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The five domains of development for children are social, emotional, physical, cognitive, and language. Creative play helps children form skills in each domain in a fun, exploratory way. Children develop social skills through play with caregivers and peers. When children play with others around them, this connection allows them to "...form early friendships" (Importance of play in early childhood, 2024). When children are able to interact with those around them they begin to communication with gestures and language. This helps them engage with the other person and share ideas. Children learn about when using certain terms is appropriate and necessary. By interacting with objects, they will start to learn the names for them. This helps their vocabulary development. Also while interacting with other children, they will learn how to self regulate their emotions. Often there are issues that present themselves during the play, and the children must communicate well to solve the problem. The children will learn to be patient and take turns listening. The article, Importance of play in early childhood, added that "sometimes kids can work these differences out without help" (2024), but other times an adult must interfere to teach them appropriate ways to react. Children will often result to crying or violence, like throwing toys, when stressed out during play, but the adult can show the child to use cognitive skills to problem solve instead. Cognitive skills are used during play to try different approaches and find one that works. The children will have to think in various ways of how they want the play situation can go, and how they will make it happen. When there is a problem that stumps them, they must alter their original idea. Play can also incorporate fun math skills by adding or subtracting materials or people on teams, reading skills for labels, science when creating new materials, and more. Play can use small movements, or larger movements like in rough and tumble play. Children will develop fine motor skills to pick up toys and move them to a specific area. They can also develop fine motor skills with writing to create materials for a game. The children will develop gross motor skills by running around and making large movements. Overall, play is a great way for children to progress all areas of development in a less academically focused way.

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5 Senses involvement in Children's Learning

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5 Senses involvement in Children's Learning

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The five senses for humans are sight, smell, touch, hearing, and taste. They are an extremely helpful tool for children to use when exploring the world around them. Each sense allows them to understand and learn more. The 5 senses for kids Foundation states: "We are connected to the world through our senses" (2024). For babies and young children, they receive stimuli about their environment because they truly understand the concepts about them. They can tell how something feels, looks, or sounds before they can even understand how to describe it. This helps them build the first stages of learning about their environment and others.

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Sensory Development through Creative Play

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Sensory Development through Creative Play

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Creative play allows children to develop connections in their brain which can promote their thinking ability. When children can think on their own, they can try to explore independently and be exposed to new learning opportunities. During play, children will touch objects and examine their attributes. They can feel the texture through touch and determine its shape and coloring with sight. Children can also shake an object or hit it off of things to hear a noise. Babies often explore objects by placing them in their mouth using taste. When children also smell objects, they can relate the scent to a specific area or person. Overall, the 5 senses allow children to learn move about the environment and people around them which is crucial for developmental skills.

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U.S Department of Health & Human Services. (2024, April 1). Importance of play in early childhood. ECLKC. https://eclkc.ohs.acf.hhs.gov/curriculum/article/importance-play-early-childhood#:~:text=Many%20child%20development%20experts%20believe,problem%20solving%2C%20and%20their%20bodies.

5 senses for kids Foundation. (2022, July 29). Why is important to develop 5 senses for a child? https://5senses4kids.org/en/why-develop-your-senses/

Subramani, A. (2023, February 6). Exploring the benefits of sensory play for children. Only About Children. https://www.oac.edu.au/news-views/sensory-play/

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This resource is written by a professor at Rasmussen University that has over 30 years of experience, and has 3 degrees. The article explains basic aspects that can be beneficial for incorporated for play based learning. The article gives 5 steps to reach this goal. The article also gives examples of play based learning for different developmental areas like math, fine motor skills, language development, and social play. Specific ideas include: children exploring patterns by clapping and snapping, develop writing skills while using chalk, and developing fine and gross motor skills with obstacle courses and playing with objects. The examples range from implementation with 8 months to kindergarteners. The article also gives examples of how you can alter your classroom environment to benefit creative play like providing dramatic and sensory play areas. Lastly, this article gives ideas of how teachers can help families learn about child development, so they can further their child's progress outside of the classroom environment.

https://www.rasmussen.edu/degrees/education/blog/how-to-add-play-based-learning-activities-to-your-early-childhood-curriculum/

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How to Add Play-Based Learning Activities to Your Early Childhood Curriculum

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Kids love to play. You’d be surprised at how much thought goes into play based learning activities that fit each child. There’s reason for that.

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This resource is written by a team from Harvard Graduate School of Education’s Project Zero (PZ) and other collaborators. The resource talks about the book A Pedagogy of Play, and the main patterns they found about play based learning through their research for this book. The resource emphasizes that playful learning can be incorporated various academic areas for children in K-12. Specific academic areas addressed in this resource are science, writing, reading, and math. The source describes how playful learning can be shown through exploring, guiding their own learning, and finding joy in their learning. The researchers found 5 basic patterns about the ways educators can incorporate playful learning in their classroom. The basic patterns found that student guided learning, collaboration, risk-taking, use of imagination, and developing emotions are all helpful to support play in the classroom. Specific ideas include role-playing when reading stories and give students decision making opportunities during the morning meeting.

https://www.gse.harvard.edu/ideas/usable-knowledge/23/05/embracing-learning-through-play

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While learning through play may seem appropriate in early childhood, the idea that it could be part of the fabric of daily life in K-12 classrooms and schools may sound like a radical idea. After all, school kids typically enjoy playing during recess - not while there is serious academic work to be done.

The authors of a new book say the traditional view of play and learning is a "false dichotomy" and that relegating play to the sidelines in schools is a mistake. Learning is helped by "experiences that are playful - that are joyful, meaningful, actively engaging, iterative, and socially interactive," and school really can be enjoyable they explain in A Pedagogy of Play - Supporting Playful Learning in Classrooms and Schools. The user-friendly book is the result of eight years of research led by a team at the Harvard Graduate School of Education's Project Zero (PZ), in collaboration with the LEGO Foundation and educators at schools in Denmark, South Africa, Colombia, and the United States.

What does playful learning look like?

Playful learning is influenced by different cultures but A Pedagogy of Play co-author Jen Ryan, senior project manager at PZ, says certain patterns emerged across the countries they researched.

When playful learning is embraced in schools, students are given opportunities to:

Explore the unknown and "to find wonder - to be curious and to find meaning in their learning," explains Ryan.

Lead their own learning, make choices, and have ownership and empowerment.

Find joy in their learning, and experience feelings of enjoyment and delight.

The researchers offer five ways educators can support playful learning in their classrooms:
1. Empower students to guide their own learning.

Get to know kids' interests, strengths, and what they can contribute to the class. The more you understand your students, the more you can make meaningful connections between their lives and the curriculum.

Share decision-making responsibilities with students such as arranging the morning meeting, schedule, or classroom space to help them feel a sense of ownership of their learning.

Allow time for students to reflect on the new things they have learned or discovered. Play should be used with a purpose and help with learning goals.

2. Create a culture of collaborative learning together.

Build up relationships through play and look for ways for learners to connect to each other.

Build knowledge together through purposeful conversations. Check out Project Zero's Thinking Routine Toolbox for help.

Encourage a culture of feedback in the classroom where students can hear different perspectives about their schoolwork, including from peers. You can also ask students to lead feedback sessions and the Ladder of Feedback tool can help with the process. The authors suggest creating group norms for any comments such as "Be kind, be specific, and be helpful."

3. Encourage risk-taking and experimentation.

Lead kids in open-ended investigations with no "correct answers" to help them get more comfortable with the unknown. Explore the Selecting and Facilitating a Design Challenge and more resources via PZ's "For Educators" tab on the Pedagogy of Play website.

Model the learning that you want to see and be open to exploring something new with your students where you don't already know the answers. "The more we as adults can model for students what [experimenting] looks like and are transparent in our own vulnerabilities as educators, the easier it is for students to see that it's okay to do that," says Ryan. "There's a lot of learning that comes out of trying things, making mistakes, learning from those mistakes and moving forward."

4. Promote imaginative thinking.

Invite children to share stories and listen to other people's stories. For high school students, look at the Storytelling and Story Acting for Older Learners tool. Role-playing can be helpful too. Consider dressing up as a story book character yourself.

Pose questions that encourage curiosity and wonder. You might ask, "What have you noticed about the moon?" versus "What are the phases of the moon?"

Engage the senses and the body. Get creative - you don't need a ton of resources to promote playful learning. Ryan explains how, during a science lesson on plants in one of the schools in South Africa the researchers partnered with, a teacher encouraged her students to go outside to explore, search, and discover their own plants to bring back into the classroom to study.

5. Accept the different emotions that play can create.

Design joyful learning experiences. The PZ team suggests introducing an element of surprise - for example, you could begin a lesson without words, put a riddle up on the wall for students to solve, or turn your classroom into a "courtroom" or "café."

Use play to investigate complex issues. If kids are hesitant to talk about a challenging topic, use a playful strategy to introduce it. One of the ideas the authors suggest is to ask students to jot down their ideas or questions on slips of paper, crumble them up, and toss them around the classroom. Afterwards, the learners can discuss the comments in pairs or groups.

Help students work through any frustrations. Playful learning isn't the same as free play and can involve challenging moments, including having to negotiate or compromise with classmates. Be sure to celebrate when students successfully meet challenges or overcome frustrations.

The researchers invite educators to explore what playful learning might look like in their own communities, with the help of a Playful Learning Indicator Guide, and to document their experiences and processes in order to make them visible to others and enhance future student learning. A Pedagogy of Play also includes a chapter on what administrators, school leaders, and teachers can do to build a schoolwide culture of playful learning.

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A new book encourages playful learning in classrooms - for all ages

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This source, written by AbleSpace, gives criteria on you can implement play based learning in a classroom for children of all ages with special needs. The article states 4 principles of play based learning, and 4 ways to design play based activities for special education. There are also 6 ideas for how teachers can adjust the classroom so it promotes play based learning. Some ideas include multi-sensory experiences and visual supports. Lastly, the article gives an example of a real life success story from New Zealand of the implementation of playful learning in a special education classroom.

https://www.ablespace.io/blog/guide-to-play-based-curriculum-for-special-needs-children/

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Teacher’s Guide to Play-Based Curriculum for Special Needs Kids

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Teachers can maximize the learning potential of special needs children through interactive and fun educational approaches.

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This resource addresses why play based learning is important, specifically for students with special needs. It gives versatile examples of how play based learning can be implemented within a classroom, and how it will help children with special needs develop in different areas. Specifically, play based learning is very helpful for communication and motor skills. Students with speech and language impairments can practice using vocabulary in practical scenarios using play. Also, play that helps develop motor skills can be adapted to each child's needs. An example of this would be using pencil grips to help children hold their pencils if they struggle with fine motor movements. Overall, this resource can be helpful for teachers to learn more about implementation of play with students who have special needs.

https://kidsandcochildcare.com.au/blog/using-play-based-learning-activities-to-support-special-needs-students/

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Using Play-Based Learning Activities to Support Special Needs Students

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Learn how play-based learning activities can be effective tools to support the learning requirements of special needs students. Click here to explore!