What Could Be Learned About Children's Development From Studying Their Play?

Children develop several skills while playing, including social skills by interacting with their peers during role-playing and cognitive skills during games such as hide and seek, building with blocks and shape sorting. Motor skills also develop when children play with a ball, use a jump rope or walk on a balance beam. Parents and caregivers can observe a significant amount of child development by observing play time.

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  1. Observing Development Through Watching Play

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      Through observing children at play, parents can observe cognitive development skills. According to the child development website Zero to Three, children develop cognitive skills pertaining to science and math through simple playing. For instance, water play teaches children what floats and what sinks. Building blocks teach children weight and balancing skills. According to Zero to Three, these are science and math concepts that illustrate cognitive development. Play that includes reading books, building blocks, and sand and water tables illustrate a child's cognitive development, and helps them build their cognition skills.

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      Physical development is observed through watching physical play. Two-year-old children will start to exhibit skills such as ladder climbing, one-footed balancing, and hopping, skipping and jumping, according to the Ask Dr. Sears website. These gross motor skills can be developed through practicing with games such as hopscotch, low balance beams and climbing the ladder to the playground slide. According to Ask Dr. Sears, a 2-year-old's fine motor skills include drawing shapes, stacking blocks and advanced coloring skills. As children develop those skills through practice, parents can observe the development of the child.

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      Sharing and cooperation are social development skills that can be seen around 3 years old, according to the Healthy Children website. At around 3 years old children, become aware of other people's feelings, and how they can influence feelings through actions. Healthy Children recommends encouraging cooperative play through teamwork activities. Children around 3 years of age will start to exhibit gender roles through their play. Through watching children participate in role-playing activities, adults can see what level their development is reaching. According to Healthy Children, look for girls playing with dolls in gentle, nurturing ways, and for boys taking more of a fatherly role in their play.

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