Jounal #1 Second Semester

List three ways that mature play can be implemented into a classroom. What are the benefits of these?
.Setting up centers in the classroom with different sceneries and props, that the children can all take turns playing at.
.The children can draw pictures and plan what they want to play.
.The kids could act out different animals or themes where they can change roles.

The benefits of having centers implemented into classrooms is that the children get to use there imagination, and they get to interact with others, which can help them gain social skills. Also, the kids have the freedom to be any character they want and can even have multiple roles during there play time, so they get to explore playing different people and having different jobs. An example of one of these centers could be a market. There could be a little fake check out and carts and fake food. One kid could pretend to be a shopper and one can be the cashier. Then if they needed some one to be the bagger, but they only have two people, then the cashier can change roles and pretend to be the bagger. Because they can switch roles they are using empathy. They also increses there vocabulary and verbilization because they have to act out there roles and talk like whom ever they are pretending to be.

The benefits of drawing pictures and planing what they want to play before they actually start playing is that they have to have consentration and a good atention span. The children also have to use impulse control so that they can stay on task while planning and then when they are playing, they follow through with there plans. They cant just start playing a whole new story or game.

The benefits to acting out different amimals or themes and changing roles is that it promotes using imagination and social skills. By letting the children play together and interact with each other it builds good socail skills. An example of this is if they were to do something like what we did in class, where we just used hand movement to describe an animal and other people had to guess what we were pretending to be.This increases there group participation and cooperation. It increases there group participation because they have to work with others and if they dont know how to act an animal out or someone does not understand what they are acting out, then they have to be cooperative and help each other out.

When discussing whether Maddie should be in organized soccer next year (as a five year old), what was your answer? Relate your reasons why to the notes on mature play.

I beleive that Madie should be in organized soccer next year, but only if she truley wants to. Playing soccer will help her make new friends that she has something in common with. Although organized soccer is not mature play, it will still help her to learn how to work with others and and follow the rules of the game. Madie will also have to use impulse control and concentration, becasue when she is at practice or in a game, she wont be allowed to stop playing or start playing a differnt game. She will also have to learn how to communicate with her teammates, which will increase her language development.