Playground Guide - 2020 - 16

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How Play Boosts Communication
and Literacy Skills in Children
guidance, " as noted above, could be paramount in children's understanding of relationships during role-play.
Props and objects: Using diﬀerent objects in role-play
permits children to practice vocabulary by identifying the
items they have in use. They may, for example, designate
a rock as a cellphone.
Roles and themes: Role-play creates the need for multiple roles and a main theme. Whether the game is doctor
or construction, children need to familiarize themselves
with industry language.
Pretend play: Pretend play launches children into an assortment of situations and scenarios that need language
to resolve. For instance, children will frequently narrate
their actions while playing.
Before children ever step into a school, they're introduced to their local playground. A playground can be a
child's ﬁrst encounter with the world and the children who
are a part of it. By interacting with others, children develop language skills. Keep reading to learn more.

Diﬀerent Types of Play
To understand how play beneﬁts language development, we
ﬁrst need to understand the diﬀerent types of play - free
play and guided play. Free play is what you would associate
with traditional outdoor play. It's unstructured, and children
choose to do so of their own free will. It promotes imaginative
minds and an enthusiasm for discovery amongst children.
Guided play focuses speciﬁcally on pre-determined
learning goals while maintaining the enjoyable aspects of
free play. Guided play allows for gentle adult guidance.
Together, both principles ensure that the child progresses
toward the learning goal.

Outdoor Play Aids Language Development
The importance of play for language development can't
be stressed enough. Communication development happens most eﬀectively during dramatic play. " Gentle adult

Parks & Recreation

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How to Encourage Pretend Play
Pretend play is composed of real-life representations
of everyday roles and relationships. Children have been
known to emulate various behaviors at the playground,
from reading a book bound together with leaves to playing doctor with a friend.
These activities, like building representative experiences through the creation of imaginary worlds, strengthen
children's visionary insight and forge meaning in the acts
for the children involved. Therefore, the symbolism involved in reading a book or playing doctor becomes more
than just pretend play. It serves as a bridge to literacy.

Learning Through Play at Your Playground
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Playground Guide - 2020

Table of Contents for the Digital Edition of Playground Guide - 2020