Eight Reasons You Should Play with Your Child - K - "This is where fun and learning overlap "
←
→
Page content transcription
If your browser does not render page correctly, please read the page content below
ROK
eBook
Book
K
No. 2
Playing to Learn
Mr. Rokenbok has...
Eight Reasons You
Should Play with
Your Child
“This is where fun and learning overlap... ”
by Paul Eichen, Toymaker
ROK Mr. Rokenbok has..
Eight Reasons You Should Play
eBook
Intro with Your Child
Published by
Rokenbok Toy Company
215 US Highway 101, Suite 101
Solana Beach, CA 92075
(858) 259-4433
www.rokenbok.com
Follow us on Twitter
Join us on Facebook
See Rokenbok at YouTube
Write to us at: paule@rokenbok.com
ROK
eBook
Playing to Learn
It’s not just child’s play
Page 1
Eight Reasons You Should
Play with Your Child
Eight Reasons Why You Should Play with Your Child
Did you know that playing with your child could help determine whether your
son or daughter will be successful later in life? If you need motivation to get
down on the floor and start playing, here are eight powerful reasons:
1. Playing can boost your child’s chances of succeeding in school.
The evidence is overwhelming that children’s experiences at home, including
their playtime, are absolutely critical when they enter school. All those
hours of fun and games play a crucial role in determining whether
children are not only prepared for school, but also whether they will
flourish in the classroom for many years to come.
ROK
eBook
Page 2
Research has shown that successful parents promote their children’s learning in these three
ways:
1. They give their children age-appropriate toys and books.
2. They respond to their children’s questions and explorations.
3. They frequently join their child in learning activities such as reading, storytelling and
playing with toys.
2. Playing can enhance your child’s vocabulary and IQ.
Want your child to have a rich vocabulary? Studies have shown that the ideal way to
develop a child’s vocabulary is through every-day conversations. Talking with your child
while playing make-believe, for instance, or building a sand castle can be tremendously
helpful to your child’s development and even her IQ.
Here’s why: Language is a key component of intelligence because it’s the chief way that
children learn about the world around them. The size of a person’s vocabulary is a huge
part of what IQ tests measure.
ROK
eBook
Page 3
3. Playing can boost your child’s emotional IQ.
While you don’t hear as much about it, a child’s EQ (emotional quotient) is just as
important as his or her IQ. Without emotional intelligence, a brilliant child could ace his
SAT test, but fail in his personal and professional life.
So what fosters EQ? Playing. Through play, kids are rehearsing for their future
lives by adopting roles whether it’s being a parent, a doctor, a paleontologist
or a friend. Through play, kids explore societal roles, as well as the viewpoints
of others, and ultimately this helps them deal with relationships and career
choices as they move through life.
4. Playing can build a child’s confidence.
As any parent can tell you, a child’s abilities grow with age. A three-year-
old, for instance, might be able to count three blocks, but if you add two
more blocks to the pile, he will probably have to start over before he can
appreciate that he now has five blocks. Rudimentary understanding of
number lines and other math concepts won’t come until kindergarten.
ROK
eBook
Page 4
An excellent way to help your son or daughter develop their
abilities is through play. To appreciate how this is possible,
you first must understand a famous concept called the
“zone of proximal development,” which was coined years
ago by Lev Vygotsky, a highly celebrated developmental
psychologist. The pioneering psychologist concluded
that children face a range of tasks that they can’t quite
accomplish on their own, but with the help of a parent
or another adult, they can master the hurdles.
Here’s an example: You couldn’t expect a four-year-old to single
handedly put together a Rokenbok monorail. But with your help, he could
snap the pieces together and eventually he’d be able to construct the set himself.
Helping children navigate these oh-so-close development milestones through play can
reduce a child’s frustration level and keep him on the developmental path of reaching his
potential.
ROK
eBook
Page 5
Just be careful as you play that you don’t take over. Follow your child’s lead. If your son
wants to line up all the orange and blue sticks in the Tinker Toy set don’t try to push him
into building a windmill.
5. Playing can improve a child’s motivation and lead to greater performance in
school.
Helping children make incremental progress in mastering such things as maneuvering
a remote-control vehicle or painting can help them to become self motivated. Being
internally motivated is far better for a child than being driven to perform through rewards
(bribes) from parents.
Studies have shown that kids who are self motivated are far more likely to excel in school
because they believe they possess greater control over their academic success.
6. Playing with your child can connect you emotionally.
Some children are chatty and will happily talk until you’re exhausted from listening. Others,
more often boys, will be reluctant to share much of anything. Ask how school went withROK
eBook
Page 6
one of these kids and he may typically reply, “Okay.” Playing may encourage a child to
open up as the focus no longer seems trained on him, but rather on a LEGO spacecraft or
a Rokenbok obstacle course.
7. Playing can make life less stressful.
Especially as kids grow older, they tend to be overbooked. On too many
nights, dinner may be eaten in the car between scouts, soccer practice and
piano lessons. While some highly scheduled children thrive from all the
activities, studies show that many kids with more time for free play are
better able to handle pressures and stress in their lives.
8. Playing can help put learning into context.
Academics have strongly questioned the effectiveness of young
children memorizing facts and figures with flash cards, drills and
videos. Sure you can put a young kid in front of a computer,
for instance, and learn some Spanish words, but chances are the
knowledge will disappear fairly quickly.ROK
eBook
Page 7
Parents naturally want their kids to be smart and even if
they wonder about the wisdom of pushing a four-year-
old to learn to read, it’s hard to resist when everybody
else seems to be prepping their young children for
Harvard.
Studies show, however, that learning is far more effective
when a parent slips it into everyday activities such as playing. A child can absorb a great
deal about measurements and shapes by helping a parent bake a chocolate cake. Building
a log cabin out of Popsicle sticks will introduce a child to all sorts of mathematical and
spatial concepts.
Watching an educational video can be fun, but it’s just not as powerful as playing with a
pile of blocks, a menagerie of stuffed animals or a box brimming with buttons, felt and
ribbon.
Building an ideal learning environment
At Rokenbok, we’ve made it our mission to understand construction play. GoodROK
eBook
Page 8
construction toys are easy to play with, capture the imagination, and offer increasing
challenge over time. We’ve waded through an exhaustive amount of academic research
that explains why construction toys should be in every child’s toy box.
(see: The Science Behind the Benefits of Construction Toys).
What our Rokenbok community tells us is the most unique feature of our construction
system is that it gets the whole family playing together; older and younger siblings,
friends, and parents (especially dads). We are proud that we have designed a family
activity that captures the imagination of a three year while keeping Dad and Mom
engaged and challenged too.
The design of our system is sophisticated and carefully considered in every detail.
We invite you to explore what we have to offer, because it takes awhile to see all the
possibilities and benefits. The closer you look at our toys, the more you will see our
values and our mission. We believe we have created the ideal learning environment for
tomorrow’s engineers and architects, designers and technologists, managers and leaders.
Rokenbok is playtime well spent.
Paul Eichen, a.k.a. Mr. Rokenbok
Founder, Rokenbok Toy CompanyROK
eBook
Page 9
References
1. Parents’ Role in Fostering Young Children’s Learning and Language Development, Lev Vygotsky,Wikipedia, http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Lev_Vygotsky.
Catherine S. Tamis-LeMonda, Eileen T. Rodriquez, Encyclopedia on Early
Childhood Development, 2008. Scaffolding Children’s Learning: Vygotsky and Early Childhood Education, L.E. Berk
and A. Winsler, National Association for the Education of Young Children,
The Importance of Play in Promoting Healthy Child Development and Maintaining 1995.
Strong Parent-Child Bonds, Kenneth R. Ginsburg MD, the Committee on
Communications, Committee on Psychosocial Aspects of Child and Family Einstein Never Used Flash Cards, Kathy Hirsh-Pasek, Roberta Michnick
Health, American Academy of Pediatrics. Golinkoff, Rodale, 2004.
Playful Parenting, Lawrence J. Cohen, Random House, 2001. 5. Parental Predictors of Motivational Orientation in Early Adolescence: A Longitudinal
Study, Phyllis Bronstein, Golde S. Ginsburg, Ingrid S. Herrera, Journal of Youth
2. Einstein Never Used Flash Cards, Kathy Hirsh-Pasek, Roberta Michnick and Adolescence, 2005.
Golinkoff, Rodale, 2004.
7. The Importance of Play in Promoting Healthy Child Development and Maintaining
3. Emotional Intelligence: Why It Can Matter More than IQ, Daniel Goleman, Strong Parent-Child Bonds, Kenneth R. Ginsburg MD, the Committee on
Bantam, 1997. Communications, Committee on Psychosocial Aspects of Child and Family
Health, American Academy of Pediatrics.
4. Mind in Society: Development of Higher Psychological Processes (14th edition), L.S.
Vygotsky, Michael Cole, Vera John-Steiner, Sylvia Scribner, Ellen Souberman, 8. Extreme Parenting, Aliss Quart, The Atlantic, July/August 2006.
Harvard University Press, 1978.
Taking Play Seriously, Robin Marantz Henig, The New York Times, Feb. 17, 2008.You can also read
