Famous child development theorist, Lev Vygotsky suggested that play is not simply an activity, but the "source of development". And we believe that’s true. When we plan for play and prepare activities, we’re not just filling up the time, we’re opening the doors to a flood of developmental opportunities for your child.
When we play a matching game, we’re working on cognitive skills, as well as the social skills needed to play with peers. When we paint at the easel, we’re building creativity and expression while also getting arms, hands, and fingers strong and adept for a variety of other tasks. Playing with blocks is lots of fun, but it’s also helping children with spatial reasoning, symbolic representation, collaborating with others.
The list goes on and on. Wherever you see children playing, you’ll see development and growth happening in real-time.
Play isn’t unique to humans. Across animal species, research has found that those that play more tend to be more adaptable and successful in surviving. Research suggests that more play actually leads to more brain growth and development. This is true for humans as well!
Some scientists suggest that the process of play is essentially a series of experiments. Trying things out, observing cause and effect, adjusting and observing change, and generally exploring the world around them arms these little scientists with a wealth of information that is eventually put to work in their experiences with people, problems, and things in their everyday lives.
Play isn’t just an activity that fills the time. Play is the catalyst that ignites development in young children. That’s why we choose to use play as the main teaching method in our classroom. Because when it comes to learning, play is both effective and efficient.
When you look in our classroom and see lots of play and lots of fun, we hope you’ll also see that there’s an abundance of growth and development happening too!
Supporting healthy development is why we play.
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