19.2: The Functions of Play

Bodrova et al (2023) describe play in the following manner: "Play is a freely chosen and intrinsically motivated activity controlled by the players. While humans engage in various forms of play way beyond early childhood (Van Vleet and Feeney, 2015), it is the early years when the impact of play on development is the greatest. The acknowledgment of the critical importance of play for young children is based on evidence from diverse fields, from evolutionary psychology (Greve and Thomsen, 2016) to child development (Vygotsky, 1967; Hewes, 2014) to pediatrics (Ginsburg, Committee on Communications, and Committee on Psychological Aspects of Child and Family Health, 2007; Yogman et al., 2018) and is reflected in the UN Convention on the Rights of the Child (Hodgkin and Newell, 2007)."

Play and learning

We intuitively "know" what separates play from other activities children engage in. There isn't necessarily consensus about the value of play in education - academic and socioemotional learning.

"While the educational field has not come to a single definition of play, there seems to exist some agreement about the features of an activity that qualifies as play: it must be pleasurable, process-oriented, intrinsically motivated, meaningful, iterative, and controlled by a child (Canning, 2012; Zosh et al., 2017, 2022). The activity possessing these qualities is frequently described as spontaneous² or free play (Hewes, 2014) to distinguish it from other activities that retain some degree of playfulness but are not entirely intrinsically motivated or child controlled."

Many people define play as children's work. They believe that the role playing can foster social learning, and that play also has an integral role in academic learning. In fact the science of learning suggests that children learn best when the learning environment is

• active
• engaging
• meaningful
• socially interactive
• iterative
• joyful

These are characteristics that are certainly characteristics of play situations, particularly in early childhood settings. In play environments children learn content, but they also learn collaboration, communication, critical thinking, creative innovation and confidence. When listed in this manner, it becomes pretty clear that play and formal "schoolified" education share multiple characteristics and outcomes particularly in early childhood years. Alternative schools like the Montessori method actively and explicitly employ these principles.

Pesch et al (2022) describe playful learning as a continuum ranging from free play which is child led, child initiated and generally has no intentional learning objective, to direct instruction. Guided play (where joy is an important component, and there is direction from the child, but gentle direction from the adult) falls in the middle of that continuum. Empirical research has shown that guided play increased math skills, vocabulary and greater learning and joyful exchanges with caregivers, especially in children from lower income and underresourced communities.

Other uses of play

Play is often used by occupational therapists in order to assess children's motor, cognitive, language and social skills (Salomatova, 2022). Therapists also assess such things as humor, interaction and so on.

On the other hand, play is also used as therapy by clinical social workers and psychoanalysts, particularly with young children who may not have great insight or be able to communicate fully their feelings and/or traumas.

Imaginative mindsets required in play can also foster creativity in humans of all ages.

Play can therefore be used as a diagnostic tool of emotional health, social and cognitive abilities and as a tool for learning and encouraging progress in these areas.

Attributions:

Bodrova, E., Leong, D.J. & Yudina E. (2023). Play is a play, is a play, is a play… or is it? Challenges in designing, implementing and evaluating play-based interventions. Front. Psychol. 14, 1034633. doi: 10.3389/fpsyg.2023.1034633 Licensed CC-BY

Pesch, A., Ochoa, K.D., Fletcher, K.K., Bermudez, V.N., Todaro, R.D., Salazar, J., Gibbs, H.M., Ahn, J., Bustamante, A.S. & Hirsh-Pasek, K. (2022). Reinventing the public square and early educational settings through culturally informed, community co-design: Playful Learning Landscapes. Front. Psychol. 13, 933320. doi: 10.3389/fpsyg.2022.933320 Licensed CC-BY

Salomatova O.V. (2022). Contemporary foreign approaches to assessment of preschool children's play activity: A review of selected methods. Journal of Modern Foreign Psychology, 11(4), 51–60. doi: 10.17759/jmfp.2022110405.