PLAY AND THE SCHOOLAGE CHILD

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PLAY AND THE SCHOOL-AGE CHILD
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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???

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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

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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

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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

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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.

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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?

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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 dont 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

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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

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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.

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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.

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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

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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.

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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?

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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

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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???

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A MODEL FOR AGGRESSION
Diminishing Play
Confusing Experiences
Aggression
Life Skills
Expression
Communication
Locus of Control
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TRANSFORMING AGGRESSION INTO PROSOCIAL OUTCOMES
Pro-Social Outcomes
Life Skills
Expression
Communication
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TRANSFORMING AGGRESSION INTO PROSOCIAL OUTCOMES
Pro-Social Outcomes
Life Skills
Expression
Communication
Autonomy/ Self-Concept
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TRANSFORMING AGGRESSION INTO PROSOCIAL OUTCOMES
Debriefing
Pro-Social Outcomes
Life Skills
Expression
Communication
Autonomy/ Self-Concept
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TRANSFORMING AGGRESSION INTO PROSOCIAL OUTCOMES
Increasing Play
Debriefing
Pro-Social Outcomes
Life Skills
Expression
Communication
Autonomy/ Self-Concept
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TRANSFORMING AGGRESSION INTO PROSOCIAL OUTCOMES
Increasing Play
Debriefing
Pro-Social Outcomes
Life Skills
Expression
Communication
Autonomy/ Self-Concept
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Play as an Instrument, Development as an Outcome,
Society as the Changing Construct
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REFERENCES

• Bergen, D. (2006). The role of pretend play in
  childrens 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.