|
How fantasy contributes to development.
In make-believe plays, young children are engaged longer, more involved, more cooperative, and attract more participants compared to non-pretend activities like putting puzzles or drawing. It is not surprising to see pre-schoolers who has engaged in more social plays to be judged more competent by teachers than those children who did less fantasy activities. Make-believe plays promote many social and cognitive skills which lead to a better child behavior.
Before a child can do anything he should first pay attention. Paying attention is so important in completing the task at hand. Toddlers and pre-schoolers pay attention much better during make-believe activities which actually consumes most of their time. Play and make-believe is their daily “work.” Paying attention is age dependent as shown by the research of psychologist Holly Ruff and her group. They sat 1 to 2-year-olds and pre-schoolers near a table with toys. Ruff found that 1 to 2-years old play with a toy for a short time and dropped it and turned to another. Their attention is controlled by the physical qualities of the objects. They touch and held one toy then to another and lost interest as their make-believe goes along. However, when they started setting goals in play, their attention changed. They fixed their eyes on the toys and had a determined faces.
Improve memory is a positive consequence make believe plays. Young children remember facts and information better in a play context compared information that is mentioned to them without every day life use. Researcher compared one group of 4 and 5 year olds to play with a set of toys. Another group of similar age were shown the same toys, did not play with it, but requested to remember the name of the toys. The group that played with the toys had a better recall of the toys. The “play group” children had more spontaneous make-believe script like pretending to brush the teeth of a doll or giving the doll some milk. However, the “remember group” and no play just touched the toys and did not have any chance of making the toys do pretend actions.
One advantage of make-believe plays in improving memory is natural tendency of children to make up scripts of storytelling. They develop scenarios with characters, settings, and plot sequences that might included adventure, conflict, and resolution.
Leo Leonidas, MD, FAAP
|
|
