Learning Activities In Early Childhood
Parents intuitively know that playing is good for children, but we rarely associate playing with learning. It turns out that there are many benefits of playing.
For most people, learning means acquiring a specific skill, e.g. memorizing alphabets, counting, writing, etc., but playing is only for fun.
According to studies, playing is learning. It is not only fun, but also essential to a child’s growth and development.
Benefits Of Play
Play stimulates brain growth and enhances early development
Psychologist Edward Fisher analyzed 46 studies done on children’s play and found that play can enhance children’s early development. Such improvements ranging from 33% to 67% result from increase in children’s adjustment and language and decrease in their social and emotional problems.
How does playing create these benefits? Let’s take a look at one famous animal study for clues.
In 1949, psychologist Donald Hebb, also known as the father of neuropsychology, did the first “enrichment experiment” using rats. Many variations of this experiment were performed later to assess the impact of such environments on brain development.
In a typical enrichment experiment, rats are housed in two different environments — one filled with toys (enriched) while the other is not (impoverished). After living in the enriched environment, these rats’ brains become bigger and more active, particularly in the area associated with learning and memory.
We know that cardio exercise can lead to a bigger heart. In rats, play leads to a bigger brain. Play is like an exercise for the brain.
Play improves intelligence, learning and memory
Living in a stimulating environment makes rats smarter. A larger cerebral cortex in their brains allow them to learn faster and have better memory. They find their way through mazes or swim to safety faster.
Similar results have been found in experiments using other mammals such as birds, cats and monkeys.
The same experiment cannot be done on kids due to ethical reasons. So we cannot conclude that human brains respond to play in the same way. However, one research by University of Arkansas shows that offering toys in infancy leads to higher IQ at 3 years of age and again at 4.5 years. Play also links to various cognitive improvements that we will discuss below. It seems likely that human brains can benefit from playing in similar ways.
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