We talk a lot about discipline and other positive parenting techniques here on
the channel. Today, we're getting into the importance of playing with your child.
Vicki, you and I had a chance recently to visit with the Langley child care
providers up in Langley British Columbia. It was a beautiful opportunity to
connect with some really amazing people. Big shout out to you it --Langley
community services society. Part of the topic that we got into was the
importance of play. And we've also done another video on that particular topic.
You can link to it right up there to watch next. And that will give you
some additional information along this topic. -Play is essential to a child's
development. Matter of fact, I have this little quota
is going to read to you. It said, "Play is so important to children's development
that the United Nations High Commissioner for Human Rights recognizes
it as a basic right for every child." -A basic right to every child. Vicki, it is the
work that children do. -Well and you know, most parents when you talk to them or
child care providers or whatever they say, "If I could just get him to regulate
his own behavior." We might not use those words but "If he could just control or
he just stay focused. If he.." They're just a lot of truth to it. Now, executive
functioning is the way that we kind of learn how to control those behaviors and
emotions. And the way for a child to develop executive functioning is through
play. And so, we're going to talk today about 4 types of play. Now,
this is kind of child initiated play. There's difference. You know, there's the
kind of play that we are kind of encouraging them to play the way we want
them to. -Imposing it on... -So, this is child initiated play. And the one of the first
things I have to say is that in order to be involved with child initiated play, we
have to have access to different materials. So, give them lots of materials.
Toys, Legos. You know... -Crafts. Different things that they can use their
imagination and engage in play. I'm thinking of our little neighbor kids.
Just over all these years as we've gotten to know them, they're so
imaginative and their parents have been really good about doing just that.
Providing them with opportunities and materials to be creative and to be
innovative. And I think it's made a huge difference and as kids develop. -And our
daughter-in-law does the same thing. She's always provides our grandkids with
these great materials to... -Right. -So, one of the first types of plays we're going to
talk about is exploratory. Now, this is where they're just playing with the
materials to explore them. So, maybe they've got the paint all over their
hand and they're just kind of playing with it or whatever. So, they're just
playing with the material to explore how it works. Check it out. It's not
necessarily paint in their mind. -No. They're trying to... -It's this stuff that
they're interacting with. Now, we as parents, sometimes we get a little
uptight about... "Well, that's not the way you use paint." That's not the purpose of
exploratory play. -Right. -It's for them to simply learn things about their world
and the elements that are in it. So, as they stick their hands in it... And you're
prepared for this. -Okay. I put a small... -You've got them dressed up in a way
that protects the clothing or you've got them including. You don't care about.
You've got tarps or whatever down to lower your anxiety. Because that's not bothering them
in any way. -No, they're having a great time. Kids will do this with their food
sometimes. Now, there's times and places for everything. But could there be a time
in a place where the macaroni and cheese gets to go right on their head? Well
maybe. -Maybe.- Let's just not be so rigid as parents that we stopped that
important developmental process of exploratory play. -After exploratory, we
move into constructive play. And that's where they're actually going to use the
materials to develop or create something. So that's where they they build the
house or they make a telephone out of the wire or you know whatever.
-And this is where that imagination starts to kick in.
We're going to get to that in the next phase as well. In the constructive phase
of play or the constructive type of play, they're now using the materials that
you've made available to them to actually make something. And remember, we
talked about the importance of play because this is how a child learns. And
we realize that in constructive play in all the these plays, but especially from
here forward, you're going to plan something. Maybe the child decides they
want to make a castle, right? You plan. You do.
Then you review how it went. Maybe you find out oh the baseball isn't quite big
enough. It fell over before I wanted it to. So, you're going to review what
happened. And this brings about learning at which point you start a new
plan, another do. So, this is that whole cycle of learning. -It's a learning cycle,
right? I was thinking of that as a cycle as you described it. -It's a cycle. And that
helps to develop that executive thinking. -Now, in addition to the exploratory play
and the constructive play, there's a couple of other levels. And I think... Am I
getting this right? The next one is imaginative. -Or pretend. -Or pretend. -Yeah.
-Yes. -So, they're going to pretend to be you know, mommy at the grocery store or
you be the teacher and I'm going to be the student. Or they're pretend many
different things. -I'm a fireman and I'm going to come and put out the fire. So, they...
-And even take role. But they're just like, "Hey, let's pretend there's somebody
coming in the door and we're going to scare them." You know? -Right. So, using the
imagination to set up different scenarios, play those through; this is one
of the ones that I really get enthusiastic about. Because I can see
from a psychological perspective how this gives kids an opportunity to
experiment with different potential outcomes or scenarios that they might
encounter. And they get to manage that in a controlled play environment
that's imaginary. And another... -Facing fears. All kind... -Oh, yeah. And they
also learn a lot social because a lot of the times this brief 10 play is
happening with another child. And so... -It becomes more interactive. -You've got
interactive, you got social. But one of the greatest
things is that it teaches them sometimes to take on perspective. You know? -The
perspective of another person or of an outcome or an emotion. And that's
something that you don't really get when playing with just a screen. You need
materials. You have people exposure. -This helps them to build empathy and start to
interact with other people in healthy and constructive ways. And that leads to
the other type of play which has to do with games. -This is one that follows kind
of set rules. That has rules that you play. -There's more structure to that.
-They're structuring rules. Now, this can also be I mean even you know like... I
forgotten with those calls but those sticks that you bounce, bounce together.
And you're you're jumping through them. You know... It's not even necessarily a
game that you roll a dice or something. But it might be a game where there are rules. And
even kids make up their own rules that you know, "We're going to play this. And so
you guys have to go over here." And there's rules. -Right. -And this is really
important for the kids to learn how to work within rules and how to play within
rules. -That also adds a social element because I know... Sometimes kids want to
make up their own rules and the other kids aren't quite down for that. So, it
teaches them how to enroll people into this game. Or how to negotiate or how to
come up with different alternatives to the original plan that they had. And it
goes back to that learning cycle: Plan and then do or execute. Get the
feedback and do the review and then the learning takes place and you repeat the
cycle. Thank you for being here on the channel.
Thank you for being a conscious positive parent. We're thrilled to be part of your
team. If you haven't yet, joined us in the Parenting Power-Up. Vicki and I have
collaborated to put together a number of resources that I think you're going to be
excited about. You can click on it right over there.
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