level of communication as it involves sharing a fantasy world with others. This activity is thought to enhance understanding of other minds (Dunn, 1988), and occurs most children’s frequently in preschool when children are developing a theory of mind (Fein, 1986). Piaget highlighted that play is a fun and relaxing activity, and this therefore provides the ideal forum for children to practise their developing cognitive skills. This perspective was also shared by Vygotsky (1962) who saw play as an important facilitator for cognitive development, especially during pre-school years. He believed children are able children’s to extend their current cognitive and social development when interacting with others. They can rehearse their own skills, as well as learn from their play mates. Additionally, through play, children can practise their developing motor skills. Play often involves physical activity, e.g. running and skipping, and it also incorporates fine motor skills, e.g. colouring in and drawing. Subsequently, learning in pre-school and early school years involves a substantial amount of play activity (Lifter, Foster-Sanada, Arzamarski, Briesch & McClure, 2011). Policy makers in education recognize that a large amount of learning can be achieved when playing, and it facilitates the process of comprehension in a variety of academic skills (Lifter et al., 2011). Types of play Parten (1932) was one of the first theorists to produce elaborate play classifications. These were as follows: unoccupied play, solitary play, onlooker play, parallel play, associative play and cooperative play. These types of play are understood with respect to the behaviour that occurs during each. For example, in solitary play the child is focused on their own activity and notice or involve other children, whereas in parallel play the doesn’t child copies other play behaviour but join in. children’s doesn’t This framework for play behaviour was, for many years, conceptualised with social development (Bergen, 1988). However, recent research has shown that children’s
level of communication as it involves sharing a fantasy world with others. This activity is thought to enhance children’s understanding of other minds (Dunn, 1988), and occurs most frequently in preschool when children are developing a theory of mind (Fein, 1986). Piaget highlighted that play is a fun and relaxing activity, and this therefore provides the ideal forum for children to practise their developing cognitive skills. This perspective was also shared by Vygotsky (1962) who saw play as an important facilitator for cognitive development, especially during children’s pre-school years. He believed children are able to extend their current cognitive and social development when interacting with others. They can rehearse their own skills, as well as learn from their play mates. Additionally, through play, children can practise their developing motor skills. Play often involves physical activity, e.g. running and skipping, and it also incorporates fine motor skills, e.g. colouring in and drawing. Subsequently, learning in pre-school and early school years involves a substantial amount of play activity (Lifter, Foster-Sanada, Arzamarski, Briesch & McClure, 2011). Policy makers in education recognize that a large amount of learning can be achieved when playing, and it facilitates the process of comprehension in a variety of academic skills (Lifter et al., 2011). Types of play Parten (1932) was one of the first theorists to produce elaborate play classifications. These were as follows: unoccupied play, solitary play, onlooker play, parallel play, associative play and cooperative play. These types of play are understood with respect to the behaviour that occurs during each. For example, in solitary play the child is focused on their own activity and doesn’t notice or involve other children, whereas in parallel play the child copies other children’s play behaviour but doesn’t join in. This framework for play behaviour was, for many years, conceptualised with children’s social development (Bergen, 1988). However, recent research has shown that