PLAY AND THE SCHOOL-AGE CHILD

1. PLAY AND THE SCHOOL-AGE CHILD

2. PLAY AND THE SCHOOL-AGE CHILD • The more complex the mind, the greater the need for play • The complexity of the mind is a function of the availability of play • Play as an instrument, development as an outcome. Society as a changing construct???

3. PHYSICAL DEVELOPMENT • Elementary school children exhibit Specialized movement according to Gallahue. • Children exhibit a great deal of mastery over their physical capabilities and become increasingly interested in certain sports or recreation. • Baseball • Football • Tennis • Golf

4. Factor Affecting Physical Development • Proper nutrition • Obesity. Today, children have increasing problems with clinical obesity, HB pressure, and cholesterol. • Childhood illnesses. Within the first 2 years of elementary school, children experience high rates of illnesses. Especially, in low socioeconomic groups. • Asthma • Cystic fibrosis • Cancer • AIDS

5. School Aged Play and Injuries • Injuries begin to increase from early childhood thru adolescence. • Boys tend to have more injuries than girls • Variations in risk and play seem to be important factor for distinctions in gender • Majority of injuries due to auto and bicycle collisions

6. Characteristics of Motor Development • During this period, growth is slower and more regular • Between 6 and 8, boys are much taller and heavier than girls. However, this trend changes by age 10 when girls catch up and generally become taller. • Development and growth occurs from bottom to top. • Further development of fine motor skills enable children to write with greater precision. First grade children can generally write their name, the letters of the alphabet, and numbers.

7. Motor Skill Development • Differences in motor development have been found to be related to gender and socioeconomic status. • Boys tend to be more advanced in gross motor development (organized sports). • Girls tend to be more advanced in fine motor development (handwriting, drawing). • Social and parental expectations seem to influences these differences; however, this trend is changing. • Should gender be a determining factor for organized sports? • How do we promote a gender neutral approach to organized sports?

8. Outdoor Play • Outdoor play is generally initiated by peers and often occurs in the absence of adult supervision. • This type of play is diminishing in the home and school (recess) due to safety reasons and philosophical reasons. • Increasing school expectations • Parents working • Sometimes teachers/parents don’t value play (urban vs. rural) • Many play areas are plagued by drugs, violence, homeless transients • Lawsuits • Children engage in more risky behaviors, especially during outdoor play

9. Cognitive Development • School age children are concrete in their thinking. • Changing mental strategies: • Selective attention (better able to screen out other distractions) • memory strategies (rehearsal, elaboration, organization) • knowledge growth. • Variations in intelligence • Unidimensional intelligence. IQ. • Multidimensional intelligence. Howard Gardner

10. A GLIMPSE AT SOCIAL/EMOTIONAL DEVELOPMENT • According to Erikson, children face the challenge of Industry vs. Inferiority. • Self concept continues to develop during this stage, but it varies due to environment • Self-esteem starts to decline • Physical • Social • Academic • Looking Glass Concept (C. H. Cooley) • Development of attributes: Mastery orientation vs. Learned helplessness • Perspective taking in consort with moral development continues to develop.

11. Development of Peer Culture • Children begin to organize into groups and seek separate identities thru dress and/or ritual activities. • Increases in organizational affiliations like 4-H groups, Boy and Girl Scouts------gangs?. • Positive group experiences facilitate greater sense of esteem and greater social competence. • Negative group experiences or group rejection tend to produce negative outcomes.

12. Play and Social-emotional Development • School aged children promote rule based play. Reflecting the highest level of social play (Piaget and Smilansky) and cooperative play (Parten) • Major problems of play are aggressive playing and bullying. • Boys tend to exhibit greater physical aggression while girls tend to exhibit greater verbal aggression • Children tend to avoid bullies; therefore, they tend to exhibit greater antisocial habits • Boys tend to be bullies however, both boys and girls tend to be recipients • Teachers tend to do little about bullying among children. Explanation • They may not be aware • They may feel that children need to solve their own problems

13. Gender and Social Play • Boys • Tend to engage in outdoor play • Tend to play in larger groups • Tend to play more in same-aged groups • Tend to engage more in rough-and-tumble play • Tend to engage in less mature play • Tend to spend more time playing electronic games • Boys tend to prefer realistic play themes (girls prefer fantasy themes) • Girls • Tend to spend their play time in conversation, apparatus play, and games that require taking turns • In co-ed schools, girls tend to stay closer to adults. In all girl settings, they tend to venture and play farther from adults.

14. Rough-and-Tumble Play, Chase Games, & War Toys • Rough-and-Tumble Play (RTP) accounts for 5% of play in preschools. It increases to 17% of school-aged play and declines during middle childhood. • Many teachers purport not to be able to distinguish between fighting and RTP. • Older and more popular children use sports as a means of status development. • However, aggressive and rejected children continue to use RTP/bullying for status and recognition. • Themes to chase games: • Threat of kissing • Threat of Cooties • Social intrusion (boy groups interrupting girl groups while playing jump rope, girl group interrupting boys playing football, etc.) • Do war toys promote violence?

15. Other Key Points for Consideration • Clear links have been established between children who engage in high-quality pretend play and later abstract thought (Bergen, 2002) • Pretend play fosters: • Cognitive self-regulation • Narrative recall • Divergent problem-solving • Rule understanding

16. PLAY AND THE SCHOOL-AGE CHILD • The more complex the mind, the greater the need for play • The complexity of the mind is a function of the availability of play • Play as an instrument, development as an outcome. . . Society as a changing construct???

17. A MODEL FOR AGGRESSION Diminishing Play Confusing Experiences Aggression Expression Life Skills Communication Locus of Control

18. TRANSFORMING AGGRESSION INTO PROSOCIAL OUTCOMES Pro-Social Outcomes Expression Life Skills Communication

19. TRANSFORMING AGGRESSION INTO PROSOCIAL OUTCOMES Pro-Social Outcomes Expression Life Skills Communication Autonomy/ Self-Concept

20. TRANSFORMING AGGRESSION INTO PROSOCIAL OUTCOMES Debriefing Pro-Social Outcomes Expression Life Skills Communication Autonomy/ Self-Concept

21. TRANSFORMING AGGRESSION INTO PROSOCIAL OUTCOMES Increasing Play Debriefing Pro-Social Outcomes Expression Life Skills Communication Autonomy/ Self-Concept

22. TRANSFORMING AGGRESSION INTO PROSOCIAL OUTCOMES Increasing Play Debriefing Pro-Social Outcomes Expression Life Skills Communication Autonomy/ Self-Concept

23. Play as an Instrument, Development as an Outcome, Society as the Changing Construct

24. REFERENCES • Bergen, D. (2006). The role of pretend play in children’s cognitive development. Early Childhood Research & Practice, (4)1, 1-8. • Frost, J., Wortham, S., & Reifel, S. (2005). Play and child development (2nd ed.). Merrill Prentice Hall. Upper Saddle River, New Jersey.