Penny: Hi, I'm Penny Bernath, education director at South Florida PBS.
Elana: And I'm doctor Elana Mansoor, the director of the University of Miami's Families First
program, funded by the Children's Trust.
Penny: And we're here today to talk about play.
Why is play important and what does play look like?
Elana: Play is more than just fun for kids.
They learn a variety of developmental skills through play.
They learn thinking skills, problem-solving skills.
It helps their social/emotional development.
Their language development.
Their physical abilities and just so much more.
Play allows children to express emotions and be creative and it let's them try out different
roles.
When a child puts their shoes on or tries to pretend to prepare and serve you a meal,
they're copying what they see their parents do.
And in this way they're learning about life roles.
And thats why we always encourage parents and teachers to be good role models for their
children.
Because what children see their parents and teachers do is how they learn to behave in
the world.
Penny: I know that for a fact as a pre-school teacher, I learned so many things in the dramatic
play area just watching and observing my children play with each other and take on roles like
Mommy and Daddy and baby and of course the kitty cat.
Elana: And that's really how they learn.
Also things like physical activity, going out and playing on the playground.
That is so important for children.
It allows them to burn off stress.
It lets them develop their big muscles or their motor skills.
And it can reduce the risk for obesity.
But most importantly, playing with your child strengthens the parent/child and teacher/child
relationship.
And everyone knows the relationship you have with their children greatly impacts learning.
Children who have more secure attachments have better developmental outcomes and academic
outcomes.
Penny: So how do parents and children to strengthen that attachment and to provide play, how do
they set up their environments?
Elana: Well, you need to be ok with playing with your child so don't be afraid to get
down on their level.
Sit on the floor with them.
Play.
Let them lead the play.
A lot of times parents want to be in control and tell the child how to do the task.
What to build with the blocks.
But really when a child is told over and over how to do something and their not given the
ability to be creative on their own.
This overall stunts their creativity and can impact their learning.
So let your child be creative.
Let them tell you what they're making.
And listen.
Listen to what they're saying.
Comment on what they're doing.
So if they're building the blocks you might say, "Wow, I see you stacking those blocks
really high.
That's fantastic!."
This encourages conversation and it also makes the child feel good about themselves.
So through play you can really manage behavior, you can reinforce behaviors that you like
and you can teach a new skill or task.
Penny: When do you start to play with children?
Is it too early to start playing with children or infants?
Elana: It is never too early to play with a child.
Children love play and they learn so much through it.
With an infant you can take a rattle and move it back and forth and see if they're eyes
can follow it.
You can place it behind your back as they get a little bit older and see if they notice
that it's missing and then make it appear again.
Games like peek-a-boo are great for young children.
They'll smile as they start to see you disappear and re-appear.
There are tons of developmental toys that really help children with their fine motor
skills.
Their ability to use their fingers to move pieces back and forth.
Penny: So what types of toys are good as children grow?
What are the toys that bring out the most in children?
Elana: Ok, well it's really important to make sure that a toy is age appropriate.
So as I was mentioning with young children, you wouldn't want to give them something with
small pieces that could fit in their mouth that they might swallow.
So you really want to pay attention.
Most toys have age recommendations on the box, and so its important to pay attention
to that.
You also want toys that are going to be made of materials that will last.
Children will bang toys, drop toys, throw toys, break toys and you want to make sure
they are sturdy and that they can be cleaned.
Penny: And its not wrong for children to be in a developmental stage where they're throwing
toys.
Elana: It's completely appropriate.
And if you don't see children doing some of those things, then you need to be more concerned.
Children are learning about cause and effect when they drop a toy.
They're trying to see what happens when they drop it.
Will Mommy pick it up?
Will Daddy pick it up?
Will my teacher pick it up?
So its another process of learning through play.
Penny: Another thing I think children learn through play is sharing.
How do you encourage sharing?
Elana: Sharing is huge.
So oftentimes, you'll have two children who want to play with the same toy.
And so, a teacher or a parent might say, "What's the thing to do when two kids want to play
with the same toy?"
And the child can help brainstorm solutions.
One child might say, "well I can just grab it out of James' hands."
And the other child might say, "Well maybe one of us can play with it first and then
the other one can play with it after."
And then the parent or teacher can help the child determine which solution is best.
So you might say, "So what do you think will happen if you grab that toy out of James's
hands?
Do you think that's a good choice or a bad choice?"
And depending on the age of the child would depend on how much the teacher or parent would
guide the child to the appropriate solution.
The goal of course would be maybe to get one child to play with it for 10 minutes and then
another child would play with it for the remaining 10 minutes.
Penny: They're learning problem-solving skills in real life.
Elana: 100% And the most important thing about that is the child who plays with the toy second,
you want to offer a lot of praise.
Because he's learning that sharing behavior.
He's allowing the other child to play with the toy first and he's delaying his own gratification.
So you really want to reinforce that behavior by using praise.
Penny: So if teachers or parents were going out to buy toys...what are the most important
toys...if you could say the four most important toys a child should grow up with, what would
you advise?
Elana: Well, I would say there are different categories.
So obviously, you want them to be developmentally appropriate.
You want them to be made to last.
You want toys that will grow with your child.
So things like books where you can start out reading stories to your child and then the
child can read the story to you.
You can talk about what the characters are thinking and feeling to help children understand
the emotions.
You want toys that will grow with your child like a ball that you can start out rolling
it on the floor and then maybe they can strengthen their muscles later by kicking and throwing.
They can learn sharing.
You want toys that will promote imaginative free-play.
Things that allow children to be creative.
You wouldn't want to give them a porcelain doll that they can't really do much with that
might break.
So things like Mister and Mrs. Potato Head or a dollhouse or play food.
Pots and pans.
Things that they can be creative with.
Arts and crafts types of things, crayons and paper where they can draw and use their imagination
Penny: So the budget for play, when you talk about buying toys for play, are all toys expensive?
Elana: Toys do not have to be expensive.
Use things in your home as a toy.
For example, pots and pans.
They're great for children to play with.
They can be used as drums or to pretend serving food.
You can take an empty paper towel roll and children can use it to play, Eye Spy.
Sometimes the packages that the toys come in are more fun for the children than the
actual toy.
Things like blankets can be used to make a forge or wrap a baby doll in.
So as long as the items you are choosing are safe, that would be the most important thing.
You can take a plastic container and put beans or rice in it and it can be used as a maraca
or a rattle.
But again it would be most important to make sure that the beans aren't going to fall out
and the young child doesn't swallow them.
So safety always comes first.
Penny: And I know there is a lot of controversy between play and academics.
How do those combine and help each other?
Elana: Well play supports academic learning and you learn through play.
so I think that's really an important thing for parents and teachers to understand.
When you are creative with your play, you can teach children all of those skills, the
problem-solving skills, you can teach them to count through play, by using the blocks
and counting.
So you can make learning fun and most times that improves academics even more so than
just reading from a book.
Penny: What would you leave us with?
What is the takeaway about the importance of play?
Elana: Well thank you so much for having me.
And I think the most important thing to know about play is that play really strengthens
the parent/child and teacher/child relationship and that really impacts learning.
As I mentioned earlier, children who have more secure attachments have better developmental
outcomes and academic outcomes.
Penny: And if people want to find out more, where can we reach you?
Elana: The University of Miami's FamiliesFirst Network.
Penny: Terrific!
Thank you very much.
Elana: Thank you so much.
Penny: Great to meet you.
Elana: You too.