In the internet world, play time seems to be regarded as a thing of the past. It seems like everyone’s busy doing their own thing. The same is true in some household and schools. It can be easy to reject a child’s request to play. But for teachers of young learners, playing with these children can be a huge investment to help them gain success in the future.
Becoming socially and emotionally ready is a big indicator to predict success in the future. Many research showed that emotional, social, and behavioral competence in children can predict their performance in school and later on, in life. Developing these indicators can come easy just by spending time playing with them. When you show effort in playing games with children, they feel their importance to you and they feel you really care about them.
Children interact with you during play time. You have the opportunity to observe how they act and react to their playmates. You can assess whether they are developing good social and emotional skills real time during play. Their ability to follow instruction and observe basic rules all happen during a game. They are also able to learn how to cooperate and take turns.
Playing time also strengthen your bonding with your students. This helps you put insights and you are sure you are being listened to as you discuss with them because you have built relationships as you played with them.
The more interactive you are during playtime, the better. This is a golden opportunity to properly guide your students toward appropriate behavior and your chance to build a stronger and more effective teacher-student relationship with them.
References:
Berk, Laura E. (2009). Child development. Boston: Pearson Education/Allyn & Bacon.
Blades, Mark; Smith, Peter K.; Cowie, Helen (2011). Understanding Children’s Development. Wiley-Blackwell.
Honzik MP (1957). Developmental studies of parent-child resemblance in intelligence. Child development 28 (2): 215–228.
By: MARIA MAY S. FORIO | MT-I | BEPZ Elementary School | Mariveles, Bataan
