Toy Store Observation

Dear Parent; I want to take this opportunity to introduce myself and express my excitement about working with your son. My name is Gulnihal and your son, Mahir, is enrolled in my class this semester. I am really glad to welcome you and your child. The main goal of writing to you this letter is to inform you about the value of play for children’s physical, social, emotional, and mental development. Primarily, I will describe what play is both in theory and in practice. And then, I will explain types of play which are appropriate for 4-year-old children. Afterwards, I will touch on benefits of play. Lastly, I will give advice concerning what you as parents can do in order to guide your child in play. First of all, I want to mention about what play is. In reality, play is the manner children develop and learn, the way they express their understanding of the world. However, many parents do not completely understand or do not have a high opinion the role of play in children’s development. Play is a performance involved in for the aim of enjoyment. The value of learning through play was first put forward by Friedrich Froebel in the 19th century. Froebel, a German educator, stressed encouraging the natural growth of a child through action or play. He felt that educational play involved the child in feeling, observing, developing a sense of form, space, time and movement. These practices were reinforced in the 20th century by Swiss philosopher Jean Piaget who said that children learn through the active exploration of a wide variety of objects (Johnson, Christie & Wardle, 2005). Most adults think that play is independently apart from work. For them, an activity is play if it is not work. We can always see an adult saying “my kid is not doing anything, he just plays.” But the truth is that play is children’s work. Play is for the child an occupation as serious and as important as for the adult (Erden, 2011). There are certain

References: Alfano, K. (2011). The many benefits of play. Retrieved from http://www.fisher-price.com/fp.aspx?st=660&e=expertadvice&content=81274 Erden, F. (2011). What is play. Unpublished raw data, Middle East Technical University, Ankara Johnson, J. E., Christie, J. F., & Wardle, F. (2005). Play, development and early education. USA: Pearson. Letchford, K. (2009). [Web log message]. Retrieved from http://www.lifestyle-homeschool.com/benefits-of-play.html MacDonald, K. B. (1993). Parent-child play: descriptions and implications. Suny Press. Rubin, K.H., Fein, G.G., & Vandenberg, B. (1983). Play. In E.M. Hetherington (Ed.), Handbook of Child Psychology (vol.4). New York: Wiley Schaefer, C. (ED). (1993). The Therapeutic Powers of Play. New Jersey: Jason Aronson Inc. Tassoni, P. (2007). Cache level 2 in child care and education. (3rd ed.). Heinemann. Tassoni, P., & Hucker, K. (2005).Planning play and the early years. Heinemann.