Early Childhood Education Supporting Childrens Resilience

Question: Discuss about theEarly Childhood Educationfor Supporting Childrens Resilience. Answer: Part A Mildred Parten (1932) indicated in her study that when the young children are involved in an active playtime with fellow children, they learn how to interact with others, share things, cooperate, and also they learn how to make friends. The author observed that these phases of children play often correspond with the childrens ages especially from infants to five years old (Parten, 1932). The two most important phases of play which the children of ages 0-3 years can be involved in are the unoccupied play and solitary play. Unoccupied Play This phase of play is where the child is not necessarily actively involved or engaged in playing with other kids or in any play. In this phase of play, the child is often stationary and watches what the others are doing and any other thing that is happening around them (Kangas, Venninen, Ojala, 2016). In other instances, the child can be engaged in some random movements momentarily with no particular objective. This phase of play is especially common for infants and newborns that range between 0 to 2 years of age, and it forms a vital base for the future development of the child and his/her exploration of play (Parten, 1932). Solitary Play Solitary play is the second phase of play among children and is mostly common among the children between the ages of 2 and 3 years. In this phase of play, the child is often fond of playing alone independently with no interest in engaging in what the children around are doing. The child involved in this phase of play usually use toys that are different with those used with other kids within speaking distance, but they make no effort to try and get involved with the others or their toys (Parten, 1932). These children often pursue their personal agenda when playing and make no reference to others around. Despite the fact that this phase is prevalent among toddlers of between 2 and 3 years, it is also applicable to children of other age groups as it teaches the children how to be able to entertain themselves and to be independent (Tayler, 2016). This phase of play is common in the early stages of children because most the cognitive abilities, social and physical skills of the children a re still not fully developed to influence their interactions. Part B Unoccupied Behavior As aforementioned, in this phase of play, the child is not engaged in any form of active play. The child watches anything that is happening that of momentary interest and in cases when what is happening is of no interest to the child; the child gets engaged with her/his self. Children can get on and off chairs that are around, follow their parents or teachers around the room or sometimes the children can just sit at one particular point in the room and glance around (Jera Meko, 2015). As noted by Archdall and Kilderry (2016), at this phase of play, the child moves her/his body with no purpose but just to feel good and interesting and at this period, the child is free to move, think and make imaginations of things in their environment. Everything at this phase in a childs life is new, and the childs playtime does not require the organization of toys or other playing dolls. During this phase, a parent can just place the baby in things such as a fleecy monkey pillow and allow the child to play by kicking around in the air. In other instances, it is advisable just to let the child be and carry himself/herself around the house doing what makes him feel good. Further, Smirnova and Gudareva (2015) pointed out that in this phase of play, small objects play a critical role in the child and they makes the child be filled with wonders in trying to imagine the things around them. For effectiveness, therefore, parents and teachers should use objects that have lots of texture and variety of colors as these entices the children and gives them joy. Things with bright lights and astonishing noises should, however, be avoided as they can disconcert little children and make them uncooperative. The nature of this phase can also be characterized by singing to infants soft sweet songs, snuggling their tummy, moving around their hands and feet. The feeling accompanied by these activities makes the children smile, coo, and laugh. At this young age, infants have a good feeling when they are just held and talked to softly (Garvis Pendergast, 2015). Solitary Play Children between the ages of 2 and 3 are often fond of playing alone due to various reasons, and this phase of play is regarded as vital in the development of a childs play behavior. Play provides children with the opportunity of learning and therefore before they engage in group play, they tend to play alone to learn how to form relationships (Hilado et al., 2011). Solitary play gives children time to explore, think and create. There exist various forms of solitary play, and these do not indicate that a child is unsociable. Solitary behaviors can include a child sitting alone in the corner of a room making a drawing of something with crayons. From observation, such a child will appear to be very absorbed in whatever he/she is drawing and quite contented with playing alone without interference from others (Jera Meko, 2015). In this instance, the child can be considered to be enjoying himself/herself by being alone as this gives a good opportunity to be creative. Moreover, this kind of behavior helps the child to develop the ability of abstract thinking and language which are vital in cognitive development. Another instance of solitary play can be expressed by a child standing alone at one side of the wall in a room counting layers of stones while at the same time, one eye watches other groups of children playing joyfully together. Despite the fact that such a child has the desire to join the other groups; the child makes no attempt to do so and continues playing alone (Hilado et al., 2011). This kind of behavior can be associated with the fact that the child is reluctant to join the others maybe because they feel insecure especially if the other children are strangers. Such a child can also be viewed as suffering from poor social skills as a result of raised levels of stress hormone cortisol (Gregorc Meko, 2016); since the child has the desire to join the group but is unable to make an attempt. References Archdall, K., Kilderry, A. (2016). Supporting children's resilience: Early childhood educator understandings, Australasian Journal of Early Childhood, 41(3), 58-65. Garvis, S., Pendergast, D. (2015). What do early childhood teacher graduands say about working with infants and toddlers?: An exploratory investigation of perceptions, Australasian Journal of Early Childhood, 40(4), 104-111. Gregorc, J., Meko, M. (2016). The Concept "Play - Physical Activity - Development" as a Response to the Contemporary Teaching Methods in Preschool Education, Research in Kinesiology, 44(1), 19-25. Hilado, A. a., Kallemeyn, L. l., Leow, C. c., Lundy, M. m., Israel, M. m. (2011). Supporting Child Welfare and Parent Involvement in Preschool Programs, Early Childhood Education Journal, 39(5), 343-353. Jera, G., Meko, M. (2015). Analysis of the Possibility of Disseminating the 'Game-Movement-Development' Approach in Early Childhood Education, Polish Journal of Sport Tourism, 22(3), 182-188. Kangas, J., Venninen, T., Ojala, M. (2016). Educators' perceptions of facilitating children's participation in early childhood education, Australasian Journal of Early Childhood, 41(2), 85 94. Parten, M. B. (1932). Social participation among pre-school children, The Journal of Abnormal and Social Psychology, 27(3), 243. Smirnova, E., Gudareva, O. (2015). Play and Intentionality among Today's Preschoolers, Journal of Russian East European Psychology, 52(4), 1-20. doi:10.1080/10610405.2015.1184891 Tayler, C. (2016). Reforming Australian early childhood education and care provision (2009-2015). Australasian Journal of Early Childhood, 41(2), 27-31.