Young children are constantly acquiring knowledge. They then need a way to experiment with that knowledge. One of the natural ways they do this is through imaginative play. They take what they have learned and use open ended activities to fit this knowledge into their world. Children need to play with toys and household items without strict rules. When parents and caregivers continually insist that children "play the right way" they stifle a child's cognitive potential. A child makes the world their own by making their own rules.
The pictures here in this post show my children playing with a toy kitchen set with a mixture of mismatched toy food and dishes. My older daughters continually model novel language and social settings to the younger children. They then take what they hear and see and make it their own. Other open ended toys that encourage this type of learning include but are not limited to:
Building blocks
Dress-up props
Dress-up props
Toy animals
Art activities
Playdough
No comments:
Post a Comment