Play Based Curriculum

Play-Based Curriculum
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Play-Based Curriculum
At the age of four, a child completes half of their intellectual capacity development, and it hits 80% at the age of eight (Lall & Lall, 2018). As a result, most institutions have reverted to the old curriculum where children have more recess time. Theobald et al. (2015) research indicate that adults who were subjected to play activities at their young age had better social skills and a high level of creativity. For a child, play time is an opportunity to explore the world around them. In the process, they end up developing creative thinking, decision making, problem-solving, negotiation, cooperating and communication skills. According to Ginsburg (2007), an unstructured play makes a child hone their attention span since they tend to focus more when carrying out activities where they are free to be creative, form their own rules, and explore items around them. Moreover, play strengthens the children motor skills, hand-eye coordination, verbal and visual tracking abilities. Lastly, by interacting with other children and forming packs while playing, children get to nurture their social interactions skills and develop social connections.
Play helps children develop healthy physical status, high mental abilities and positively shapes their development process into adulthood. When children engage in play activities involving running, jumping or throwing and catching toys, they tend to develop their gross motor skills.

In this case, they improve their ability to control and coordinate their arms, legs, trunk, and head. For simple activities such as playing dough, children get to develop their fine motor skills including controlling the small muscles at their fingers and feet. Other activities such as arranging toy blocks of the same sizes engage the child’s brain making them think and make decisions. Most outdoor play activities positively shape the approach children have on nature. They tend to recognize its beauty and learn the importance of preserving the natural environment.
Games like hopscotch, tag and hide-and-seek are more valuable to the child than just passing the time. Let’s take an example of art collaboration play activity. In this case, the play involves children working in teams to create drawing for animals that they think live on land or in the sea. They have to decide which selection to take and the animals to paint. Such an activity calls for the children to collaborate and think about the animals they have seen either on television or their environment. Moreover, they have to be creative when drawing the animals. They also engage their body muscle and, in the process, improve their gross and fine motor skills.
In summary, play at early childhood helps in nurturing the child cognitive, social and physical abilities and positively contributes to their development into adulthood. It is therefore essential to have play included in the children learning-curriculum.
References
Ginsburg, K. R. (2007). The Importance of Play in Promoting Healthy Child Development and Maintaining Strong Parent-Child Bonds. Pediatrics, 119(1), 182-191.
Lall, J. C., & Lall, S. B. (2018). How to Make Your Child Smart and Intelligent? A Practical Guidance for Parents(1st ed.).
Theobald, M., Danby, S., Einarsdóttir, J., Bourne, J., Jones, D., Ross, S., … & Carter-Jones, C. (2015). Children’s Perspectives on Play and Learning for Educational Practice. Education Sciences, 5(4), 345-362.