Childhood Play Behavior and Cognitive Development Essay

Childhood play behavior is an important part of every child’s life. Starting in infancy, children begin to explore their world through play. This behavior can serve as an indicator of the child’s cognitive and social development. The research on play and development is a key to helping caregivers understand the importance of childhood play. This paper will focus on the psychological aspects of childhood play behavior and its relation to cognitive development. According to the cognitive development theory, the purpose of play is to develop intelligence. While children play, it is theorized that they are able to learn to solve problems (Wyver Spence, 1999). One of the most influential contributors to understanding†¦show more content†¦Typically, when a child is five months old they begin to engage in a low level of object play. Children in this stage will focus on how their actions affect objects. For example, my niece is one year old and enjoys picking up blocks and hitting them together. When she does this, she is learning that she is able to control an object (block) and her action (hitting them together) produces a result (noise). As children near the age of two, they begin to gain interest in the properties of toys and begin incorporating objects in their fantasy world (Hughes, 2006). Symbolic play is added to the child’s repertoire of play soon after they reach the age of two. As the child develops through these types of play, they are able to connect and arrange these play behaviors in intricate ways. Between the ages of two and seven, children are in the pre-operational stage of cognitive development. This stage of development is categorized by imagination and symbolic language. During the beginning of this stage, toddlers spend most of their playtime using their imagination and playing pretend. This helps them to decipher the difference between reality and fantasy. Between the ages of five and seven, these children transition from parallel play, to associative and cooperative types of play behavior. These new play behaviors increase their social skills as they interact with peers, siblings, and parents. During this period, children alsoShow MoreRelatedThe Problem Of Children Intelligence Test Scores1653 Words   |  7 PagesNowadays, the global is facing the same pressure in early childhood education; many countries’ education system start to teach children academic skills at progressively younger age; because of the concerns about falling behind peers in their lat er the school aged. However, these early-accelerated preschool programs do not necessarily guarantee future academic success. Even worse, that may cause children’s social and emotional problems in the future (Marcon, 2002). 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