A highly debated topic in early childhood education is the role of play in the classroom. Although early childhood educators understand the importance of incorporating play into a developmentally appropriate curriculum, many parents have a difficult time understanding why their child is "playing" in the classroom. Watch the video, titled The Role of Play in the Overly-Academic Classroom.
Now, imagine that you have recently had several families in your classroom ask you about why their child is playing in the classroom. You have decided to write a letter to the parents to help them understand why play has been incorporated into your classroom and how it is benefiting the development of their children. Please post your letter as your initial response to this discussion. Your letter should include the following:
- A description of why play is an important part of a developmentally appropriate curriculum. Be sure to support your statements with at least one scholarly source.
- An explanation of how play can help to support a child's physical, cognitive, and affective development.
- An example of one play-based activity that demonstrates to parents how play supports their child's development. For instance, you could explain how playing a game of hopscotch can help a child with their gross motor skills (physical development) and counting (cognitive development). Please make sure that your play-based activity is an original idea or that if you use an idea from an outside source it is properly formatted according to APA as outlined in the Ashford Writing Center. Also, this should be a brief description of an activity. It is not a lesson plan.