Play at this stage is basically "play" in the general sense, that is, children play and learn spontaneously. This "game" is controlled by children, starting, developing and ending with children's interests. In the process of playing, children will spontaneously observe, imagine, investigate, experiment and create, which are very effective learning. The responsibility of adults is limited to ensuring the physical and mental safety of children, and should not interfere with children too much.
The younger children (especially before the age of two), the more they need to rely on sensory experience rather than rational thinking to understand the world, and the higher the proportion of spontaneous play. On the premise of ensuring the safety of children and the normal operation of the family, adults should allow a certain degree of "dirty" and "chaos" and encourage children to actively participate in games with their eyes, ears, tongue, hands and nose.
In the process of children's "playing middle school", there is a common misunderstanding, that is, when children are particularly interested in certain activities, adults will ignore other kinds of activities. For example, some children only like to climb up and down, and completely refuse to do any quiet activities such as puzzles and handicrafts, or on the contrary, they like to sit still for a long time.
In fact, although each child's personality is slightly different, as long as adults lead children to try again and again, they will be interested in different activities and learn different abilities.
2, two years old to preschool.
Children from two years old to preschool have the ability to act independently, and they mainly know the world with their senses. At present, it is more and more important for us to guide children's games.
Adult-guided games and learning means that adults create opportunities to extend their learning possibilities according to children's interests after paying attention to or participating in children's games.
For example, when a teacher sees a child drawing a dinosaur, he prepares a dinosaur-themed book and toy for the child. This is guidance. Similarly, when we find that children show some problems in games, we can also guide them to recognize and correct their mistakes by playing games. For example, you can explain to your child why you can't do this by telling stories, role-playing, drawing, etc.
After all, children's vision and thinking ability are limited. If adults don't provide any guidance, children can easily become like frogs in the well, content with what they can touch and are already familiar with, and stagnate.
This is why some children have rich toys and various electronic devices at home, but their minds are behind their peers; On the contrary, although some children don't have enough material, they have learned how to have fun and learn knowledge in their daily life because of the effective guidance provided by the adults around them.
3. After school age
After children enter school, learning and playing in adult planning account for the vast majority. Adults (mainly teachers) provide children with learning plans and goals, introduce children to various subjects from simple to deep, and ask questions to solve doubts.
At this time, the child has been able to sit still and complete the instructions given by adults. If teaching is full of fun and emphasizes experience, children can absorb and use it more effectively.
I remember when I was in the third grade of primary school, the teacher asked us to write a review of Parthenocissus tricuspidata's feet. At that time, there happened to be a Parthenocissus Wall in our campus, so the Chinese teacher asked everyone to go downstairs to observe Parthenocissus, and then write this comment. After this "drama" preparation, we write articles with more enthusiasm and higher quality than before.
Suitable for "playing middle school" of different ages
Although playing can always bring benefits to children, with the growth of children's age and maturity of their minds, the types of games suitable for them will also change. Squatting on the ground to play with mud is a very good learning opportunity for two or three-year-old children, but at the age of eleven or twelve, playing with mud is naturally out of children's choice.
However, adults should not stiffly stop children because they are "too naive". For example, tell children that when they grow up, they should stop reading story books and read world famous books, or that painting is too time-consuming, so it is better to make up for math.
It is better to lead children to experience different activities in an interesting way. For example, tell children stories from famous books or play math games to help children learn new knowledge in relaxed play.
Below, I recommend several middle school activities suitable for different ages. The cost of these activities is not high, and there are not too many requirements for venues, equipment and time. So they are very easy to implement.
1, do your own thing.
For children under two years old, it is a very good activity to learn to eat, dress and tidy up toys by yourself. Don't think this is "work". In fact, doing it by themselves is also "playing" for them: in repeated attempts, children not only exercise the coordination ability of hands, eyes and brain, but also learn how to listen and express. More importantly, their attention, stress resistance and ability to try again and again are improving.
Although this opportunity of "playing middle school" can be seen everywhere, adults often need psychological adjustment. For example, children eat by themselves, especially at the stage of grasping by hand, and the home is definitely chaotic; It's slower for children to dress themselves. At this time, whether adults can let go and encourage children to try it by themselves determines whether he can get this valuable learning opportunity.
Step 2 read game books
When children are two or three years old, in addition to ordinary toys, game books are also very good props for "playing middle school". The games here are books that provide interactive activities for children. The main activities include coloring, stickers, maze walking, paper cutting, finding differences and so on. The advanced edition also includes creative manual and scientific experiments.
The essence of the game book is to let children use their brains and solve problems. There are colorful illustrations and interesting stories in the book. Some pop-up books can be made by hand, so that children will unconsciously complete one small task after another and learn knowledge.
Many parents complain that their children are not interested in game books, or only like game books with a certain theme. In this case, children need the guidance and help of adults. Parents may wish to sit down and paint, cut paper and make a small craft with their children. Even if children are not interested at first, they will gradually feel involved.
3. Group activities
When children have a tendency to play with other children, or have made friends, participating in group activities will bring them more and higher opportunities to "play middle school".
Especially for children who have already gone to school, they can participate in group sports and music activities, such as football teams, choirs and bands. It is good for their body and mind. In these activities, they can not only improve their skills, but also exercise their interpersonal communication and ability to cope with challenges.
Of course, this kind of activity is best based on hobbies, not utilitarian purposes. If children only feel stressed and have no fun at all, "playing middle school" will be difficult to play a role.
Even if children have no chance to participate in sports and music activities, they can get similar results by encouraging them to meet friends and play games. Of course, if parents can provide some books, knowledge-based film and television works and even science education gadgets, the effect of children's "learning by playing" will be better.
The phrase "Diligence is a virtue and drama is useless" has been circulating for nearly a thousand years, but it is not 100% correct under the examination of modern education. We might as well keep pace with the times and change it to "diligence is meritorious and drama is beneficial"
"Play" is a child's natural ability, and it is also the first link for children to know the world. If we adults can fully and deeply understand the meaning of "play" and cherish the opportunity of "learning" it brings to children, we can better provide the environment and soil for children to "play with middle school" and let them learn happily and independently.