Playtime Vital For Child Development

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Play time for children is actually a 'fundamental avenue' as it helps in learning, trying to limit it might not be such a good idea, says Anne Haas Dyson, a professor of curriculum and instruction in the University of Illinois College of Education.

"That approach doesn't appreciate the role of play and imagination in a child's intellectual development," Dyson said.

"Play is where children discover ideas, experiences and concepts and think about them and their consequences. This is where literacy and learning really begins, children learn the way we all learn: through engagement, and through construction. They have to make sense of the world, and that's what play or any other symbolic activity does for children," she added.
Dyson points out that literacy is vital, but time spend at play schools and kindergarten are as important before the children are finally plunged in to the grinding schedules of the education life. "I'm certainly not opposed to literacy in the early grades but the idea that we can eliminate play from the curriculum doesn't make sense. Kids don't respond well to sitting still in their desks and listening at that age. They need stimulation," she said.

Dyson declares that a child's early exposure to tests and education by no means reflects child's interests or an ability to imagine, problem solve or negotiate with other children, all of which are important social and intellectual qualities.

"We have to intellectually engage kids," she said. "We have to give them a sense of their own agency, their own capacity, and an ability to ask questions and solve problems. So we have to give them more open-ended activities that allow them the space they need to make sense of things," she added.AGENCIES