Philosophy Membership General Information
Every child needs to play. Through play a child learns about life, develops his or her individuality, and tests out relationships with others. Play then, is an essential ingredient for the total growth and development of the child.
Children learn about themselves and others through play. They learn how their behavior affects others and what behavior is acceptable to society. Through their interaction with other children and adults, they develop social skills.
In order to allow for this development, children need to mingle with other children. A team game such as baseball increases the child’s awareness of acceptable social behavior, sportsmanship, and co-operation. Within a group setting, children who are involved in individual activities such as painting, pasting, or digging in the sand, begin to develop such social skills as sharing and taking turns. Through role playing, children further test out and learn acceptable social behavior. Father, mother, doctor, teacher, storekeeper, postman, and police officer are all roles than can be explored through make-believe and in the process, children discover more about each role and how they work together to create the child’s world.
Through play, children become aware of their emotions and learn appropriate ways to deal with them. Children often work out frustration or anger through play. For example, they learn that it is much more acceptable to knock over a pile of blocks than a small sibling. To send a quarrelsome group of eight year olds to a race provides a safety valve for emotions that might otherwise erupt into violence.
In their relations with others, children learn how it feels to be accepted and praised and to be criticized and rejected. By striving for the difficult, they experience the joy of achievement or the frustration of defeat; by taking risks, they feel the fear that comes with daring the unknown. They may be happy through success, or sad through failure. By dealing with these emotions in the play situation, children experiment with and work out different ways of coping; they learn to feel comfortable with their reactions and emotions.
– From Preschool Information & Registry Service Newsletter