THEORY AS LENSES ON CHILDREN’S PLAY

1. THEORY AS LENSES ON CHILDREN’S PLAY

2. SIGMUND FREUD CONTRIBUTION TO THE DISCIPLINE OF CHILD DEVELOPMENT

3. SIGMUND FREUD • All behavior is motivated, often by unconscious dynamics • Freud’s theory of dreams emphasized the meaningfulness of dreams as manifestations of the unconscious mind • Early childrearing experiences, especially in weaning, toilet training, and the role of the family in the handling of sexuality and aggression, are seen as significant factors in development • Freud gave new hope to the treatment of psychopathology and changed social attitudes toward the neurotic and psychotic • A major motivating force in human behavior is sexuality, including the idea of infantile sexuality • Freud ascribes meaning to errors, forgettings, slips of the tongue, and other unintended behavior, believing that they are expressions of unconscious forces.

4. PSYCHOANALYTIC LENSE • As children experience personality growth through id, ego, superego, play becomes vital helping resolve the pressure of biological forces and environmental conditioning • Play has therapeutic use in helping children deal with inappropriate experiences

5. Alternative Perspective by Lili Peller (1954) • Play is simply a reflection of the child dealing with reality. • Through play, we experiment with the way in which we wish things could be

6. BATESON ON PLAY FRAMES • When children play they are communicating • Children engage in play frame (signaling that we are moving from reality to imagination). Imaginary is a map and reality is the terrain. • Play allows children to social skills/role flexibility. Prepares them for future roles in society

7. CATHERINE GARVEY’S ON PLAY TALK • Explored how children signaled to their playmates during play • When play becomes boring or too stressful they terminate it • Boys and girls engage in play, however, girls tend to use more language signals

8. PIAGET ON PLAY AS ASSIMILATION • Interest in thought and reasoning • Focus on organization and adaptation • A child demonstrates knowledge thru existing schemes. • These schemes are used to take in new knowledge. This is called Assimilation • Because of new experiences, children are challenged to change the way they think. This is called Accommodation

9. Piaget’s Stages of Development • Sensorimotor. Explore world thru senses. Object Permanence (grasping rattle; repeated dropping of toys) • Preoperational. Symbolic play and construction represents the thoughts of children during this stage. (Building with blocks; modeling clay). • Concrete. Games with rules.(Marbles, tag) • Formal. Games with reasoning and logic.

10. LEV VYGOTSKY ON PLAY • Vygotsky concerned with the origin of play/how it develops and whether play is the predominant activity of children • Concluded that play is not a predominant activity during preschool years but is the leading source of development • Rejected the view that play is due to pleasure expression. Instead, play is imaginary, illusory realization of unrealized behaviors. Children are internalizing rules placed by their observations. • Maintains that children under 3 cannot engage in imaginary play

11. VYGOTSKY CONTINUED • Play objects (pivots) assist children in developing imaginary play. Between ages 3-5yrs, a stick becomes a gun, a pencil becomes a plane • Play is a source of development and creates the zone of proximal development (ZPD) • ZPD. A range of tasks between those the child can handle independently and those at the highest level she can master thru play or with the help of adults or competent peers • Thru scaffolding (degree of support given), adults can help advance children thru play

12. JEROME BRUNER • Play facilitates development in many domains: Problem-solving, cooperative and competitive social interaction, sex roles, cultural acquisition, language, and creativity • Play is an immature activity/allows children to explore and master abilities needed in the adult world • Play allows for decontextualization. Experiment and make errors without consequences

13. MILDRED PARTEN • Interested in genetic sociology of classroom. Explore the transition children make as they become social participants in group activities • Children transition through the following stages: • Uninvolved/nonsocial (age 2). No sense of play/others • Onlookers. Observes but does not participate • Solitary. Plays alone (ages 2-3) • Parallel. Plays near others but plays alone/not sharing • Associative. Plays with others, but purposes may not be similar • Cooperative. Goals of play are shared and negotiated; tasks and roles relate to play’s purpose. Common goal, product, or game

14. PEER CULTURE AND PLAY • An important role of the peer culture is the diffusion of values and norms • Children often use games and chants to keep others inline or to exclude them from the group. • Sometimes, adults considered outsiders. • General develops during play on playgrounds and with neighborhood friends. Unsupervised play.

15. Group Process: Developing Theory of Play • Develop at least three assumptions that guide your theory of play and development • Explain your theory as it pertains to infancy and early childhood • What are the strengths and weaknesses of your theory

16. THE BASICS OF PLAY By Heidemann and Hewitt

17. Play: A Singular Experience or Multiple Exploration • Children may engage an object or a task and spend much time exploring and manipulating during play. • Children may also engage multiple objects or tasks for the purpose of exploration and manipulation. • One of the primary reasons objects are employed in play is to promote growth and development • Enhancing imagination • Curiosity and discovery

18. Play with Objects • Sensorimotor Play. Children explore sensory stimulation of collecting information about their environment (Promotes competence and development). • Constructive Play. Children begin to manipulate objects to create based on their developing knowledge. • Dramatic Play. As children begin to develop imagination, they begin to use objects to represent mental thought processes in order to execute an experience (Representational Skills). • In time, children begin to imitate the perceived behaviors and roles of others during play (Role-Playing). • Games with Rules