Distance Learning Course -Train in Play Leadership
Uninterrupted play is important for a child’s social, physical and mental development; play encourages brain development, stimulates creativity, increases a child’s academic ability, and enhances quality of life through to adulthood. Children who have learnt how to play, will have a more playful and creative approach to life as adults.
This course is relevant to the provision of play opportunities for children, and teenagers.
"A truely cohesive course. Excellent in fact! Absolutely essential for anyone working in child-care, a play leader at a children's vacation camp or even parents who want to understand more about the importance of play in child development. This course gives a very indepth look at a variety of topics which carry tremendous value in understanding children!" Jade Pollock, former Youth Leader and Teacher.
Lesson Structure
There are 10 lessons in this course:
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Understanding Play
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Leadership Skills
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Planning Play Programs
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Child Development through Play
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Play Safety
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Physical Play
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Social Play
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Adventure Playground.
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Play Apparatus
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Activities
Each lesson culminates in an assignment which is submitted to the school, marked by the school's tutors and returned to you with any relevant suggestions, comments, and if necessary, extra reading.
Aims
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To explain the purpose of play in the cognitive, physical and social development of a child.
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To determine the skills required to carry out a play leadership role in different situations
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To develop a plan for a supervised children's play program.
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To develop a basic understanding of the impact of play upon the psychological development of a child.
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To determine appropriate measures to take to protect a child's safety when at play, while minimising any interference which might diminish the quality of the play experience.
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To develop an understanding of options for physical play activities, including games and sports, in a supervised play program.
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To develop an understanding of options for social play activities, in a supervised play program.
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To develop a basic ability to plan, establish and manage a supervised adventure
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To develop an ability to evaluate a range of different play apparatus, including playground structures, toys, sports equipment, commenting on quality, safety features, appropriate applications and cost benefit.
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To broaden your scope of opportunities that can be offered for children to play, appropriate to a wide range of different situations.
WHY DO WE NEED STRUCTURED PLAY PROGRAMS?
While free play is a very important part of the childhood experience, it is not always possible or desirable that children are just left to play when, where and how they wish. Sometimes, their situation does not encourage or support free play. Sometimes, lack of social skills, shyness, cultural differences or other factors can limit the child’s ability to initiate play or to interact in a relaxed and enjoyable manner with other children. Often, working parents rely on supervised programs to provide safe and enjoyable care after school hours or during holidays.
Play programs can take a variety of forms. Some can be loosely program, providing resources and opportunities for free play in a supervised and contained situation. Others can involve structured play activities. Structure is not necessarily an impediment to play, but it must be carefully planned and managed to avoid losing the vital ‘play’ aspects of intrinsic motivation, optimal arousal and control.
Aside from the benefits of structure and predictability offered by play programs, there are other important benefits, some of which are listed below.
· A degree of structure can introduce children to play options that they might not otherwise have considered.
· A program can provide a range of stimuli and experiences for the child
· A program can increase children’s opportunities for socialising with others of the same or other age groups
· A program can make it easier for children to participate in group activities
· A program can provide support for those children who need it, when they need it
· A well-designed program can improve inclusiveness by providing a range of activities that meet different children’s needs
· A program can provide an adult presence that can be very reassuring to young children, and agreeable to older children (who have been shown to seek out responsive adults for conversation)
· And very important, a program, if properly managed, can decrease the likelihood of anti-social, bullying or excluding behaviours (such as not allowing another child to join in or to even watch).
PLANNING PLAY PROGRAMS
A recreation program includes everything that happens within a group engaged together in a recreational activity or series of activities, active or passive".
When planning a recreation program, the following basic factors should form your planning:
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The importance of creativity and discovery
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Achievement of a degree of mastery over oneself and ones environment
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Achievement and satisfaction in participation
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Pleasure and enjoyment of oneself and fulfilment through group social encounters.
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\Example of assignment and set task
SET TASK
Find a place where you can watch children of varying ages at play in a non supervised situation (ie. with no play leader, teacher or parent etc, exercising control over what they do). For example this may be a playground in a park, or school ground; or children playing at home (indoors or out) If you have difficulty accessing a real life situation, you may undertake this task by watching video, television or web sites. If the task still poses a problem for you, contact the school to discuss options with an academic staff member.
Visit this place on two separate occasions, and observe (if possible) 3 or more children at play on each occasion, for a period of half an hour or more.
Observe the interaction between different children and their environment, as well as the interaction between each other.
After returning home, make notes of what you observe.
Caution: You should be aware of social norms and legal restrictions that may affect what you may or may not do in your country. In some places it may not be legal to observe children in certain ways without formal approval. We do not encourage anyone to break the law or in any way contravene social norms. If you are restricted in what you can observe, you may need to first obtain permission, or perhaps make observations of children from a distance and for shorter periods (eg. visiting a shopping centre and taking note of the way different children behave as you walk around the shops).
ASSIGNMENT
1. Report on your set task.
What did you observe? In what way did children of different ages play differently? Did the children do anything that they appeared to tire of? Is so what? and why would you guess they tired? (Write up to 1 page)
2. Why is play important to the cognitive development of a child? (Answer in one sentence)
3. In what way might inappropriate play opportunities as a child, result in physical developmental
problems for an adult. Suggest an example?
4. How can social play (or the lack of it) in a child impact upon that child when they become an adult? (Answer in one paragraph)
5. What similarities and differences are there between free play and playing a very imaginative computer game? (answer in 1 paragraph)
6. Remember to also submit your activities file.
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Suggested Reading: The Environment of Play by John Mason (our principal)
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