Children, Play and Creativity

Children, Play and Creativity

Reading Response to: Paying Attention to Play-Seeing the Complete Picture by Diane Vyisztor and Barbara Marcus

a) The key elements that distinguish play from other experiences.

There are two key elements that makes play an exclusive experience. Firstly, children have the full control of their actions; they use a myriad of skills and enhance them during playing. Secondly, having the full control it is only for them to make decisions about their toys without depending on elders to make decisions for them. Hence, play improves their decision making skills.

b) How we recognize play in its most concentrated form.

Play in its most concentrated form is when the children delve deep into the stories of their toys. It is when children have full control on manipulating the stories according to their will. They engage their decision making, conceptualization and imagination skills to the maximum extent and bring about creative designs, structures and stories.

c) How teachers monitor and encourage the development through play.

Educators let the children have full control during play while they monitor how they develop and learn from a distance. They allow children to take risky decisions and learn from mistakes. They make interventions to encourage the extension of play in the right direction. They interact with them in a playful manner and participate by listening and acting accordingly to the best of their knowledge and skills of childcare.

d) The difference between content and concept formation.

Concept refers to the understanding of ways things happen in the world, it may be a sequence like pressing a specific button makes a specific sound. Concept is the name of a broader understanding. Whereas, content refers to the information that a child gathers during a play, it may be the names of toys, cartoon characters, types of cars, parts of puzzles ...