Play as a Vehicle for Discovery and Learning
From infancy onward, humans learn about their world through making its objects their toys. In doing so, they develop their cognitive capacity along with physical, emotional, and social understanding. Accepting play as an appropriate avenue for cognitive school- or center-based learning has been a recurring theme throughout the history of early childhood education. Many notable early childhood educators have expressed their beliefs and demonstrated through their practices that play is the primary vehicle for learning during the first five years of life (Rogers, 2011; Saracho & Spodek, 2003).
Play as a means of learning is also a recurring theme in many contemporary curriculum approaches as described earlier with examples such as Creative Curriculum, High/Scope, and Reggio Emilia. As David Elkind notes, “Clearly, play serves a very different function for children than it does for adults. For children, it is a way to learn about self and the world through self-created experiences” (Community Playthings, 2009, p. 2). Therefore, early childhood educators should take care not to confuse child-directed play with playful learning activities initiated by well-meaning adults. Even though adults may confuse the two, young children do not, and will state that play is what they themselves invent, not what teachers tell them to do, no matter how fun.
Early childhood educator, Vivian Gussin Paley used audio recordings to document preschoolers’ pretend play. Paley was impressed with the creative original stories children would tell and retell based on their make-believe play episodes (2004). She observed two integral aspects of story-based play: storytelling, or dictation, and story acting, or dramatization (Cooper, 2005; Dombrink-Green, 2011). Make-believe play, particularly when coupled with storytelling and story acting, naturally scaffold children’s emerging literacy and general cognitive development as well as their self-regulation and overall social- emotional development (Cooper, 2005; Cooper, 2009). Paley argues that storytelling and story acting are essential instructional strategies in early childhood classrooms.
Bodrova and Leong (2005) are in agreement with Paley’s views, with research and writing that applies Vygotsky’s thought to today’s early education. They agree with Vygotsky that imaginative play takes children into the upper level of their zone of proximal development (ZPD). This happens as youngsters learn play behaviors from older or more competent children and it instigates cognitive development. A positive side-effect is an increase in self-regulation, an important step from Vygotskyans’ point of view, for continued cognitive development. A kindergarten example given by Bodrova and Leong (1998) is of a child who is unable to restrain herself during circle time, continually speaking out. During dramatic play, however, she behaves like a model student, raising her hand when she needs to speak. This play behavior, the authors say, will lead to improved behavior
in actual circle time. Such self-regulation will be necessary in coming years as the child engages in school learning such as group discussions and reflective thinking.