The game is the rehearsal of life. It is an unlimited resource from which we study our emotions, in short, constantly repeat and learn the life experience we are in, during the period when we first begin to make sense of life, when we gradually become aware of our environment and self.
This magical and meaningful resource of ours has been the subject of many scientific studies. It has been seen that play is a part of our lives, not only in childhood, but also from the first months of our birth. In their study, Bühler and Hetzer (1926) observed that even 2-4 month old babies spend 9% of their waking hours playing. It is also among the findings that as our experience in the world increases, this period gets longer. In fact, during the first two years, as the baby gains physical strength, muscle-based games begin to come into play. Like the baby trying to reach objects he can touch, holding them, shaking them, and finally throwing them. Dear parents, at this stage you may think "my baby has started throwing everything, I wonder if there is a problem" or "it is already an expected behavior at this stage, sources say so." It is actually a very simple underlying need that we must remember: the need for a gram of discovery in every step taken towards growth and autonomy, we can also call this "self-discovery". Meanwhile, the happiness of being able to do it and the desire to show it to parents enable these movements to be performed repeatedly; It also signals that the environment is aware and interested. In the period until the age of 3, practice games continue with increasing interest, with the contribution of physical and mental development. Interest in a single toy then turns into interest in many different objects, and symbolic play, that is, behavior and role-oriented games, begins to take place in the child's life. When children combine being good observers with the ability to imitate, a very healing aspect of symbolic play emerges. Studying emotional processes and trying to produce solutions using imagination…
Symbolization skills continue to develop in direct proportion to age. We can also see traces of symbolic play in children under the age of 3, but this is a period when verbal communication is limited. For example , such as holding an object in his hand to his ear and saying "Hello"... As we get older, more complex games that depend on verbal communication begin to appear. (Like being a housekeeper, a doctor, a teacher, a firefighter, etc.) In addition, games that support creativity and imagination begin to be established, using different materials and toys together; -like pretending and integrating an object into the game in a way that is different from its purpose... The child takes in a conflictual situation, family situations, some discourses and behaviors in the daily flow, in other words, all the experiences he observes and reflects them outside, that is, into the game. We see the world through the eyes of the child in play...
There is a great rush, especially in the kindergarten period when children come together with their peers, at the stage of setting up games. There is a search for a space where everyone can tell their stories and reflect their own experiences. Of course, it is a difficult struggle to open this space in a self-centered period. During the role distribution, you can especially see that the voices become louder and stronger, which is why it is often difficult to start the play. Because everyone tries to play their own experience, as much as they know themselves, and sometimes when they encounter these differences, it becomes a conflicting but instructive experience for the child. Sometimes it's happiness, sometimes it's disappointment, sometimes it's anxiety, or the desire to impress your peers by bringing something you've just learned to the game, the excitement of being able to do it and the effort to prove yourself and get approval... In short, we see the whole of all experiential experiences before and during the game.
On the other hand, undirected play is very valuable. If you take part in the game that the child has created and planned based on his own imagination, this actually shows how much he trusts you to open his own world. For this reason, the place of symbolic play is important in play therapy. While words serve as a source for us in a psychotherapy session with an adult, the language of play begins to speak in a session with a child. Because play has a lot to tell about the child's inner world, emotions, difficulties, environment and himself...
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