Lev Vygotsky Play

Play is one of the biggest roles in the development of language in all children. Play helps with learning many different important things such as shapes, colors, and even sounds. Play has the ability to remove the feeling of pressure and frustration from the communication process and also can impact many different components of language. Two components of language that play impacts during development are turn-taking and semantic features.

The relationship between play and learning seems obvious to many child professionals and parents, and yet there are still lack of understanding surrounding the importance of children's play. Some people believe that children need to "work" not play, and that playing serves no useful purpose in a learning and development environment. This is surprising considering that play, with its high levels of motivation and potential enjoyment empowers children (as well as people

Play should involve children interacting with their teachers and peers. Children can develop their language through play (E.g. Nursery rhymes and verbal jokes.) Language must be modelled by adults in order for children to develop their own language skills correctly. Children give themselves challenges and set their own targets when they are playing and can do this according to their own interests and it makes them aware of their strengths and abilities.

Free from adult obligations and unburdened by serious responsibilities, children are likely to spend many of their days role-playing imaginative scenarios, an activity known as pretend play [CITE CITE]. Typically appearing around the age of twelve months, pretend play is initially central to the self, before expanding to include peers and objects [CITE]. As well as being an effective way to keep children entertained, prominent psychologist Lev Vygotsky believed pretend play to be a complex process which fosters the development of vital cognitive operations such as self-regulation (impulse control, self-direction, planning, and appropriate social behaviour) and symbolic thought (assigning an alternative meaning to something), known together

Little and Wyver (2008:33) clearly state that, “Within the early childhood field, play has been acknowledged as an important context for children’s learning and development.”

Everyone strives to gain as much knowledge as they can, as knowledge is power. Many parents with young children want to ensure a promising future, therefore placing their child on the fast-track; learning math and how to read at an early age. It is believed that the best preschool program will lead to the best college. However, due to a multitude of research on the subject, many have realized the real learning tool to place children on the face-track to success is by letting them play. Play needs to be funded in programs as it allows children the opportunity to develop in all domains. Play is a tool which creates a solid foundation for children to build upon their skills throughout their life. In Genan T.

There are numerous theories of play and countless theorists, from Freud and Spencer to Piaget and Vygotsky, who have studied play in relation to what it is and what it does for the child. This essay will outline the definition and value of play and the importance of how it can foster the child’s learning in regards to these theorists who studied the effects in great detail. It will discuss the how the environments constructed by educators can impact play and the theories of learning relating to the quote “play and learning are inextricably woven together ...” Ebbeck and Waniganayake, 2010, p. 5).

Scaffolding means the process of ECT to provide guidance to children temporarily for them to move to a higher competence level (MacNaughton & Williams, 2009). In my practicum, I hope to find out what my focus children can or cannot do at the moment without teachers’ support, provide assistant to them to support their learning in terms of new meaning, relationships and knowledge. I hope to try different scaffold methods to respond to their individual needs and assist their learning including questioning, prompting, praising, confirming, pointing out things to children and modelling (MacNaughton & Williams, 2009).

The importance of play has been a long debated topic in elementary schools across the United States. There have been numerous research studies conducted to discover if play is effective or not. Psychologist Lev Vygotsky 's theory of cognitive development posits that information from the external world is transformed and internalized through language.  Since language is both a symbolic system of communication and a cultural tool used to transmit culture and history, play is an essential part of both language development and a child 's understanding of the external world (Bodrova & Leong, 2010). Children have dialogues with others when they engage in play, which enhances cognitive development.

Vygotsky (1978) suggests that as children communicate with others through their play, they are also developing their cognitive skills. He considers children’s knowledge progresses further when they interact with others, as they are able to transfer their knowledge with one another (Hammersley- Fletcher et al, 2006).

The relationship between language development and symbolic play is that help children with communication and become more skilled at using in their play, and they improve their ability to communicate increasingly complex ways. When children are engaged in play, they use language to interact with their peers, and are developing new vocabulary. Children are also able to improve their oral and written language

Scaffolding is Strategy that can be used to help students form a better understanding of lesson materials, topics, and other information learned in the classroom (GCU, 2015). Lessons will start from the ground up by first identifying and utilizing student pervious or background knowledge of a topic as a foundation to support understanding of new facts; which can encourage students to show more interest in classroom topics as subjects are already known and easily relatable (Diaz-Rico, 2013). The teacher will then use discussions, real life examples, tools, activities or assignments to build, support, and reinforce student comprehension of new information. Some other things that can be done by teachers are the use of real objects or real life

These readings help support my past and present of working with children. Lev Lygotsky’s cognitive and social developmental theories are supported by these readings and seen through my observations of play. According to XXXX he states, “Vygotsky is well known for his social development theory, which has impacted cognitive development research.” A child’s language is supported by their imaginative play. When children are playing with friends they are enhancing their language. When we listen to children play, we can hear how they make sense of the world. When I think about this language development through play, I think about the kids I nanny. They love to play cookie store and salon. During these play activities it’s fun to listen to

Vygotsky’s concept scaffolding involves parents, teachers and/or peers more knowledgeable, providing support to children which then helps them to complete tasks. (Arthur & Beecher & Death & Dockett & Farmer, 2015) This can include giving cues or prompts as to what step they should take next. (Arthur & Beecher & Death & Dockett

Vygotsky regards play as the leading source of children’s cognitive development (Vygotsky, 1962 & Lambert and Clyde, 2003).