Reference List

References:

Carlson, F. (2011). Rough play: One of the most challenging behaviours. Young Children NAEYC, p. 18-25.

Krause, K-L., Bochner, S., Duchesne, S., & McMaugh, A. (2010). Educational psychology for learning and teaching (3^rd ed.). Auckland, New Zealand: Cengage.

Pellis, S.M., & Pellis, V.C. (2007). Rough and tumble play and the development of the social brain. Association of Psychological Science, 16 (2), 95-98.

Pellegrini, A. D., & Smith, P. K. (1998). Physical activity play: The nature and function of a neglected aspect of play. Child Development, 69(3), 577–598.

Santrock, J. (2011). Life-span development (13^th ed.). New York: McGraw-Hill

Scott,E., & Panksepp, J. (2003). Rough-and-tumble play in human children. Aggressive Behaviour, 29, 539-551.

Smith, P.K., Smees, R., & Pellegrini, A.D. (2004). Play fighting and real fighting: Using video playback methodology with young children. Aggressive Behaviour, 30, 164-173.

Tannock, M. (2011). Observing children’s rough and tumble play. Australian journal of early        childhood, 36 (2), 13-20.

Tannock, M. (2007). Rough and tumble play: An investigation of the perceptions of educators and young children. Early childhood education journal, 35, 357-361.

Trawick-Smith, J. (2010). Early childhood development: A multicultural perspective (5^th ed.).         New Jersey, America: Pearson Education.

Images:

ETR Associates. (2009). Theories and approaches. Retrieved October 18, 2013 from,            http://recapp.etr.org/recapp/index.cfm?fuseaction=pages.TheoriesDetail&PageID=30

Quotes:

BookRags Media Network. (2013). Brainy quotes. Retrieved October 18, 2013, from,             http://www.brainyquote.com/

Video:

The Parenting Place. (2012). The importance of rough and tumble play.[Video file].           Retrieved October 18, 2013, from http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WGZfnDW5rJg

Closing Summary

I am hoping I have uncovered some of the enormous benefits of rough play within early childhood and how it can be best managed, utilised and guided in and early childhood setting. Research is continuing to support the drive towards the many positive effects of rough play within early childhood, so don’t shy away from letting children experiment with rough play, embrace it and enhance their lives!

Role of the Teacher

I feel one of the best ways for a teacher to teach children an acceptable way to use rough play is to model it themselves and get engaged with the children during rough play. I have made an effort myself as a teacher to play with the children during rough play and have found it helps our relationships and understanding of each other, especially when I utilised this play on a recent practicum where I did not know the children very well. Besides modeling, teachers can do three specific things to provide for and support rough play while minimising the potential for injury: prepare both the indoor and outdoor environment, develop and implement policies and rules for rough play, and supervise rough play so you can intervene when appropriate (Carlson, 2011).  I believe the teacher’s role is crucial into allowing the child to explore rough play and the role the child has whilst engaged and after rough play.

Do the best you can to provide an environment that is rich in opportunities to use their bodies both inside and outside, giving thought to safety hazards. Provide variety so children can experiment and allow children to experiment on their own accord allowing risk-taking so children can learn what their body is and isn’t capable of. Be prepared to intervene rough play to ensure all children are safe, physically and emotionally, with importance towards children’s language during rough play and help them use words to express some of the nonverbal communication. A crucial aspect of the role of a teacher would be that all the teachers within the centre all follow the same guidelines on what is acceptable and what is not acceptable, so the children are not confused by what is expected of them. Take time to discuss the topic of rough play to uncover differing views so you have a general consensus within your centre environment. Make policies regarding rough play, so you have clear guidelines and rules.

Another crucial aspect to the teacher’s role is communication, not only with the other staff members within your centre but with the parents and whānau of the children attending the centre. Frances Carlson stated in her research parents have commented that ‘rough play is empowering for their daughters and that they appreciate how this play style makes their girls feel strong’ (Carlson, 2011, p. 23), it is not just boys that engage in this type of play, it is really insightful to hear the parents voices and why communication is so important, you are able to gain the parents voice and appreciation for involving rough play within your centre.

Rough play can also be a great way to get children to open up about feelings or things that may be bothering them, this type of play can be an outlet for them and help them talk about how they are feeling if prompted by a teacher, be sure to observe children during this type of play to uncover any differences in their play. Use encouragement to take part in rough play, it is a great fun explorative way to get children to acquire more motor abilities and can get children who are less active enticed by the open endedness and humour filled interchange. (Tradwick-Smith, 2010). 

Links to Philosophies

There are many different philosophies within early childhood education such as Montessori, Steiner, Pasifika and Reggio Emilia. A philosophy ‘guides your choices, behaviours, thoughts and feelings’ (Krause et al, 2010, p. xxvii). All of these philosophies allow rough play within their early childhood environments just at different levels as each individual teacher influences their philosophy. These philosophies are all very centered by the child’s interests so if a child wanted to explore their learning through rough play it would be greatly supported. 

Links to Humanism Theory

Humanism is ‘an orientation or philosophy that recognises the uniqueness of human beings and the qualities of life that contribute to our humanity’ (Krause et al, 2010, p. 230). The theory is used to ‘heighten our awareness of teaching as an art to be undertaken by caring individuals committed to helping their students to succeed in the difficult process of growing up’ (Krause et al, 2010, p.252). Because children are all so different they can approach aspects of life and learning differently, as teachers we need to respect this and be open to each child’s uniqueness and help them understand and not control them. Carl Rogers believed in the importance of freedom and choice and believed education should provide a nurturing environment where learners can follow their interests (Krause, 2010). By allowing children in an early childhood setting the opportunity to play rough gives them the freedom to follow their emerging interests as well as supporting their wellbeing positively. 

Links to Behaviourism Theory

A large part of rough play is identifying whether the child’s behaviour is acceptable as a teacher and ensuring the children understand and control their behaviour through a learning process. Behaviour is the ‘actions that are observable and measurable’ and behaviourism is ‘explanations of learning concerned with the effect of external events of behaviour’ (Krause et al, 2011, p. 151). When learning occurs through external factors such as reward or punishment changes in behaviour take place often referred to as the ‘cause and effect’ mechanism (Krause et al, 2011). As children’s social experiences increase through rough play, they come to understand that certain social behaviours lead to desirable responses by others and certain to less desirable responses (Trawick-Smith, 2010). Reinforcement can be used during or after rough play to strengthen behaviour to help children understand what they are doing is appropriate, increasing the frequency of the specific behaviour. Scott and Panksepp’s research revealed rough play facilitated friendships and promoted cooperative prosocial behaviours and attitudes (Scott & Panksepp, 2003), making rough play pro-social rather than anti-social behaviour.

Albert Banduras social learning theory recognised the contribution of personal factors to the learning process combining external and internal influences (Krause, 2011). The diagram below shows how Bandura understood all the factors to contribute towards determining human behaviour. I feel this works well with rough play as each factor contributes to the result in the way the play is used, adapted and learnt.

  

Links to Cognitive Theory

Cognition is the ‘mental processes involved in perceiving, attending to, understanding and recalling information’ (Krause, Sandra, Duchesne & McMaugh, 2011, p. 51). Children learn about their world and the social expectations of others a lot through the play with peers, rough play has a substantial link to the cognitive development in children, in that it serves as a medium for practising skills that have already been learnt.  Through rough play children learn physical skills, how their body moves and how to control their movements; they develop language skills through signals and non-verbal communication and social skills through playing dominant and subdominant roles, negotiating, and developing and maintaining friendships (Smith, Smees, & Pelligrini, 2004).

Renowned theorist Jean Piaget identified the importance of play in the cognitive development of children through specific stages. In an early childhood setting the stage most commonly related to rough play would be the pre-operational stage; this stage is the beginning of the ability to reconstruct in thought what has been established in behaviour (Santrock, 2011), involving practising skills that will become elements of the child’s concrete operational stage (Tannock, 2011).

Pellegrini, Dupuis and Smith’s 2007 research supports Piaget’s theory further by stressing the importance of practical experience through play in young children’s cognitive development. Stating ‘gaining a cognitive understanding of social systems through play serves to provide many practical experiences which enhance learning, including developing an understanding of social rules, social expectations and logical thinking’ (Tannock, 2011, p.14). This statement reinforces that children who engage in rough and tumble play are learning to make judgments about their physical abilities, how to respond to others, and how their playmates respond to them (Tannock, 2007).

Research by Scott & Panksepp (2003) showed children involved in rough play were better equipped to cope with change and were socially flexible, that bouts of rough play lead to games with rules accompanied by a decrease in physical activity showing their brain was functioning at a higher level to extend their play and give reason behind their actions, and that rough play prepared the nervous system for later social interactions (Scott & Panksepp, 2003).

There is evidence that rough-and-tumble play leads to the release of chemicals affecting the mid-brain, lower forebrain, and the cortex, including areas responsible for decision making and social discrimination; growth chemicals positively affect development of these brain areas (Pellis & Pellis 2007). In other words, rough-and-tumble play, this universal children’s activity, is adaptive, evolutionarily useful, and linked to normal brain development.

Research has developed tremendously from seeing rough play in a negative sense that is focussed on aggression to a positive outlook that supports and values the cognitive development it contributes to in young children.

What is 'rough' play?

Play is a multi-dimensional, developmental activity expressed through a variety of forms and actions (Tannock, 2007). Within early childhood children engage in a variety of rough play, but what exactly does this term of rough play mean? Trawick-Smith (2010) describes it to be ‘a form of motor play that includes wrestling, play fighting, rolling around and chasing peers, that relieves tension and contributes to social competence but does not lead to aggression’ (p. 206). Trawick-Smith points out what I believe are common misconceptions of rough play, in that it leads to aggression and bad behaviour. Aggressive behaviour involves ‘anger and a determination to cause harm to another, unlike the playful nature of rough-and-tumble play’ (Tannock, 2011, p.13). Children can display aggressive behaviour whilst engaged in this type of play, but I feel it should be explored to determine where the anger is coming from so rough play can be enjoyed in a safe explorative nature. Past studies have shown physical play is among the most popular form of play, so why is it we do not utilise rough play in children’s learning? ‘Such play relieves tension, exercises many different muscles simultaneously, leads to close physical contact with peers, and is generally great fun’ (Trawick-Smith, 2010, p.206). My challenge is to address the misconceptions and show you the benefits of rough play in an early childhood setting.

Blog Outline

While on my last practicum I wrote a significant incident related to rough and tumble play with a group of children in an early childhood setting. The topic uncovered many differing perspectives among the teachers and raised the issue whether or not this type of play was acceptable in an early childhood environment. This got me very intrigued into why such extremes existed. During this 'rough play' I was incredibly impressed at how the children used this play to extend their learning and explore aspects of their daily lives with such care and order and in a sense they showed great maturity. This got me thinking are we disadvantaging  our children by not allowing them the chance to experiment and utilise this type of play in early childhood? Therefore I have chosen the topic of ‘rough play’ in early childhood education to research further, to see how this topic relates to theory, philosophies,  how a teachers role impacts this play, and the differing world views it holds in early childhood education.