CONSTRUCTIVE PLAY

LITTLE ARTISTS, CONSTRUCTIONISTS, STORY TELLERS…

At the age of 5 and 6, children’s play becomes more creative, social and competitive. In this period, a child needs their peers to take part in various social and team plays, and to experience their first victories and defeats.

The first wins are always the sweetest; however, the first defeats may be extremely painful. But all this is a part of real life, and we cannot protect children against it. However, it is encouraging if we are able to comfort our children and motivate them not to give up but to persevere every step of their way.

Children of this age are focused on fun games, such as playing tag, hide and seek, ball games, playing with toy cars and all types of board games (memory, puzzle, quiz, etc.).

Socializing with other children and spending time with them requires some basics of good manners: children need to be polite to others, they need to adapt, they need to be able to resolve conflicts mutually and without consequences, they need to be tolerant in all kinds of situations and a lot more.

Children are capable of resolving their conflicts without the interference of adults. Therefore, there is no need for us to constantly react and play the role of a “judge” or “police officer” in their play. Adults need to be “mediators”. Are you able to hold back? This can be quite difficult, can’t it?

What does a child gain from constructive play? This type of play helps children develop their positive characteristics, such as perseverance, creativity, courage, enthusiasm, responsibility, ability to collaborate and to be flexible. It also stimulates their interaction with others and their imagination.

With children of this age, we can talk about the following types of play:

CREATIVE PLAY – building, artistic creation, drawing, inventing stories

CONSTRUCTION PLAY – building, modelling, writing

GAMES WITH RULES – team games that incorporate movement, board games, singing games

COOPERATIVE PLAY – children play in groups and have a common goal; they split the work and take on different roles.

One of the virtues developing in children is also the beauty. Children start developing a sense for aesthetics and become critical of their own work. The appearance of everything they create is of extreme importance to them. Therefore, they strive for perfection and thus become more persistent. For example, they try to colour inside the lines, they wish to choose the appropriate colour for each element of the picture they are drawing, etc.

When they create something, they experience the feeling of achievement. Therefore, children that like creating are also open, critical, flexible, enthusiastic, show more initiative and originality. Creativity helps develop children’s fine motor skills, stimulate imagination and build up confidence.

This is also the case with adults. When we feel down and need more confidence – we need more creativity! Grab some colours, paper or canvas, and knock yourself out.