Title: Observation of playground play during elementary school recess

By: William V. Massey, Byungmo Ku, and Megan B. Stellino

In this article it speaks about the effects of recess/playground play on children's physical and social development. Therefore, an experiment was driven between intervention schools and non intervention schools. 236 different recess sessions across 26 elementary schools. "On average, 65 children were present at each recess session, resulting in approximately 16,150 individual observations". In which in this case it meant that the sample size qualified to correspond to the data accurately. Not to mention that it included the opportunity to have a more variety of a diversity amongst the kids and the environment. For the results to be more affective and personalized, they tested both genders to see the difference between the development and motivations given to both to create a healthy and beneficial form of play.

The results show that the different forms of play include, playing with equipment, organized sports and activities, traditional playground games, nature, and rough and tumble play. For which it was shown that boys carry higher levels of interest in organized sports and activities. Whereas compared to girls that consider recess as a time to participate in sedentary related social activity. Although both show that children in recess with no intervention engaged in playing on equipment in active play and anti-social behaviors significantly less. Concluding to the simple fact that if there's a lack of shaped and various patterns involved to their form of play, then it is likely that more sporadic behaviors can occur/presented.

Massey, W.V., Ku, B. & Stellino, M.B. Observations of playground play during elementary school recess. BMC Res Notes 11, 755 (2018) doi:10.1186/s13104-018-3861-0

Understanding Nonsocial Play in Early Childhood

          For many years it was thought that children who partake in nonsocial play would lead to a downfall in their development, but researchers have proven that there are positives to this sort of play.
Nonsocial play generally means that children do not interact with other children or don't occupy themselves with any kind of activity. There are only two types of nonsocial play, solitary play and reticent. There is a difference between the two types of play. Solitary play takes the lead as being the healthier nonsocial play, while reticent may lead to harm and intervention. Solitary constructive play includes artwork, and building with puzzles and blocks. This is healthy because it's directed to a more educational approach as well as allowing the child to be independent. Reticent play must be look out for because children are not invested in any type of play. They might be doing absolutely nothing or watching other children playing. This is bad because it shows that the child is not focused on themselves.

          Some children might play by themselves because they're more productive when they're on their own. This might also be a time for self evaluation; essential their emotions and innermost feelings. Children also play by themselves because they have distanced away from a play group due to anxiousness or shyness. Children who have this problem of being anxious and shy may eventually grow out of it. Sometimes it can lead to depression or anxiety in the long run. Guardians and caregivers should feel relieved if their child is benefitting from nonsocial play, but must look out for red flags and sense that their child is maladjusted.

Luckey, Alicia J, and Richard A Fabes. “Understanding Nonsocial Play in Early Childhood.” Http://LIB.UCONN.edu, 2 Oct. 2005, web-a-ebscohost-com.ezproxy.lib.uconn.edu.

Free choice and free play  in early early  childhood education: troubling the discourse

 Elizabeth Ann  Wood
Play is the most important activity for a child. Through play he develops social, emotional and cognitive skills. The value of play is recognised by researchers because of the intellectual achievement and emotional well-being. From all types of play, unfortunately, free play is the least used in the daily program in kindergartens and primary schools in most of the European countries. When the child is free to play, he develops all his personality traits during it. He learns how to communicate with peers, to act or react in different situations, to respect some rules, etc. All these reasons determined us to study the most important theoretical approaches and data about free play and to initiate a theoretical study concerning a critical analysis of using free play in early childhood and primary school education in Romania. The aims of the study were to define and to list some of the most important characteristics of free play, to highlight the advantages and limits of this type of play and to encourage practitioners to use it in their educational program in kindergartens and primary schools. Even if there are a lot of benefits of free play, and children enjoy it, this type of play has been replaced with structured activities, based on teaching. All these, due to the fact that in preschool, teachers have to prepare children for school requirements, providing academic skills.power and interests are exercised or marginalised, specially in relation to power relationships between children, and between children and adults (blaise and Ryan 2012)

Music Therapy Engages children with Autism in outdoor play

The article Music Therapy Engages Children With Autism In Outdoor Play it talks about how children with autism and how music encourages them in outdoor play. in a study evaluation with 4 preschoolers with autism, researches developed an outdoor music center. where they could go and play with the musical instruments and the leader would compose a song. the article states that the music hut initiated play between two children with autism. prior to the intervention, all four boys had little interaction with their peers. Eric ranged from 0 to 18 percent positive peer interactions during a 10 minute daily observation time. Ben (a second child with autism) ranged from 0 to 13 percent. this shows how after music time in the music hut helped them improve their score. once it was introduced most kids experienced a slight increase in interactions. after the teacher became involved in the playtime the interactions jumped higher for Eric and Ben. Eric's score ranged from 33 percent to 68 percent. And Ben's score ranged from 53 percent to 93 percent. It shows how the Music hut helped improve the scores for the kid's interactions on the playground.

In my own words, I feel that music can be a big part of someone's life, it can be a mood booster or a stress reliever. But to see it being used for autistic children is something that just warms my heart. I wouldn't imagine that music would be something that would give them a good boost of interactions with other kids on the playground. I personally am always listening to music I always have the headphones in and it is something that helps me have a better day when things have gone south. I can say music has helped me find an escape to whatever I am feeling. And I can imagine how excited these children must have been playing with instruments and singing along. In conclusion, I'd like to say that I've seen music affect kids in many ways, but I never imagined it to be this powerful.

References

FPG Child Development Institute. (2007). Music Therapy Engages Children with Autism in Outdoor Play. FPG Snapshot. Number 39, February 2007. FPG Child Development Institute. Retrieved from https://search-ebscohost-com.ezproxy.lib.uconn.edu/login.aspx?direct=true&db=eric&AN=ED496633&site=ehost-live

The Center for Early Education and Development

The center for early education and development was built as a result of a budgetary retrenchment and funding relocation organized by the college of education in 1972. CEED was created to fulfill a mission. CEED is an academic unit and its structure is to encourage individuals to play in activities on a short term basis connected to their interests and availability. CEED works with a sponsorship to for education development for professionals who have a high involvement  on programs for young children. These young children have little exposure to child development research as part of their basic disciplinary training. To put the cause CEED to work, the dean allocated funds and convened a planning committee that met regularly throughout 1972-1973 from academic year. The goals of CEED is putting meat on the bones, the center coordinated training in early childhood education for campus students. The fields related of early childhood education in development and psychology.

Creating a unified vision for play-leaving a legacy

    Having a nice place in your community can affect yourself and your neighbors in a positive way. Even your pets can benefit in having a nice park to go to. A park for all. In the article 'Creating a unified vision for play-leaving a legacy' it states,  "local philanthropy strengthens community health, economy, environment and civic vitality." Using children to help build a place for them to play will insure that it will be fun. This will keep kids off their electronic devices, and more focused on the world around them. Having them even get their hands a little dirty, and help build the park themselves will teach them responsibilities and they will feel more accomplished from the work they've done. Inclusive play will allow kids with disabilities to also enjoy the playground as well. Play will help with socializing between kids, parents  and even pets.  Another benefit of this addition to the community is it will lead people to exercise and spend quality time with their loved ones. Spending time in the outdoors can help you mentally and physically, having a park in your community can bring you and your neighbors together.

The effects of different pedagogical approaches o the learning of length measurement in kindergarten 
Donna Kotsopoulos, Samantha Makosz, Joanna Zambrzycka, Katharine McCarthy

We gonna see pedagogical approaches of guided instruction, center-based learning, and free exploration in the context of a play. Early mathematics learning appears to be particularly advantageous to a child's future success in mathematics. Children were expected to "measure and compare length of objects/materials, and the passage of time, using non-standard and standard units, through free exploration, focused exploration, and guided activity". Teachers use measurement tasks can involve precise measurements using various units of measurement or the visual perceptual comparison of the relative lengths of two objects to determine which is longer or shorter. In recent research shows that the majority of young children come to school already knowing how to use rulers and with some understanding of the unit representation on rulers (Mac-Donald and Lowrie 2011). Center-based learning is based upon a constructivist theory where children's discovery is facilitated through well-designed learning tasks (Clements and Battista 1990; Cobb and Yackel 1996). Children were asked to create a worm using modelling clay, children were introduced to 30cm rulers, the concept of using body parts to measure was introduced as well as the 100cm measuring stick. 

child development

To Play or Not to Play: Diverse Motives for Latino and Euro‐American Parent–Child Play in a Children's Museum

Summary

There has been a continued study on the long term effects of child and parent interaction. Play is an important factor for child development and parent involvement helps learning potential. Past research concluded that parents who halve this view of play are more likely to play with their children than those who do not. This study investigated the prevalence of this view among Euro‐American and immigrant Latino parents of young children in order to illuminate the extent to which it uniquely and uniformly motivates parent-child play. Parents' models of play were assessed through interviews and naturalistic observations in a children's museum. The analysis revealed ethnic groups interacted less with their children when playing. It also revealed 56% of Latino parents attributed learning to play while 71% of Euro-American parents affirmed children learning through play. Both Latino and Euro-American parents incorporated didactic content when playing with their children. Within‐group analysis, however, revealed diversity in the ways that these play behaviors and beliefs came together to comprise parents' models of play. Discussion focuses on the social nature of play, the dynamic nature of culture, and the issue of individual subject validity.

Shows frequency of Latino and Euro‐American parents' beliefs about whether and how their child learned in the museum.

Citation: To Play or Not to Play: Diverse Motives for Latino and Euro‐American
Parent–Child Play in a Children's MuseumDibianca Fasoli, AllisonInfant
and Child Development, November 2014, Vol.23(6), pp.605-621

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