Of course, not to mention, when playing, my children are actually studying.
Although John Holt, an American educator, said, "The only good reason why we play games with babies is because we love them and are happy to play these games with them and share their happiness in the process of playing, not because we hope they can go to college in the future. It is the happiness brought by children and games that makes games interesting, worthwhile and beneficial to children. If there is no happiness, it is replaced by some ruthless calculations of future IQ and scores, then we will deprive the spirit of the game. " Playing with scissors, rock and paper I won't consider whether scissors will bring my children closer to famous universities, but in the current harsh competitive environment, it is still very difficult for me to play with my children without considering intelligence and not including any utility at all.
Fortunately, for young children, play, in 99% cases, is almost always instructive, and it is a necessary means for children to grow and learn.
Children learn while playing.
When a child is born, he has a set of "experience-expectation" system, which makes it possible for him to survive, such as sucking milk when he is hungry, crying when he is cold, kicking when he is touched and breathing. At the same time, there is also a system called "experience dependence", which is composed of brain circuits whose functions have not been determined, which determines the future development of children and needs to be "configured" and "installed" the day after tomorrow. The reason why children need to learn is to give these neural circuits the greatest stimulation, so as to improve this system to the maximum extent, so that they can be more competitive in their future lives and gain more resources and wealth (material and emotional).
It is impossible for a baby to sit up with his hands behind his back and listen to the teacher. Nature's arrangement is to let children learn by playing. When Tian was seven months old, his favorite game was lying on the ground, pushing a car forward, then climbing over, grabbing it, pushing it again, and tirelessly "playing" for several weeks. What did he learn in the process? -the wooden floor is hard and cold; The car can roll in the same direction as pushing it; The car will stop when it rolls on the carpet; When pushing a cart, the force determines the distance the car runs; If the car runs far, it needs to climb a few more steps; Climbing to the car to catch it requires the coordination of hands and feet, hands and eyes: today's metal cars are small but heavy; This car is too bright. They say it is "red" ...
Many things that we take for granted are actually learned. The basic concepts of gravity, inertia, distance, shape, texture, color and numbers are all mastered through perceptual play rather than early experience classroom learning.
The cognitive theory of Piaget, a Swiss child psychologist, holds that children acquire knowledge on the basis of behavior. Knowledge "is neither composed of internal organizations nor provided only by experience, but is built through the interaction between children and the environment". In other words, children need to interact with the environment through play as much as possible to master and understand the things around them.
We need to define "play" here. You don't need special toys to play, and you don't need to go to an amusement park. Except those things that meet children's basic physiological needs, such as feeding and sleeping, any activity that brings pleasure to children and has no direct effect can be regarded as play.
Playing is always happy, and children want to play again because they have a happy feeling. A lot of knowledge and common sense are mastered and understood in this happy repetition. Because, as John Holt said:
"Vivid, energetic and pleasant experiences are the easiest to remember; The memory effect is best when there is no forced external force. Memory (and children's learning motivation) is not a donkey. It can be forced to move forward by flogging. "
Children need to play by themselves.
Beichen is two years older than Tianze and sometimes teaches his younger brother how to do it. Once I bought a new Lego toy, and Beichen put up a tall and beautiful tower. Day ze silently watching, come and push it down. Beichen is built again, and the sky is pushed down again. Is heaven jealous? Later, I learned that Beichen's ability far exceeded Tianze, and Tianze was very depressed.
In fact, children have long realized that there is nothing they can do about the world around them. They hope that they can control the world through hard work. When they find that they can't achieve their goals, they will feel ashamed and afraid, and show anger or retreat.
Russian psychologist Vygotsky's educational theory holds that there is a certain distance between children's ability and potential, and proper guidance by adults can make children reach a higher cognitive field. Based on this, many early education theories set up various courses to encourage children to tap their potential and help them "reach" a higher level of intelligence and problem-solving ability. However, it is difficult to master the degree of guidance without careful and patient observation and scrutiny of children. You can motivate and inspire your child to do better by giving him a demonstration, but sometimes this "demonstration" may be beyond his ability. Therefore, John Holt pointed out in How Children Learn: "We must realize that children's ignorance and clumsiness often make them aware of their weaknesses. Parents who can do everything well are not always good role models for their children. Sometimes, these children feel that even hard work is useless because they can never expect to be as good as their parents. "
In this case, it may be more helpful for children to be parents of onlookers and let them play independently.
My family has a simple tent given by a merchant when buying an ocean ball, which was turned out when moving, just suitable for two brothers to get into and be a "submarine". There are more and more things in the "submarine", first some odds and ends toys, then some books, and then plush toys. After two or three days, all the toys have names: the brown bear is called bear and the bat is called buddy. Beichen is learning to read, which is obviously his masterpiece. Beary currently has a blank piece of paper on his chest with numbers written on it, indicating that he is a basketball player. Today, Dad was making cookies in the kitchen, and Beary was taken by the children to sit on the table and watch with them.
I don't know what the submarine or the bear will do next, but I know that children see the world differently from us. There is no need to impose our way of thinking on them. When they go to school, they will have 18 years to be indoctrinated and accept the rules of the game in this society. When they are young, let them explore for themselves. Piaget called children little scientists because "children are busy exploring and want to know all possible new situations through active exploration." He wants to know what's going on, and he wants to find out the nature and behavior characteristics of things he thinks are very important. At first, he only touched it by chance, but later, like a scientist, he will go deep into it, explore a new thing in various ways, firmly explore various possibilities, and carefully pay attention to the consequences. Therefore, for children and scientists, the boundaries of knowledge can be continuously expanded. "
Let children be creative.
When they return to Sydney every Christmas, Beichen and Tianze go to the seaside to do the first thing. If we go to the seaside every day, they will dig holes every day. When the high tide flooded the bunker, they dug a new pit. I don't even have to bring them special sandpit toys, because their favorite tool is their own hands.
If allowed, few children don't like sand and water. Because these two materials are the most basic, primitive and unrestricted, they can be transformed into infinite patterns to buy toys for children. You might as well refer to this spirit.
There are many toys in the shops, and there are great differences in stimulating children's imagination and creativity. Give children a piece of colored mud, a pile of building blocks, several dolls or little people, and children can play with them and make all kinds of things; Give the children Altman and Spider-Man, and the children will fight with the plot in the movie; Give the child Princess Barbie, and the child will dress her up as in the movie.
"Colored clay" gives children a space for free imagination and creation, and "Princess Barbie" gives children a ready-made model. The former is to imitate real life, and children create according to their own experiences and observations, while the latter is to instill.
Children can play with colored mud because they know they shouldn't put everything in their mouths. If you can't stand watching the children mix everything together, you can also rub a ball of colored mud on the side, so you don't have to spend too much time making a sculpture for the children. The miniature jiaozi and steamed bread made of colored mud are naturally works of art, and the child doesn't seem to pay attention to what you are doing, but next time, maybe he will start making steamed buns.
The colored mud bought in the shop is always very small, which may not be enough. Try to make it yourself: one catty of flour, one catty of water, half a catty of salt, four spoonfuls (60 grams) of tartar powder for cake making and two spoonfuls (30 grams) of vegetable oil. After mixing, stir on low heat until it becomes spherical. Put more food coloring in it. It's done. It's a big piece. Hold it in your hand and rub it as you want. Children like it, and adults will feel cool.
When buying building blocks, remember to buy an extra box of the same type, because the more building blocks, the higher the children's tower and the bigger the castle, and if you go to the store to buy weatherproof ones, you will find new goods of different sizes.
Lego splicing toys come in different sizes. Children under 3 years old should honestly let them play with big things, because children under 3 years old often have the habit of throwing things anytime and anywhere. Once the small particles are thrown to the ground by him, it takes a lot of thought and temper to clean them up.
Bathroom toys Avoid expensive toys that are specially designed for bathroom use. What children can get in the bathtub is the knowledge of the fun of playing with water and buoyancy. Toys made of plastic without metal or complicated parts can be put into the bathtub to try. Some daily necessities, such as plastic cups or small bowls, often become children's favorite. For a time, Tianze and Beichen were fascinated with using a foam pad with a floor as a "big ship", adding things to it endlessly and trying to keep balance until the "big ship" became overwhelmed and sank.
All kinds of toys that need to be installed Beichen's interest in installing toys began in the hospital. Every time I send him to the hospital for infusion, I will buy him two small balls of toys, dinosaurs or cars from the vending machine outside the ward. I helped him install it at first, and then he helped me install it. It can be disassembled after installation, and it needs to be installed after disassembly. It is a toy with high cost performance in the frequency of use.
No matter what kind of toys you buy, you need to consider your child's age and interests. Toys are still not teaching AIDS, even if they are in the mood for education. Children's love and interest should be the main reason why you buy toys (of course, the basic premise is that this toy does not violate your moral and cultural norms), because only real play will bring real learning results, if we really can't forget the educational significance of play.