A Constructivist Curriculum is necessary for Kindergarten
Benefits of Play
Educational Benefits of Play
- Play makes learning enjoyable, fun and interesting for children. They will develop a natural curiosity to explore more. Play integrated into an early math and literacy curriculum can develop academic skills by doing what children naturally do.
- Play allows for the practice of different skills
- Play provides many opportunities for children to work cooperatively with their peers as well as adults.
- Play encourages children to explore, take risks and experiment with new things and ideas that they have developed.
- Play allows children to expand on what they already are learning. This is a key point as in to why a constructivist curriculum is beneficial for children. While they are playing with blocks, they are counting, measuring and associating shapes and numbers-early math.
- Play encourages children to discover things independently and alongside peers. This discover leads to questioning and that leads to learning.
Social and Emotional Benefits of Play
- With Play, children gain self esteem and self confidence
- Play reduces anxiety and relieves stress, providing optimal learning. When children feel well, they learn well.
- Play has calming, therapeutic tendencies.
- Play releases energies and reduces tension that children may feel.
- Play provides opportunities for sharing and collaboration.
- With play, children learn about conflict resolution that can help them solve academic problems as well.
- Play provides children with skills such as leadership and guiding others.
- Play provides opportunities to learn about the environment and others around them.
- Play ignites the imagination and allows children to expand their creativity.
- With play, attention regulation occurs and attention spans increase because children are doing what is natural for them.
- Play improves concentration and ability to focus.
- With play, comes persistence to keep trying and to never give up.
- Play gives children fun, enjoyment and a zest for life.
- In Play, there is self expression. Being able to express oneself is vital for teh development of children to succeed in school and in life.
Cognitive Benefits of Play
- Play develops a child's abstract thinking skills
- Play brings about a child's creativity
- With play, the possibilities are endless because the imagination is being developed and is hard at work
- With play, a child masters new concepts of the things around him
- With play, a child develops empathy
- During play, a child takes on new and meaningful perspectives
Physical Benefits of Play
- Play strengthens gross motor skills such as jumping, kicking, throwing, catching, swinging, skipping, hopping. Play is movement. Play is on the go.
- Play strengthens fine motor skills such as writing, cutting, pasting, gluing, stapling, coloring, turning page sin a book, tying shoes and more.
- Play gives children the development of self help skills such as eating and drinking independently, using the restroom, getting dresses and undressed, putting on and taking off jackets, hats etc.
- Play is exercise. It is fun movement for children.
- Play provides opportunities to overcome physical challenges
- Play is mobile and can happen anywhere and could be as simple as walking up and down the stairs
- Play is healthy for not only the body but a child's mind as well.
Linguistic Benefits of Play
- Play promotes communication skills. When children play alone or with peers, they develop a need to communicate their feelings, desires and needs.
- Play increases a child's vocabulary. While playing with others, children hear, use and repeat words accordingly which adds to the vocabulary a child already has.
- Play develops and enhances a child's natural sense for story telling. Through play, wonderful things occur. There is a lot of fantasy and make believe which is a child's reality in that given moment.
- Play increases emergent literacy development