Summary of the importance of play.

"Theorists, regardless of their orientation, concur that play occupies a central role in children's

lives. They also suggest that the absence of play is an obstacle to the development of healthy and

creative individuals. Psychoanalysts believe that play is necessary for mastering emotional

traumas or disturbances; psychosocialists believe it is necessary for ego mastery and learning to

live with everyday experiences; constructivists believe it is necessary for cognitive growth;

maturationists believe it is necessary for competence building and for socializing functions in all

cultures of the world; and neuroscientists believe it is necessary for emotional and physical health,

motivation, and love of learning."

Retaining a lifelong love of learning.

"Narrowly defined learning standards do not result in the development of lifelong learners."

Values:

"The vast majority of rural parents do not understand child

development. According to a recent Save the Children

survey, only 19% of mothers believe play is useful to

promote learning and only 4% believe that it readies a child

for school; no fathers understood that play helped their

children’s cognitive development."

Learning through play without teachers.

"Importantly, peer interaction was positively related to achievement, while adult-directed

behavior was negatively related to achievement. That is, children who interacted more with peers

at recess tended to score higher on the GCRT than children who interacted less with their peers.

In fact, children who were involved in high levels of adult-directed behavior at recess tended to

score lower on these achievement tests than children who interacted less with adults".

Evidence from the social competence literature demonstrates that when young children choose to interact

with teachers, compared to peers, in play oriented contexts, teachers do most of the work in

maintaining interaction (Harper & Huie, 1985; Wright, 1980, 1980). In comparison, when

children interact with peers, they must rely on their own social competence to initiate and sustain

interaction. Relatedly, children who chose to interact with adults may have been unpopular with

their peers. Consequently, they may have been rejected by the peers and by default only had

adults with whom to interact. In either case, difficulties in peer relation often forecasts academic

difficulties (Coie & Dodge, 1998).

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