Let’s Play! Using Play to Build Language Skills in Young Children Katie Swart, Ph.D. June 13, 2019 Early Childhood Summit

What are your experiences with play? Who is in the room? What are your experiences with play? Think of a time as a young child when you were engaged in play… Who did you play with? What did you play? What materials did you use? Where did this take place? When did it occur? How long did it go on? How did it make you feel?

Power of Play Play… Exploratory play can help with development of: Is the most developmentally appropriate way for young children to learn Is not academic work but spontaneous, creative activity Should be fun and internally motivating! Can facilitate a child’s ability to increase: Verbalizations Vocabulary development Language comprehension Exploratory play can help with development of: Academic language and vocabulary Categorization Numeracy (Myck-Wayne, 2010)

Mildred Parten’s 6 Stages of Play Unoccupied: child is not playing, shows little interest in long- term attention to any one activity Onlooker: observes other children, and verbally interacts but does not participate in play Solitary: plays alone, independent of other children; uses materials differently than others (Parten, 1932)

Mildred Parten’s 6 Stages of Play Parallel: plays independently but with other children Associative: everyone playing is participating in a similar way. Materials are the common interest. Cooperative: participating in a common goal. One or two leaders control group activities and different roles and responsibilities are delegated. (Parten, 1932)

A little food for thought… It is rare to find a toy that inspires high quality play for ALL children at the SAME time. How children play with toys is influenced by age, gender, culture, & SES. Play styles and toy preferences may be shaped by their families’ cultural beliefs. A toy that is novel and engaging to one child with one set of experiences may be less inspiring to a child with different experiences. Open-ended toys that lead to high quality play contribute more to academic outcomes than educational toys. (Trawick-Smith et al., 2014)

Criteria for Selecting Materials Developmentally Appropriate Active Open-ended Give feedback Multipurpose Safe and durable Nonsexist, nonracial Variety Duplicate Real-life Attractive

Loose Parts As a definition: Invite conversations and interactions Alluring, beautiful found objects and materials that children can move, manipulate, control, and change while they play. No specific set of directions Used alone or combined with other materials Can be turned into whatever the child desires Invite conversations and interactions Encourage collaboration and cooperation Promote social competence by supporting creativity and innovation (Daly & Beloglovsky, 2015)

See the display for more examples!

What can you do to help your child talk more and use new words? Follow the child’s lead… Comment and wait. Ask questions and wait. Respond by adding a little more. **And don’t forget to wait! Give your child time to talk. (Cole et al., 2006)

Take a peek at the Butterfly's week! Check these out! ECDC at the College of Charleston YouTube Page ECDC at the College of Charleston Facebook Page

A time for questions and conversation A time for questions and conversation! Please feel free to explore the materials and….PLAY!

References Cole, K., Maddox, M., Lim, S. Y., & Notari-Syverson, A. (2006). Language is the key: A program for building language and literacy. “Talking and books,” and “talking and play” resource guide. Washington Research Institute, Seattle, WA. Daily, L. & Beloglovsky, M. (2015). Loose parts: Inspiring play in young children. Red Leaf Press, St. Paul, MN. Myck-Wayne, J. (2010). In defense of play: Beginning the dialog about the power of play. Young Exceptional Children, 13, 14-23. Parten, M (1932). Social participation among preschool children. Journal of Abnormal and Social Psychology. Trawick-Smith, J., Wolff, J., Koschel, M., & Vallarelli, J. (2014). Which toys promote high-quality play? Reflections on the five-year anniversary on the TIMPANI study. Young Children, 69, 40-47.