Play Is Important

Play is more than just a recreational activity; it is an essential part of early childhood. As early as 1959, the United Nations asserted in its Declaration of the Rights of the Child that play is a basic right alongside other rights such as adequate nutrition, housing, health care and education. Play is the way that children explore, learn, and develop.

Ongoing research about young children confirms that children learn when they play and that they learn important social, emotional, communication and physical skills as well as academic content. In fact, play is a child’s most effective venue for acquiring and expanding skills and knowledge. A child must have opportunities to engage with people and objects in his or her environment in order to learn about the world.

Many play theorists agree on the essential characteristics of play. A child’s true play experience is motivated from within, freely chosen, engaged in actively, pleasurable and symbolic (Berk, 1994; Isenberg & Jalongo, 1997; Chance, 1979; Johnson, Christie & Yawkey, 1987; Pellegrini & Boyd,1993; Piaget, 1962). When all of these characteristics are incorporated into play, the child is able to construct new understandings.

By Sue Mistrett

An inclusion consultant at Teaching Strategies, and has been a preschool teacher and director, university instructor and director of several national projects in early childhood education and disability in the United States. She has authored articles, book chapters and training curricula that focus on the inclusion of young children, and is frequently an invited speaker at state and national conferences.