Play.

Children learn through many different way, Play is probably one of the biggest contributions to a child’s learning outside of school. It is widely agreed between practitioners that play is the best way for children, under the age of five, to learn. Throughout play a child learns skills that they will use later in life, they retain real experience from everyday games. Children learn to understand more of the things going on around them, through the ideas they incorporate into their play. An example of this would be when young children play house/ doctors. They are taking on the roles of the people they see around them every day, without realising it they are in fact learning important ways to act with one another. The work in which children do in school can also be widely increased upon through using play. For example if a child is playing hop scotch they are increasing their mathematic skills, while counting the amount of times they jump. This is also the same as when children play house, as they are learning to perform and stay in character as another person other than themselves. All areas of a child’s development can in fact be expanded through play. Play is a naturally creative and rewarding experience. 'From birth, children have a strong exploratory drive through which they experiment, explore, interact with and make sense of their world.’ Pascal and Bertram (2006) Investigation is an important aspect within play. It involved the child having to use all of their senses and hand’s on experience to increase their knowledge. They are constantly playing with items, taking them a part, then trying to reassemble them all over again. However the main cooperation of Play would be movement. Children are constantly moving, constantly playing. It is said that our ability to investigate come faster to us as we become more physical. David and Powell (2007) 'movement is made up of both gross and fine motor actions and involves children exploring and manipulating their environment.' Wards (2013) 

David and Powell (2007)
Pascal & Bertram (2006)
Wards (2013) A Student's Guide to Education Studies.