Learning Through Play For Children

In the Australian education system, more stress is given to early childhood education. It is during the early years of life when a large part of critical brain development takes place. This happens before children even start kindergarten and this brain development has a direct impact on everything from school performance to lifelong social skills.

The importance of early childhood education cannot be overstated. Children learn better through play and this is why courses related to early childhood education in Adelaide give stress on learning through play in the early years. In fact, there are many benefits of learning through play.

Few Benefits Of Learning Through Play

• First of all, learning through play helps a lot in the overall development of a child. It allows a child to release some extra energy and expand the mind.
• Through play a child gets to learn many different skills like creativity, imagination, resolving problems, conflict resolution, sharing, independence and positive self-esteem to name a few.
• Learning through play doesn’t stop in the house or in the classroom. There is no limitation when it comes to learning to play.
• Children can start benefiting from learning through play as early as one month old and help them continue to learn and hit their milestones as they grow older.
• It promotes learning and helps a child learn a new skill at a rapid speed. This is possible as learning becomes interesting and there is no question of boredom.

Looking at the above-mentioned benefits, the focus is given to learning through play in the early years as well as learning through play in childcare centers.

Many of the centers of early childhood education in Adelaide are committed to offering a safe and nurturing environment for each child. The main focus of childcare workers is on the overall development of each and every child who is under their supervision. Not just physical development, the focus is on social development, emotional development, speech and language development as well as motor skill development.

All these developments are easily possible with learning through play in the early years. If you have a child at home or are planning to hire a childcare worker for your child, make sure to initiate learning through play so that your child gets to enjoy plenty of scope for imagination and creativity. There are several activities that can accelerate learning through play. In this article, emphasis is given to five such activities.

Five Activities For Learning Through Play For Children

Dressing Up

When it comes to learning through play in the early years, nothing can be better than dressing up. This type of play encourages creative thinking and communication skills by testing out new ideas and behaviours. It also helps a child practice language development and improves social skills. As dress-up play requires teamwork, cooperation, and sharing, a child also gets to learn about these important social values.

For playing dress- up there is no need to invest in expensive costumes, as one can start the game with things available at home. For instance, if a child wants to play chef, the hat can be easily made with paper. Childcare workers are an expert in this regard and can come out with some innovative ideas every day. You can even check online for some creative and innovative ideas.

Dress-up play can help find out the hidden talent inside a child and being a parent you get to know what your child wants to do in future.

Scavenger Hunt

Scavenger hunt is a good method for learning through play in the early years. This method helps a child to learn new things easily through observation.

Scavenger hunt allows children to practice problem-solving in a tangible way and that too in the open air. It helps to reinforce things that children have been taught by parents or childcare workers in a physical environment. This helps a lot in improving the retention power of the mind. Scavenger hunts also play a key role in customizing a child’s abilities and interests.

To set up a scavenger hunt, there is no need for an elaborate setting. Just a little bit of thinking from your end can help set scavenger hunts where your child can be encouraged to search for colors, shapes, letters, or objects in nature. A child will learn a lot through guided and free exploration of the world around him or her.

Masking Tape Car Track

One interesting recipe for fun when it comes to learning through play in the early years is masking tape car track. This easy and inexpensive activity can help keep a small child busy for hours. Even children love this learning technique.

For this particular learning through play method, you need to use some masking tape to create a track for cars, or any other object of your child’s choice. To improve the motor skills of a child, ask him or her to keep cars within lines, or to choose cars which can fit within the lines. Masking tape used on carpets, hard floors or soft furnishings can be easily removed once the activity is over.

Masking tape car track improves bilateral coordination as during this play a child needs to crawl using reciprocal leg and arm movements. At the same time as a child crawls along with the car, he or she gets to learn and manage weight shifting.

Rice Play

When it comes to learning through play in the early years, rice play is a simple yet very effective method. It allows young children to use all their senses.

For this play, you simply need to fill a shallow container or tray with uncooked rice. Add objects of different shapes and sizes or favourite toys to encourage imaginative growth. To make this play even more interesting, rice can easily be coloured by adding a few drops of vinegar and food colouring.

To improve motor strength and hand-eye coordination, encourage a child to pick up grains using their fingers. After that pass handfuls of rice from hand to hand, or scoop and pour rice from one container to another. This particular learning through play method will even help develop language skills in small children by naming what your child is doing.

Chalk Painting

To incorporate learning through play in childcare, many childcare workers take the help of chalk painting. This is a fun and interactive way to get children outside and explore the nearby surroundings. Also, in chalk painting one gets to explore the creative and artistic side of a child.

Chalk painting helps a lot to develop colour recognition, sorting and matching skills in a child. This learning through play technique can also be used to teach children shapes, numbers and letters.

One can use readymade colours and make one at home using corn starch, water and some washable food colouring. Children can do chalk painting on papers or outside on stones and rocks. With time, children can be given activity cards with various options to draw. And also allow their imaginations and creative thinking to flow.

Conclusion

Learning through play can benefit a child a lot. Children can learn a lot about new things and that too at a faster pace. This is why in any courses related to early childhood education in Adelaide; the focus is given to learning through play. Students are taught about new learning through play methods that they can use in their professional careers.

Also Read:- 5 Most Amazing Benefits To Children From Playing Outside