and understanding of the world but should also be seen as a way of gaining other skills such as comparing and contrasting different phenomena taking place, developing observation skills and also ways of making inferences as a way to explain what is taking place. Also should be seen as a way to help children develop great communication skill as they want to know and explain what is taking place and lastly develop great critical thinking. (Janet Moyles 2005).  Secondly, is to develop attitudes such as curiosity, cooperation, respect for the opinion of others, perseverance and determination.  
a)  Physical growth and play  Another main importance of play is that is in its contrast to passive entertainment, in that play builds active, healthy bodies. It has been explained that encouraging unstructured play may be a great way of increasing physical activity levels in young ones, which is one important strategy in the resolution of the obesity epidemic (Fantuzzo J, Bulotsky R, McDermott P, Mosca S, Lutz MN 2003). It is by the way of getting involved in a play that learning is gained. It is through activities that children develop, socio-emotionally and intellectually. For this reason, play is am important key aspect of the Kindergarten program.  Play should also be seen as being integral to the academic environment and that the two should not be treated in isolation. According to the research carried by the American Academy of Pediatrics, it was found that play helps children to develop wholly. This includes their development in the way they interact with their friends, teachers and their parents. They are able to give their views and also listen to that of others. They also become sensitive to the feelings of others. The other point of development is in their emotions. This research shows that they gain emotional stability and therefore they are led by facts rather than feelings. They also develop in the way they reason and decision making.        

Enough play and reasonable time that allow for peer interactions are important components of social-emotional learning. This is explained in the Northern Ireland Curriculum which states that, children will only be able to enjoy learning where a good curriculum that respects the time meant for playing is put into place. Play is seen also as a way through which the child will get rid of the stress they get through the formal learning. It is also thought to be a way of putting into practice some of the things that are learnt in class and by doing this they are able to internalize what is learnt and therefore better understanding. Setting this time in the curriculum actually concurs with the above article which looks at the rights of children, and demands that play time be a part of the school curriculum (Excelligence Learning Corporation 2008). This calls for the school management to see to it that time for games and sports is allocated to allow for the children to interact with the world.  The proponents of play in children argue that it is very important to know that children come from different backgrounds have different cultures and even status. With this in mind it is therefore imperative to note that each and every child possess different kinds of needs that have to be met. Every child must be given a chance to develop to their full potential through games. Many talents are able to be discovered in the field as the child participares in the play and therefore it is the work of the relevant institutions to avail the necessary materials aimed at assisting the children to test their limits and strengths. The program needs to realize that not all children are gifted in the class learning but that they excel very well in the field activities. Therefore narrowing down the success of the children to reading alone will be locking some of those who cant do well in academics out. They will not understand have the motivation to go on in learning and as a result they lead very unhappy lives.

a)   Importance of play to development of social life.    
It has also been noted that children engage in different types of play depending upon circumstances and particular needs. They include those that require the child to fully take part and those that do not require their participation at all (Coolahan K, Fantuzzo J, Mendez J, McDermott P. 2000). It has been emphasized that kindergartens should encourage several types of play in order to meet the needs of each and every child. Children should not be separated from each other but let to associate freely. Playing with others requires organization for a purpose. While playing alone, children are independent and normally follow their own interest without reference to others (The national strategies 2005).Those who observe as others play ask questions and make suggestions, but do not enter into the play are said to be engaging in onlooker play.   There are children who are also very passive who are not involved in the field play. Such young ones may opt to take activities that do not require their participation such as watching of movies or cartoons from the television. These children also might also not participate in class activities. The problem could be they have not yet adapted to investigating and asking questions may not have been encouraged. It is with this in mind that the teacher should be very observant to cater for all the needs of these children and helping them to participate fully in the class. They should understand the children from their point of view since they have different personalities with some being introverts and others extroverts. Teachers should not only flow with the children who seem to have quick understanding of the concept and ignore the very slow learners. It is important that all the children feel that they are loved and cared for.            

Parents have been noted as very important elements in healthy development of a child. It has been discovered that parents who have the opportunity to glimpse into their childrens world learn to communicate more effectively with their children and are given another setting to offer gentle, nurturing guidance.  Less verbal children may be able to express their views, experiences, and even frustrations through play, allowing their parents an opportunity to gain a fuller understanding of their perspective (Burdette HL, Whitaker RC  2005). It is good to note here that play could serve as a great way by which parents engage with their children.   a) Play and the growing reasoning.        

It is through the play that children relate their senses to the happenings in the environment. That statement is according to Piaget another great psychologist who advocated for play is an important tool through which children can get the meaning of the surrounding. (Hallowell 2002). As the children get to the environment, they are constantly learning new things. When they do this, this affects what they already knew as the truth but which now has been proven otherwise. They therefore discard the earlier information and acquire the new one. This is normally a continuous process that ensures that the child is in the process of acquiring new information every moment to facilitate growth and development. According to Piaget, this is what is called learning and that is how young children learn.      

Though we have seen the importance of play in the development of a child, there have however been some of the major setbacks. It has been found that many kindergartens today do not have the allocated time for which the children to be allowed to exercise their bodies and also know whether they have the talents in the field. These pose danger as many of the children become physically unfit and suffer from lifestyle complications such as obesity. In a survey of 1989 by the National Association of Elementary School Principles, it was leant that there was a great reduction in the time meant for playing and that in some instances there was no playing at all (Fantuzzo J, Sekino Y, Cohen HL 2004).  All the time was diverted to class work activities. This is seen to pose major threats to children a they can begin suffering from stresses of hard work in classes due to lack of time for physical activities. This has been observed by Rosenfeld AA and Wise N. (2000) as a way to obstruct the way that the children use to internalize what is learnt in class. As we saw earlier, children form permanent memory by putting the instructions that they learn from their teachers into practice. Therefore by denying them the time for playing, it means that they are likely to forget whatever is acquired as soon as they come out of class.  

The performance between both sexes has also been compared. The findings indicate that the boys are more affected when it comes to doing well in academic work (Lareau A 2003). According to them, boys do well when they are able to compare things in a more objective way rather than getting a lot of theories from class. Practical activities enable the boys form better memories of what they are taught compared to girls who are able to grasp the theories as they are without necessarily going to the actual practical lessons. Therefore, doing away with time for play with a mentality that the children will perform better, this will shock many school managements as it is not the case, the opposite will be true and therefore it is important that play be encouraged.  If this trend goes on like this, children will have problems especially stressful ones due to lack of play which is vital in releasing stressful situations. This situation has to be addressed as quickly as possible in order to ensure proper growth and development of healthy children (Raver CC, Zigler EF. 1997).

Pediatric health professions have been seen as the only solution to these problems and are there looked upon to address it.  Since they are well conversant with the problems children go through,       pediatricians will be suitable to help parents consider the appropriate balance between preparing for the future and living fully in the present through play, child-centered organized activities, and rich parent-child interaction.          

There are actually different needs for every child, on the basis of the childs academic needs, temperament, environment, and the familys needs. The main way in which the parents are able to engage with their children is mainly through games as noted by Wetzel (1999) However, most of them are very busy pursuing their jobs, careers and project that the time for engaging in this important session has really reduced. Most of the parents therefore do not understand what their children are going through as they dont get time to know their emotional states.          

With no time to play at school and also at home with the parents leaves the children at a very hard situation. The parents have sought the media as an alternative for this as a way to keep the children engaged by the programs in the television such as music and the radio. While they may succeed in keeping the children occupied, they will be exposing their children to problems. One is that the children will become less creative as they cannot think beyond what they see done through the media. They may also become very antisocial as they may not know how to interact with other people from outside. Apart from that, they may become physically unfit and also their level of reasoning might not go beyond what they are constantly watching and listening to. Therefore, to help overcome all this problems, parents need to create time for interacting with their children through play even if it means ones in a week. a) Play and culture.  Children are known to come from different cultures, backgrounds and statuses. Culture shapes the kind of information that the child learns. For the child to develop, it will be great to understand the culture from which they come from. Most of the knowledge is gained through (Santrock 2004, 2000) states about three ways in which learning is passed along to an individual. The former is through imitation where the child simply copies another person.

Following that is the concept of instructed learning. As the teachers interact with their children, a lot is taught to them and much involves providing the direction to the children though it is theoretical. When the children are therefore released to play, they therefore look for ways to apply all the instructions that they received from their teachers. This is a kind of learning that is aimed at making the child internalize all the concepts taught from a class setting.  The final way of learning has been called collaborative kind of learning. This is because learning takes place with the participation of a larger group. The importance of this is that there is the exchange of ideas from the children which helps to increase knowledge in children. It is also a way of ensuring development of social interactions (Education.com 2010).   For the Young ones to understand what they have learnt, they externalize it through speaking it out. This is what actually helps them understand things in their own minds. This private speech may lessen with age as suggested by Vygotsky (Santrock 2004).This externalization of thoughts does not often happen to the adults and the older children but as Vygotsky noted, in adults the processing of information is mostly from the internal since they have a well developed level of thinking. That is the reason why children will keep on repeating a certain newly learnt thing so as not to forget it but help them to sink it in their systems of the mind.   The proponents of Vygoysky theory urge that it is very important for the children to be exposed to different environments far from what they are used to see on a daily basis. The reason for this they say is to help the child make an observation of what goes around in those new environments and also gain new knowledge to add it and compare with what they already know.

Children are known to be very inquisitive and wanting to learn new things and to be explained why certain phenomena is the way they perceive it. It is through this that they gain more knowledge. Exposure to new settings has therefore been seen as the best alternative meant to increase the skills of communication, interaction and cooperating with other people in a more healthy way.  They also say that there are different models in the society that provide children with new patterns. This behavior could be desirable, for instance a child who expects their parents to do everything for themselves may observe other children of the same age with them doing activities for themselves. This may motivate these children to also seek for autonomy and stop the behavior of expecting to be fed in everything.   a) The international perspective of play  There is also the international perspective of play as a tool of development for the children. Adult views about the value of play vary between cultures (Tina, Hyder 2005). He gave an illustration to show the different perspectives that people hold as concerning the children. In his example,  he highlights how parents from European and North American backgrounds tend to focus on the importance of play for individual cognitive development. They try to explain this in relation with objects or toys (Government of Saskatchewan 2007). This is borrowed from the advertisements through media for babies toys, which tend to show one child playing with a toy, with the voice-over stressing the various ways in which the toy can help support the babys cognitive development. As a result many companies have come up with different products especially toys that are in high demand by these children.   As a result, there is a huge market for educational toys in the UK, with companies such as Mother care emphasizing that parents can choose the ideal gift for their child, whether its developmental toys for babies, pre-school educational toys or that all-important first bike (Mothercare, 2006).          

According to Hyuns research (Tina, Hyder 2005) parents from other backgrounds tend to place more emphasis on the social and emotional aspects of play. It is therefore clear that play in children is not limited to one culture but it appears in all cultures with some clear distinctions depending on perspectives that people hold.   Conclusion From the above discussion, it is clear that children cannot be separated from play if they are to development well emotionally, physically, socially and also spiritually. A lot of emphasis is therefore important especially for school systems that do not allow for games and sports.