The Power of Play: How Spontaneous, Imaginative Activities Lead to Happier, Healthier ChildrenIn modern childhood, free, unstructured play time is being replaced more and more by academics, lessons, competitive sports, and passive, electronic entertainment. While parents may worry that their children will be at a disadvantage if they are not engaged in constant, explicit learning or using the latest "educational" games, David Elkind's The Power of Play reassures us that unscheduled imaginative play goes far in preparing children for academic and social success. Through expert analysis of the research and powerful situational examples, Elkind shows that, indeed, creative spontaneous activity best sets the stage for academic learning in the first place: Children learn mutual respect and cooperation through role-playing and the negotiation of rules, which in turn prepare them for successful classroom learning; in simply playing with rocks, for example, a child could discover properties of counting and shapes that are the underpinnings of math; even a toddler's babbling is a necessary precursor to the acquisition of language. An important contribution to the literature about how children learn, The Power of Play suggests ways to restore play's respected place in children's lives, at home, at school, and in the larger community. In defense of unstructured "down time," it encourages parents to trust their instincts and resist the promise of the wide and dubious array of educational products on the market geared to youngsters. |
Contents
Play Learning and Development | 87 |
Building the Units of Math | 119 |
The Role of Play | 145 |
The Power of Play | 169 |
Gifts for a Lifetime | 217 |
Other References | 227 |
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Common terms and phrases
ability academic activities adolescence adults age of reason appreciate asked attained the age Baby Einstein Barbie become boys camps character toys chil children learn computer games concept cool create creative dolls dren early childhood education Elkind engage example experience feel girls give grade granddaughter healthy humor icons imagination infants and young innovation intellectual involved Jean Piaget Jeannie Jurassic Park kinship play language literacy look Maria Montessori mastery play materials mental Montessori Method mother objects older children ordinal overprogramming parents passions peer physical Piaget player power of play preschool programs role rote learning school-age screen self-initiated sense Seuss share shark skill toys social Spy Fox story talk teacher teaching Teletubbies television tell things tion understand videos Waldorf education watch York young child young children
References to this book
Residential Treatment of Adolescents: Integrative Principles and Practices Don Pazaratz No preview available - 2009 |
Several Perspectives on Children's Play: Scientific Reflections for Prac[ti ... Jan van Gils No preview available - 2007 |