Children at 'Play' in a Local Playground

¶ … Children at 'Play' in a local playground Observing young children in a playground offers a rich array of different stages of children, at varying levels of personal and developmental maturity. For instance, children at very young stages of development still cling to their mothers, while older children may resist overly attentive parental involvement, and seek to play upon age-inappropriate equipment, like high monkey bars or more grown up swings, in mimicry of other children, rather than merely modeling or observing parental behavior.

This behavior may seem, upon reviewing different stages of childhood development to confirm the maturationist theory of childhood development, as advocated by the work of Arnold Gessell, whereby "development is a biological process that occurs automatically in predictable, sequential stages over time." In other words, children will instinctively model parents at young ages, and model other children at older ages, and then individually split off into age appropriate groups to play when capable of befriending other children and taking a social interest in the world of others as different entities, rather than only referring to themselves, and concentrating on themselves.

This was evident in one corner of the room, where a group of girls were engaged in giggling and play that involved mainly talking, rather than using the equipment. (CREL, 2004) Other theories of leaning were in evidence, however, as a child and his father, were engaged in more serious 'learning' than play, as the child practiced throwing a football back and forth.

"Many environmentalist-influenced educators and parents believe that young children learn best by rote activities, such as reciting the alphabet over and over, copying letters, and tracing numbers." (CREL, 2004) Such learning, even in physical play takes place by active repetition, as well as by mere observation, especially with skill-based activities, such as games, rather than more instinctive or social orientations.

Of course, the most famous learning theory currently employed by educators is that of Piaget, "the constructivist perspective of readiness and development" which stresses that children will learn when biologically capable of doing so in the cognitive structures of their minds. The American Academy of Pediatrics has criticized 'pushing' students before they are developmentally ready to complete certain activities, and it is interesting to note that on the playground fields where students were engaged in more socially.