How does Playing Enhance Education?
**Disclaimer: This post may not resonate with all.
Babies, toddlers, and children love to play. Playing is a fun activity, where the child experiences pleasures from engaging with toys, activities, and games. Playing enhances education. According to a study published by North Clinic of Istanbul , the action of playing is crucial to a child’s education. Playing allows children to develop skills such as conflict management, learning to follow instructions, and learning to be mindful of others’ needs. Education is not only limited to playing, but education is discovered in other parts of life. You can read my introduction to my education blog for more information.
Conflict Management Enhances Education
Problems are a part of life, and cannot be avoided. Conflict management includes the ability to solve problems when they arise. Games that include multiple people such as tag, and hide and seek support “cognitive development,” including the ability to learn and think. As a child goes through cognitive development, they learn skills such as conflict management. Conflict management should allow one to acknowledge that problems need to be solved and confronted. For example, when a child is “it” in a game of tag, their problem is that they need to find a way to tag another person so that they are not “it” for the whole game. The child in this situation is compelled to find a solution to this problem. The child may try different strategies such as targeting those who run slow, and if their strategy fails, then they will learn from their failure.
Learning to Follow Instructions
Everyone has complied with instructions at one point, whether it be following instructing given by a person in a position of authority, or by following an instruction manual. Each board game comes with instructions on how to play it correctly. Toys sometimes have instructions on how it should be used. If one does not follow instructions, then they will not be able to use the product successfully.
Being Mindful of Others’ Needs
Children can be considerate of others’ needs if they learn to do so. They learn by playing with others. The study published by North Clinic of Istanbul , states that playing becomes a :
social activity” when one starts to play with others. When a child starts to interact with others, they learn how to introduce themselves, share with others, and learn patience, as highlighted in the North Clinic study. For example, when a child plays a game such as tag, they learn to respect others by avoiding being physically aggressive when tagging others, they learn to be mindful of giving others space, and to interact with others. The child will develop all of these skills while engaging in a fun activity.
Conclusion
In conclusion, how does playing enhance education? Education that comes from books can be boring for young children. Even though playing is not a rigorous activity, playing is a fun activity which allows a child to learn skills where they can interact with others.