3.

2 CHILDREN EXPRESS
THEIR CREATIVITY THROUGH PLAY

Presented by Group 3
 3.2 CHILDREN EXPRESS
Their Creativity Through Play

Balke (1997) sees similarities in children’s play and art.

She believes that play’s expressive elements are what
make it similar to the work of the artist. Children play
with toys just as artists play with media.
 WHAT IS PLAY?
-Play is a difficult concept to understand
because it lacks a precise definition.
-A variety of behaviors can be labeled play, ranging from what infants do
with their bodies and toys, to games, hobbies, sports, recreational pursuits,
and creative activities such as art, music, and dance.
GENERALLY SPEAKING, PLAY IS PROCESS-ORIENTED WHILE
work is product-oriented. One plays for the sake of
playing; one works for the outcome of one’s endeavors.
Examples of creative processing through play include:

● building with blocks, stacking or fitting the

● filling and emptying containers with waterm together
● using kitchen tools and containers to scoop, sift, and mold sand
● pounding and hammering nails into soft wood; sawing and gluing wood
pieces together
● making up a new version of tag, hide-and-seek, hopscotch, or jump rope
 SO, WHAT IS PLAY?
Garvey (1990) identifies five criteria
that define play:
1. Play is pleasurable and enjoyable.
2. Play has no extrinsic goals. Children are intrinsically
motivated to play. They play because they want to.
3. Play is spontaneous and voluntary. Play empowers
children to make decisions about what to play,
who to play with, and how to carry it out, as well as when to start and finish.
4. Play involves active engagement from the player.
Young children are active learners, and play is an active process.
5. Play is linked to nonplay in children’s thinking
and development. Play fosters development of the
whole child and supports learning in all curricular areas.
 According to Elkind (2003), play is as fundamental
a human disposition as loving and working. Play is
characteristic of children at all times and places.

1. Make-believe play strengthens a variety of specific mental abilities.

2. Language is greatly enriched by play experiences.
3. Make-believe also fosters young children’s ability
to reason about impossible or absurd situations—a
finding highly consistent with Vygotsky’s (1986)
position that fantasy play assists children in separating
meanings from the objects for which they stand.
4. Young children who especially enjoy pretending
or who are encouraged to engage in fantasy play
score higher on tests of imagination and creativity.
THE TEACHER’S ROLE in Children’s Play
- According to Balke (1997), the younger the child, the
more important the adult’s involvement in the play.
Yet what exactly should the adult role be? Jones (1993)
says the teacher’s role in children’s play should be
nondirective.

Jones recommends
the following five strategies:
1. setting the stage
2. adding props and dramatic ideas
3. helping with problem solving
4. observing and talking with children about their plans and ideas
5. helping children invent new plans or rework old
ones based on their observations of children at play
 CREATIVE PLAY WITH BOXES, Cartons, and Accessories
Merritt (1967) said that every child who achieves some kind of concrete representation of his or her ideas is
demonstrating creativity. Children can be creative with just about anything they find. Play materials need to
be safe, clean, and sturdy to foster creativity, but not expensive. Costly commercial toys may not enhance
creativity, despite their labeling. Empty cardboard boxes and containers are great props for fostering creative
play because they are safe, sturdy, durable, recycled, versatile, and can be used indoors or outdoors. Large
appliance cartons can easily become structures or vehicles. They can also be personalized using tape, paint,
crayons, or markers.
 Types of Play
Play takes many shapes and forms. These overlapping categories include physical play,
constructive play, dramatic play, play with natural materials, and games.
1.Physical Play- involves motor
activity and movement, entailing both gross motor
(large muscle) and fine motor (involving the small
muscles and eye-hand coordination) activity.
 Activities with manipulatives such as stringing
beads, pegs and peg boards, parquetry and design blocks,
puzzles, small blocks, sewing and lacing cards, and table
toys that lead to sorting or being taken apart and put
back together involve fine motor or small muscle activity
as well as eye-hand coordination.

Kindergartners have mastered puzzles

with many pieces and may build complex structures with
connecting blocks while dramatizing with small people
and vehicles.

School-age children who have mastered running,

catching, throwing, and skipping may progress to
competitive games involving races and tests of physical
prowess.
 Constructive Play
Children play constructively
when they manipulate materials with the goal
of creating something new or something representing a
real object (Kieff & Casbergue, 2000).
Building with blocks is one example of constructive
play. Dramatization, as well as physical activity,
may be a part of block play.
 TYPES OF BLOCKS
There are several types of blocks:
unit, large hollow, cardboard bricks, and miscellaneous,
including smaller table blocks and those made of soft
foam. Wooden blocks, including unit and large hollow,
are an expensive but sound investment. If properly
cared for, they will last many years.

BLOCK CENTER
Block play requires ample space and
protection from foot traffic. Building on a carpet
reduces noise levels. Blocks should never be randomly
placed in a box or storage bin. This damages the finish,
edges, and corners. Instead, blocks should be arranged
on low, open shelves according to size, length, and
shape so they are easily found and put away.
 There is nothing more frustrating to young builders
than having their construction “accidentally”
knocked down. This can be avoided by reminding children
not to build too close to each other or too close
to classroom walk ways. To make cleanup less chaotic,
remind children to only take a few blocks out at a
time and then use them before going for more. Also,
dismantling buildings from the top down eliminates
unnecessary noise and accidents.
 DRAMATIC PLAY
It is also referred to as play that involves fantasy, imagination, or make-
believe. Children engage in dramatic play alone
or with others and usually with props. When children
play, they build in their minds a scenario in which they
see themselves in control of the themes and details
of their pretend play (Heath & Wolf, 2004a).
Children practice language and social skills, as well as planning and decision-making skills, in dramatic play.
Because dramatic play is open-ended, children cannot fail. Instead, children grow and learn at their own pace,
according to where they are in their own
development (Miller, 2008).

What are the characteristics that qualify make believe as socio-dramatic play? According to Smilansky these
include:

Role playing—Children assume make-believe or pretend

roles involving talk and action.

Make-believe with objects—Children use make-believe

objects to represent real ones.

Make-believe with actions or events—Socio-dramatic

play incorporates situations or events related to
the theme.
 Verbalizations—Verbal expressions are related to the play theme
Social interaction—At least two players are engaged in socio-dramatic play.
Persistence—The play episode engages children for more than five minutes.

Socio-dramatic play
is a more organized, cooperative type of fantasy play engaged in by older preschoolers,
kindergartners, and young school-age children in which roles are divided and players have
different parts. For example, in playing house, there may be a mommy, a daddy, twin babies, and a
pet dog. Each child has a role, function, and speaking part to play.
 IN VYGOTSKY’S (1978) SOCIOCULTURAL THEORY
play serves at least four major purposes:
1. Play, and representational play in particular, creates a zone of proximal development
within which children advance to higher levels of psychological functioning.
2. Representational play helps children learn roles and rules, for it is driven by rules for
behavior that children must follow to successfully act out a play scenario.
3. In representational play, young children create an imaginary situation that permits
them to cope with unrealizable desires and develop the capacity to renounce impulsive
action in favor of deliberate, self-regulatory activity.
4. Fantasy play helps children in separating meaning from the objects for which they
stand. Play
is vital preparation for the later development of abstract thinking.
 Dramatic Play Center
An indoor dramatic play center can be located next to the block area because both invite loud,
active, imaginative play. Similar items should be organized, grouped together, and labeled.
Providing furniture that resembles a home, including a table and chairs, cooking and eating
equipment, kitchen appliances, food, multiethnic dolls and clothing, stuffed animals, mirrors, and
telephones sets a familiar and comfortable stage.

Connecting Dramatic Play to the Curriculum

Connect dramatic play to your curriculum. Providing “money,” such as poker chips or strips of
green construction paper, facilitates counting; grouping food in the grocery store builds
classification skills. Include books on multi ethnic families and the occupations currently being
studied.
 Celebrating Diversity through Dramatic Play
To make the dramatic play area diverse, incorporate the following strategies, tools, props, and
clothing for children to explore race and ethnicity, culture, gender, and special needs. Always begin
with the diversity represented in your classroom and expand from there to other groups in your
community.

● Stage rooms of the house other than the kitchen. Include male and female clothing, pictures of
both boys and girls, men and women, and pictures and books that show diverse family
compositions.
● Include tools and equipment for people with special needs. Examples include wheelchairs,
walkers, braces, ramps, eyeglasses (without lenses), books written in Braille, crutches, canes, and
magnifiers.
● Include food containers, boxes, and tins representing items from different cultures and with
labels in different languages.
● Include clothing, shoes, hats, scarves, and belts that represent both everyday wear and holiday
attire from a variety of cultures.
● Supply multiracial dolls and dolls with adaptive equipment for a range of disabilities.
● Include eating utensils from different cultures such as Chinese soup spoons; chopsticks; and
wooden, tin, and plastic bowls, dishes, cups, and ladles.
● Have cooking utensils from different countries on hand, including saucepans, kettles, steamers,
strainers, wok, garlic press, tortilla press, grater, tea balls, fry pans, whisks, and so on.
● Supply cushions, pillows, mats, small area rugs, and placemats from traditional cultures
decorated with representative colors, patterns, and designs.
● Include a variety of infant carriers such as baskets, strollers, infant slings, and Native American
cradle boards.
● Have a variety of beds and bedding for dolls including blankets, cradles, hammocks, and futons.
 PLAY WITH NATURAL MATERIALS
Play with natural materials is sensory-rich and soothing. Although water is wet and sand
is dry, both hold great sensory appeal and lead children to similar discoveries; for
example, both can be poured and measured. Children can also discover that water, sand,
and wood have unique properties.

Natural materials are open-ended and provide unlimited creative possibilities while also
supporting physical, social, emotional, cognitive, and language development.
 WATER OR SAND PLAY
Water and sand need large containers that will provide ample room for small group play. Tables
for water/sand play with lids are commercially available and a sound investment. They tend to
be large enough to accommodate four children and come with a drain plug. Alternatives might
include a baby bathtub or a shallow wading pool.

CARPENTRY OR WOODWORKING
The thought of carpentry or woodworking and young children concerns some educators. It
may be a safety issue or one’s own discomfort level based on a lack of knowledge and skills in
using tools. Tools empower boys and girls as well as provide opportunities in refining large
muscle and fine motor skills and eye-hand coordination. Carpentry and woodworking also
allow for emotional release. An angry child who has difficulty verbalizing his or her feelings
can hammer or saw them out.
Encourage them to make blueprints or simple sketches of what they plan to make. Invite
children to:
● hammer nails into layers of cardboard that have been glued together, a tree stump,
Styrofoam, or a block of plasticine
● hammer golf tees into Styrofoam
● tighten screws on toys, tricycles, and furniture
● use sandpaper on rough edges of blocks of wood oron old wooden toys and blocks
● use tools to make block props
● glue wood scraps into a wood collage
 GAMES
Have you ever observed a teacher trying to play duck, duck, goose with a group of
young children? They play out of turn and do their own thing. Young children have
difficulty playing games. Their egocentricity keeps them from waiting, taking turns, and
playing by the rules. They change and break the rules at whim to make it work for them.

Games are competitive, usually resulting in a winner and loser. This may be difficult for
children to face. School-age children, however, become socially competitive as they test
their mental prowess with card and board games. They compare physical abilities such
as aiming, racing, chasing, or hiding, and in sports such as baseball, soccer, basketball,
and kickball