Introduction

In one of our classes, we learned about gamification. So, let’s do that this our class today since
we will be discussing play-based learning. So, we will play, a BRING ME GAME zoom edition.
I’ll you 1 minutes to get any item that you think I may ask. The mechanics of this games is this.
You will have to turn off you camera.

One common quotation most of us may have known is “Work without play makes Jack a dull
boy.” This connotes how important play is in one life regardless of age.
Since the early 2000s, there has been a shift towards recommending the use of play-based
learning in early education curricula across several different countries, including Canada,
Sweden, China, United Arab Emirates, and New Zealand.
In our discussion we will walk through the key issues surrounding the pedagogy of play-based
learning, including the history of play, defining types of play, perspectives and recent findings
regarding the benefits of play, and if time allows, we will also tackle on the stages of play.

Play Over the Centuries

Play has a long history. It manifested its presence in prehistoric times in the form of dice, gaming
boards, and possibly…football, as some footprints discovered in Namibia suggest.
 In ancient Greece, the value of play and its fundamental role in child development was
discussed by great philosophers like Plato and Aristotle. Yo-yos, marbles, and
knucklebones, which were made from actual sheep legs, were particularly popular games
of the time.
 The same was true for Rome, where children engaged in various forms of play, from war
games and wrestling for the boys to playing with rag dolls for the girls. Even during the
Middle Ages, where children were often expected to work, they still managed to play
with handmade toys, or acted out stories.
 During the Renaissance period, ideas like play-based pedagogy and learning through
first-hand experience were introduced by famous thinkers of the era.
 These ideas were further developed in the centuries that followed. In 1837, the German
pedagogue, Froebel, founded the first Kindergarten, where activities like singing and self-
directed play took place, and in the early 20th century, the industrial revolution
introduced factory-made games such as Monopoly, a version of ‘Life’, and jigsaw
puzzles. Playgrounds grew popular too, as urbanization raised concerns regarding the
safety of children playing on the streets.
 Play has always been a significant part of human life at all ages and cultures throughout
history but play-based learning gathered momentum in the 20th century through the early
work of Montessori and Dewey. Play can be unstructured or guided, allowing children to
play freely or with learning objectives scaffolded by adults.
What Is Play-Based Learning? An Overview
  Play-based learning is normally centered in early childhood and primary education, with
the guiding principle that children can learn from and make sense of the world around
them through play.
 There are different biological, historical, societal, educational, and developmental origins
of play, and while play is difficult to define, it undeniably has a role in social and
emotional development, and the physical development of the brain. Play is a joyful and
satisfying experience, one considered so important for human development that the
United Nations High Commission for Human Rights has declared play as a right of
every child. Play focuses on means, not ends: it is process-oriented, and there are many
cognitive, behavioral, social, and emotional gains from experiencing play.
2 types of Play
Within studies that have examined the benefits of play-based learning, two different types of
play have been the primary focus: free play, which is directed by the children themselves, and
guided play, which is play that has some level of teacher guidance or involvement.
 Free play is typically described as play that is child-directed, voluntary, internally
motivated, and pleasurable. One type of free play frequently endorsed is sociodramatic
play, where groups of children practice imaginative role-playing through creating and
following social rules such as pretending to be different family members.

 On the other hand, the term guided play refers to play activities with some level of adult
involvement to embed or extend additional learning opportunities within the play itself. A
range of terminology has been used to refer to types of guided play activities (e.g., centre-
based learning, purposefully framed play; however, one distinction that can be made is
who has control over the play activity:
“Examples of guidance adults can use during play include:
o Asking prompting questions.
o Modelling developmentally appropriate language.
o Introducing new materials during play to extend thinking.
o Encouraging communication between children.”

 According to Erica Danniels, et all, although the hypothesis that play fulfills a fundamental
role in child development has been contested, there is a growing body of evidence in
favour of the use of play-based learning to support multiple areas of development and
learning. However, there is also a lack of agreement among both researchers and
educators regarding the role and value of different types of play in the classroom.
PRO'S AND CON'S OF PLAY-BASED LEARNING
 There are many pros and con's of play-based learning, and also many myths about what play-based learning and
intentional play are. Here are some of the pro's and con's that I can found while researching about play-based
learning.

THE PRO'S THE CON'S

 Children get to choose their own activities  Children may not be exposed directly to learning
and topics and this keeps them interested letters, numbers, or scientific concepts
 Contributes to kindergarten readiness:  Children may not score as highly on standardized
 Play helps develop social skills and children testing (until after first grade)-
with social skills are more successful in  Teachers are doing less formal lesson, and more
academics later on centers and intentional play which require more
set-up 
 Children in play-based programs score better
on measures of self-regulation, cognitive
flexibility, and working memory (Diamond et
al. 2007). Self-regulation and impulse control
is predictive of later academic success

Stages of Play
In 1929, Mildred Parten published her thesis in which she outlined the 6 stages of play. These are play stages that children
pass through in their first 5 years of age. Children go through each stage in a linear developmental pattern.

Parten’s 6 stages of play are:

 Unoccupied Play.
 Solitary Play.
 Onlooker Play.
 Parallel Play.
 Associative Play.
 Cooperative Play.

1. Unoccupied Play (Birth – 3 Months)

Unoccupied play can be observed from the earliest months in life. It is defined as sensory
activities that lack focus or narrative.
Key characteristics include:
 Lack of social interaction.
 Lack of sustained focus.
 No clear story lines during play.
 Language use is non-existent or very limited.
Examples of unoccupied play include:
  A child picking up, shaking, then discarding objects in their vicinity.
 A child hitting and giggling at a play mobile in a cot.
 These forms of play may seem un-educational at first, but have an important
developmental purpose.
In the first few months of life children’s unoccupied play helps them orient themselves in the
world. They learn to master their limbs and motor skills. They develop depth perception, tactile
skills, and object permanence.
2. Solitary Play
(3 months – 2 ½ years)
Solitary play follows on from unoccupied play. It is play that involves a child playing alone and
with little interest in toys outside of their immediate vicinity.
It is more focused and sustained than unoccupied play.
During this stage, children will still have little interest in adults or other children during their
play.
Key characteristics include:
 Increased focus and sustained attention on toys.
 Emerging play narratives, such as use of symbolic play (using objects to represent other
objects, such as push around a block to represent a car).
 Disinterest in other children or adults during play.
 Unstructured play, lacking clear goals.
Examples of solitary play include:
 Two children playing with their toys but never looking at or showing any interest in each
other.
 A child who has developed the ability to sustain interest in one toy for more than 60
seconds.
 An older child going for a walk through the park, exploring their surrounds.
Even after a child has gotten older and mastered more advanced forms of play, solitary play
continues to be employed. Even in adulthood, we play alone to recharge, reflect and explore new
ideas on our own.
Jean Piaget, a key education theorist, believes solitary play is vital for children to learn. Piaget
labeled children ‘lone scientists’, exploring their environments through trial-and-error and
discovery.
Related Article: 15 Parallel Play Examples
3. Onlooker Play
(2 ½ years – 3 ½ years)
Onlooker play is the first sign of children showing interest in the play behaviors of other
children.
During this stage, children will observe other children’s play without getting involved
themselves. They will often sit within earshot so they can hear other children’s play
conversations.
Key characteristics include:
 Children showing interest in other children’s play.
 Withholding from play due to fear, disinterest, or hesitation.
Examples of onlooker play include:
 Younger children in a multi-age Montessori classrooms will observe older children at
play, but not get involved in the ‘big kids games’.
 Adults watching a sporting event.
 A shy child watching others play without getting involved herself due to timidness.
Listening and observing are powerful forms of learning. Albert Bandura, for example, showed
the power of observation through his bobo doll experiments. In these experiments, children
would observe adults playing with dolls. Children who saw children being aggressive toward the
dolls were subsequently more aggressive themselves when they played with the dolls.
4. Parallel Play
(3 ½ years – 4 years)
Parallel play follows onlooker play. It involves children playing in proximity to one another but
not together. They will tend to share resources and observe one another from a distance.
However, they will not share the same game play or goals while playing.
Key characteristics include:
 Playing in the same room and with the same resources, but not together.
 Independent exploration and discovery.
 Observing and mimicking.
 Having separate goals and focuses during play.
 Minimal communication with other children.
Examples of parallel play include:
  A brother and sister playing with the same Lego set, but constructing different buildings.
 Children sharing brushes and paints, but painting on different canvases.
 Early play dates where parents bring their children to play together. These dates are
usually about getting children more comfortable with peers of the same age, but younger
children will often not start playing together too well.
5. Associative Play
(4 – 4 ½ years)
Associative play emerges when children begin acknowledging one another and working side-by-
side, but not necessarily together.
Associative play differs from parallel play because children begin to share, acknowledge, copy
and work with one another.
However, it is not quite the next stage (cooperative play) because children do not yet share
common goals during play – in other words, they’re not yet playing ‘together’ in any cohesive
way.
Key characteristics include:
 Negotiating the sharing of resources.
 Emerging chatter and language skills. Children ask each other questions about their play.
 Children are still playing independently with different objectives and strategies.
 Mimicking and observing continue to occur, but at a closer distance.
Examples of associative play include:
 Children asking one another questions about their play, what they’re doing, and how
they’re doing it. The children are nonetheless working on different tasks.
 Children realizing there are limited resources in the play area, so negotiating with one
another for which resources to use.
6. Cooperative Play
(4 ½ years and up)
Cooperative play emerges shortly after associative play and represents fully integrated social
group play.
During this stage, expect to see children playing together and sharing the same game. The
children will have the same goals, assign one another roles in the game, and collaborate to
achieve their set gameplay goals.
This stage represents the achievement of socialization, but social skills will still be developing.
Children may need support, guided practice and scaffolding to help them develop positive social
skills such as sharing, compromise, and turn-taking.
Key characteristics include:
 Children work together on a shared game.
 Children share a common objective during game play.
 Children have team roles or personas during game play.
 There can be an element of compromise and sacrifice for the common good of the game.

Examples of cooperative play include:

 Imaginative play, where children take on the roles of their favorite movie characters to
act out a scene or create their own new scene.
 Board games where children need to take turns in order for the game to proceed
according to shared and agreed upon rules.
 Organized sports.
Cooperative play is underpinned by the social constructivist learning theory. Key theorists from
this approach include Barbara Rogoff and Lev Vygotsky. The central idea in this theory is
that social interaction helps students to progress in their thinking. When students discuss things
in groups, they get to see ideas from different perspectives and have their own ideas challenged
and refined.

https://kreativeteaching.weebly.com/blog/pros-and-cons-of-play-based-learning
https://www.child-encyclopedia.com/play-based-learning/according-experts/defining-play-
based-learning
https://theeducationhub.org.nz/wp-content/uploads/2018/06/Play-based-learning-.pdf