Piaget’s three stages of development in play includes practice play, symbolic play and games with rules. Vygotsky however focuses on dramatic play and that play creates a Zone of Proximal, which is a where children pretends to be an adult. “For preschoolers, play becomes the first activity in which children are driven not by the need for instant gratification, prevalent at this age-but instead by the need to suppress their immediate impulses. In play Vygotsky observed...At every step the child is faced with a conflict between the rule of the game and what he would do if he could suddenly act spontaneously. In the game he acts counter to what he wants... [achieving] the maximum display of willpower.” (Bodrova, E., Germeroth, C., & Leong, D. J. 2013) According to Vygotsky, there is a connection between play and behavior. In dramatic play, children need to follow rules when playing a role, and thus a relationship occurs in self-regulated behaviors and play. Both theorists shape my belief that children build knowledge through experiences created in play. Dramatic play, building blocks, puzzles, games with rules are examples of the types of play I want to focus on when teaching younger children. For older children, I would focus more on different types of puzzles and competitive …show more content…
The sensorimotor stage that occurs from birth to age 2 focuses on the infants experiences of the world through their senses. The preoperational stage from age 2 to 7 focuses on symbolic thinking, using words and images to represent objects. “The child evolves from an undifferentiated state with some biological givens, such as reflexes, to an organism that recognizes the outside world as separate from itself, differentiates perception from through, and begins to use symbols and signs.” (Malerstein, A., & Ahern, M. M. 1979) In this stage, children should be provided opportunities for pretend play and different kinds of objects. Using this theory, when teaching different subjects, I would provide more hands-on activities that includes clay, beads, sand and water. Although children lack reasoning at this stage, my idea is to give children more opportunities to have conversations with other peers and also adults. Some other activities might include using their sense of smell and touch, planting seeds and cooking. I would avoid using worksheets as much as possible and would rather focus on making