The First 2 Years of Life: A Developmental Psychology Orientation to Child Development and Play
Recently considerable interest and research has focused on the content and the development of play in infants, toddlers and young children (Branscomb & Ethridge (2010) J Early Child Teach Educ 31(3):207–221; Jung (2013) Early Child Res Q 28:187–198).
- PDF / 317,724 Bytes
- 21 Pages / 439.37 x 666.142 pts Page_size
- 42 Downloads / 160 Views
The First 2 Years of Life: A Developmental Psychology Orientation to Child Development and Play Kathleen Tait Abstract Recently considerable interest and research has focused on the content and the development of play in infants, toddlers and young children (Branscomb & Ethridge (2010) J Early Child Teach Educ 31(3):207–221; Jung (2013) Early Child Res Q 28:187–198). As one of the few areas that can be reliably and validly observed in children aged from birth to 2 years, collected data can provide evidence to guide and justify play assessment and intervention efforts. This chapter reviews forms of play that usually emerge within the first 2 years of life, collating the available empirical research on this topic in typical infants from a developmental psychological perspective. Consequently, it will not discuss later forms of play, such as games with rules or sociodramatic play, as these skills are known to develop in children older than 24 months. This chapter begins with a section that considers the empirical evidence relating to early solitary object exploration and functional play. The next section examines the social focus of play, investigating the various forms of adult-infant play; readers are also offered suggestions for research and practice on the basis of the material reviewed. It is hoped that the information contained in this chapter will inform early childhood educators and classroom assistants about the complexity of infant play skill development and infant-adult early play engagement. Early childhood teachers will find this information useful regarding expectations for infants engaged in early play.
3.1 T he Essential Characteristics of Play: A Developmental Psychology Perspective In early childhood education, there has been a strong agreement among educators and researchers that children learn and grow through play (Casby, 2003). Although several developmental theorists (such as Vygotsky, 1966; Werner & Kaplan, 1963) K. Tait (*) Macquarie University, Sydney, NSW, Australia e-mail: [email protected] © Springer Nature Singapore Pte Ltd. 2017 S. Lynch et al. (eds.), Multidisciplinary Perspectives on Play from Birth and Beyond, International Perspectives on Early Childhood Education and Development 18, DOI 10.1007/978-981-10-2643-0_3
39
40
K. Tait
have been interested in young children’s play, much contemporary work on this subject has been based on the work of Piaget ([1945b]1951). Historically, psychologists have attributed great importance to the role of early play and exploration in promoting the cognitive, physical, social and emotional development and wellbeing of children and youth (Bruner, 1972; Fenson & Kagan, 1976; Piaget, 1952[1974]), and despite the many explanations and definitions of play, applied to the early infancy period (birth to 2 years) being especially amorphous, there has been a unanimous agreement among educators and researchers that all children learn and grow from play (Fromberg, 2002; Wood & Attfield, 2005). Nind, Flewitt and Theodorou (2014) recently defined
Data Loading...
