Play - the simplest and most effective method of learning

Child laughs: "The wisdom and my love is the game"

Young sings: "The game and my wisdom is love."

Old silent: "The love and my game is wisdom"

- Lucian Blaga "Three faces"

The most powerful and lasting knowledge is assimilated when we don’t make a goal of this. And the first age of early life this is what we are talking about. The easiest and best way is to play. Childhood games are full of lessons that we stored in ourselves. Education and psychology specialists argue that the most important characteristics on a human being are developed to 6 years. So, let’s take a look at the games of childhood and their benefits.

Indoor or outdoor, alone or with others, with toys or just in his imagination, quietly or in a hullabaloo indescribable, games have the greatest effect on children's learning: enabling children to discover things, to develop language, to get out of situations, to develop social and cognitive skills, develop emotionally, to take risks, to gain confidence, learn from mistakes, to rule and to obey certain rules, to think creatively and to implement their dreams. The game gives meaning to their world. Everyone needs a daily play time and a diversification game.

Probably we can’t aware of, but the simplest games of childhood develop in kid’s brain an automatism that will have a sense later. Take the “peek-a-boo” game. It is not only to make the child laugh or to hide. It is about cause and effect learning, about reaction time and imitation.

Therefore it is essential that sometimes – almost imperceptibly – adults have to expose children to as many gaming experiences in which they learn how to relate to the environment, with a situation, with a context and with people. They have to suggest activities that are based on knowledge gained till now and can add some new, with a more difficult level. The people around children and their environment (community, culture, society) have a great influence and dictate the direction of development.

In the book Einstein Never Used Flash Cards, five elements of children’s play are listed:

- Play must be pleasurable and enjoyable.
- Play must have no extrinsic goals; there is no prescribed learning that must occur.
- Play is spontaneous and voluntary.
- Play involves active engagement on the part of the player.
- Play involves an element of make-believe.

Other seven common features of the game are listed in Playing and Learning, by Beverlie Dietze and Diane Kashin: Play is active, child-initiated, process oriented, intrinsic, episodic, rule-governed, and symbolic.

The game is a serious thing. And so we must treat.