Play in the Preschool Classroom - Leadership to INtegrate the Early ...

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200 Ashiabi educational experience for young children. This goal was based on the following assumptions. If early childhood educators understand the educational and developmental value of play, it could enable them to (a) be less anxious about engaging in practices that enhance learning and development through play, and (b) answer questions regarding the importance of play for learning and development. Using these goals as a backdrop, this paper sought to discuss (a) views of children’s play, with a specific focus on sociodramatic play, (b) the characteristics of emotional and social development, (c) play and socioemotional development, and (d) early childhood teachers’ role in young children’s play. VIEWS OF YOUNG CHILDREN’S PLAY Children’s play has been conceptualized in terms of creativity, adaptation, exploration, experimentation, learning, communication, socialization, acculturation, and mastery (Piaget, 1962; Schwartzman, 1978; Vygotsky, 1978). From a social constructivist perspective, play enables children to build and extend their knowledge and skills as they interact with their environment, with others, and on their own (Glover, 1999). Children’s play has been operationalized as intrinsically motivating; pleasurable; freely chosen; non-literal; actively engaging; opportunistic and episodic; imaginative and creative; fluid and active; and predominantly for the moment and therefore concerned more with means than ends (Rubin, Fein, & Vandenberg, 1983; Sturgess, 2003). These views suggest that when children engage in play, they do it because they enjoy what they are doing; they choose how to play and what to play with by using their imagination; they engage in pretense, and are not as concerned with the outcomes as they are with how they are playing. With age, children engage frequently in cooperative play involving two or more children with assigned roles and a common goal; one that can be achieved if all the play partners carry out their roles (Hughes, 1999). Sociodramatic or pretend play is cooperative play (Smilansky & Shefatya, 1990), and makes up about two-thirds of all the pretend play of preschool children (Rubin, 1986). In sociodramatic play children take on an identity that complements the roles played by others, and relate to them as if they are other than themselves (Hughes, 1999; Johnson, 1998) in a world of pretend that is reality bound (Smilansky & Shefatya, 1990). Sociodramatic play themes fall into three categories: family, character, and functional roles (Hughes, 1999). Family roles usually depict mother, father, siblings, and pets. Character roles are usually stereotyped or fictional, for example, being Sponge Bob, a Ninja Turtle, or a Princess. Like family roles, character roles need not be expressed in terms of specific action plans. On the other hand, functional roles are always defined in terms of specific action plans; for example, a firefighter has a specific role. The functional role defines the behavior but not the permanent identity of the character (Hughes, 1999). In essence, sociodramatic play involves children’s emotions, thoughts and their external world; it is social play in which children use their imagination and creativity and take on different roles as they create pretend situations involving the use of fantasy and symbolism (Lindqvist, 2001). EMOTIONAL AND SOCIAL DEVELOPMENT We can think of children’s emotions as ways in which they react to situations while social development refers to as how they get along with peers and form relationships. Furthermore, emotional and social development are linked because children’s social interactions are usually emotionally charged (Halberstadt, Denham, & Dunsmore, 2001). Children’s ability to (a) experience and appropriately express their emotions, (b) understand the emotions of peers, and (c) regulate their emotions determines how successful they are during social interactions (Halberstadt et al., 2001). Emotional Expression As the social world of a child expands, emotional expression comes to serve an important communicative role, providing peers with information about a child’s intentions (Halberstadt et al., 2001). This means that a child’s ability to properly express his/her emotions is essential for peer interactions because the experience and expression of emotion not only affects a child’s behavior, but also, provides information to peers about whether to engage the child or retreat from further interaction with the child (Denham, 1998). Skill in emotional expression is an important part of peer acceptance. For example, children who learn to employ culturally accepted ways of expressing emotions in accordance with situations are more likely to be successful socially (Halberstadt et al., 2001). In using culturally competent ways of expressing emotions, children learn when and how to
Play in the Preschool Classroom 201 (a) substitute one emotion for another, (b) mask their emotions, and (c) minimize their emotional experiences, or maximize their emotional expression, such as crying loudly to get the attention of adults (Cole, 1985). Emotional Understanding Children need to understand the emotions of their peers because it enables them to perceive the communicative intent of the emotions another person is feeling. In understanding others’ emotions, subjectivity, meaning, and social context are salient; they explain (a) why one emotion, rather than another is aroused in similar situations, as well as (b) individual differences in emotional expressiveness (Denham, 1998). An integral part of the process of emotional understanding is making a connection between the experience of one’s own feelings to a representation of how others feel (Harris, 1989); a process associated with children’s developing theory of mind (Bailey, 2002). In sum, children need to experience various emotions in order to construct social scripts about emotions, because they first reflect on and make judgments about their own emotions, and then generalize these judgments to others’ feelings (Smiley & Huttenlocher, 1989). Emotional Regulation Although it is useful that children be able to express their emotions, there are many instances when it is more appropriate to regulate emotional expressiveness. Regulation of emotion occurs through the acquisition of culturally accepted ways of expressing emotions, and involves substituting one emotion for another, masking emotions, and minimizing, or maximizing emotional expressiveness (Cole, 1985). The overarching emotional task during the preschool years is the movement from dyadic (caregiverchild) regulation toward self-regulation of emotion, which takes the form of a transfer of responsibility from caregiver to the child (Sroufe, 1997). At first caregivers have almost total responsibility for keeping emotional arousal manageable, such as comforting a crying child. Over time, the child plays an active role in the regulation process, responding to caregivers, and eventually, seeking regulatory assistance through deliberate efforts, such as running to the caregiver when s/he is hurt (Denham, 1998). Consequently, in peer interactions, children are expected to be able to regulate their emotions, because the ability to manage emotional arousal is essential to their capability to interact with others, and to evaluations of their social competence (Denham, 1998). For example, children engaged in sociodramatic play have to negotiate their roles. During such negotiations, some children do not get the roles they want and may be upset about it. However, those children’s ability to regulate their upset, and take on different roles determines to a great extent how desirable they are as potential play partners in future play. Social Development Social development refers to children’s ability to get along with their peers and to form relationships. Children who are unable to form and maintain relationships with other children are at great risk (Hartup, 1992). Although parents contribute to children’s social skills, it is mainly acquired in interactions with other children who provide opportunities to learn and practice new skills, refine old ones, and gain proficiency in social interactions (Hartup, 1992). Understanding diversity issues is also important because they give an indication of when and how children may play with each other (Rettig, 1995). Honig (1983) reported that gender identity is achieved before age three, although some toddlers between 18 and 24 months could label other children correctly by sex. Porter (1971) noted there is no exact age when racial awareness is present, but that it appears between ages three and four. Finkelstein and Haskins (1983) in a study of Black and White kindergartners’ ethnic/racial awareness, noted how that awareness influences playmate preferences. Children tended to select reported a preference for play with same-color playmates. Children’s awareness of differences based on disabilities occurs between ages four and five. Gerber (1977) found that children ages three-and-half to five were aware of the disabilities of other children, and Guralnick (1980) noted that without intervention, nondisabled children tend to play with other nondisabled children and chose them more often as playmates. PLAY AND CHILDREN’S SOCIOEMOTIONAL DEVELOPMENT Bredekamp and Copple (1997) argued that play is the most developmentally appropriate way for children to learn, and others have suggested that play facilitates problem-solving, perspective-taking, emotional and social skills, and the development of a
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