Developmental Role of Play
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Play is often considered a prerogative of children and only an occasional indulgence for adults. Its role in children's lives is generally recognized as an important part of 'being a child,' but it is not always clearly understood that play is an essential developmental mechanism. For children, play is the equivalent of an adult's job; it is, quite simply, what an individual does at that stage of her/his development. But theories of development have increasingly come to recognize that human beings do not stop growing and changing physically, intellectually, and emotionally simply because they have reached some plateau in life. It is now understood that development continues throughout the lifespan and that play, as an important developmental tool, continues to be a vital human function to life's end. A review of the developmental role of play and examples of its functions at several points in the human lifespan--childhood, adolescence, adulthood, and old age--will demonstrate its importance to every life at every stage of existence. The best general definition of play may be that given by the great historian Johan Huizinga who said, "play is a voluntary activity which takes place within certain fixed limits of time and space [and] has nothing to do with necessity, utility or duty" (cited in Balke, 1997, p. 355). But play also has many characteristics and takes many more forms. It is generally egocentric, often idiosyncratic, and performed under conditions of relative
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rol is also developed as the individual child, playing in a setting detached for the everyday world, sets up situations and events that she/he is capable of controlling. In successful play "the experience is of their own choosing and they are confident in their own ability to handle the outcome" even if it is unknown (Finney et al., 1996, p. 12). Although these examples deal with children, self-actualization is an ongoing developmental goal and play continues to support such development up to life's end.
The importance of play is apparent from the beginning of the lifespan. All parental interactions with newborn children are important and the majority of them, without any prompting or training, take the form of increasingly mutual play between parent and child. The earliest stages of play are choreographed like a ballet, with set rhythms and repetitions as in playing peek-a-boo or hiding and revealing objects, noises that respond to noises the other has made, or the repetition of something that has made the baby laugh--repeating that action as long as the child continues to laugh at it. Researchers have discovered as well that, even though parents are the initiators of playful interaction at first, babies rapidly exercise c
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Mihaly Csikszentmihalyi, Self Roberts, Tolan Walker, , Pawelko Magafas, Johan Huizinga, Parks Recreation, CLIENT Please, Behavior Psychology, Recreation Dance, balke 1997, smith 1995, stages development, pawelko magafas 1997, play functions, roberts 36, roberts 1995, magafas 1997, pawelko magafas, tolan walker 1996, 1997 355, balke 1997 355, unpublished manuscript, throughout lifespan play, finney tolan walker,
Approximate Word count = 2073
Approximate Pages = 8 (250 words per page)
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