Learning Through Play

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Hello everyone. Welcome to my first podcast for early years practitioners. My name is............ and today I am going to talk about - how children learn through play- and how can we support their learning. I know that today’s society is very different from the time when I was a child or when you were a child. Take a second and remember when you were young. Most of us remember summers with hot glistering days that seemed like they might never end. We all are able to search for memories, examples of play from our own childhood. When I was a child I spent my summer evenings playing outside football and hide and seek, we spent hours playing “mums and dads” or “shopkeepers”, until the darkness slowly fell and the stars revealed a twinkly twilight glow, we played until we were called for dinner and we all ran home. Those activities allowed us to have fun without worrying about completing a task, we were able to choose, to participate, to share ideas, giving us control on our lives at that moment in time, we could change the rules of the game if we all agreed and no one told us how to play. Can you remember those days? What is play? Play helps children to learn about the environment which surrounds them. Play helps children to feel “in charge” and then further helps them to develop self-esteem. Varied plays are essential as it contributes to the child’s development such as creative play which helps children to express themselves and their feelings through play in a fun way. Imaginary play is an opportunity for children to act out and imitate things they have been seen and express how they feel towards things. Physical play can help child’s development by enriching and extending their fine and gross motor skills. Regardless of cultural, social situations, abilities and disabilities is that children will play. If you ask a child why is he playing, he will probably
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