Play as a form of Learning

Let us try to understand why we consider play as a form of learning.

Watch this video of a child playing

Think and answer the questions below:

• What was the child doing in the video?
• Did you think that the child liked the role they were playing?
• How involved was the child in the role play?
• What do you think of the person who was facilitating the act?

The video shows how well the child was involved and engaged in the act. It did not feel once that the child was enacting, it did look so real. As adults, we may look at the act or pretend play by children as something they are doing on purpose for fun and enjoyment. But we have to realize that, for children, this is serious learning. 

This form of role-playing requires their complete involvement from being able to use language to imagining the actual scenario of how a doctor might respond to situations like these. Their emotional connection with the patient(the acting partner), and more about the pretend play, all it is real for the children.

We can thus conclude that “Play is an integral part which leads to development in children be it physical, language, social, emotional and cognitive.”

Theorists like Piaget and Vygotsky too considered that if children learn best through play then it was only best to use play as a method to teach in early childhood years.

Refer this document to learn more about the theories by Piaget and Vygotsky.