1. PLAY
‘Play is a spontaneous, enjoyable, child-like activity’

2. Play
• Lesson Objectives:
1 To understand the Characteristics of Play
2 To understand the values of Play
3 To explain the difference between children
at play and adults at Play

3. Characteristics of Play
• Fun and Enjoyable
• Non serious
• Intrinsic Value
• No tangible rewards
• Spontaneous
• Time decided by agreement / No set time
• ‘Rules’ are changeable / equipment is
improvised / no officials
• Standard is not important / low skill
• Learning experience

4. So simply put…..
• Fun and Enjoyable- when they stop so does play
• Non serious- there is no competition or clear outcome
• Intrinsic Value- it is fun!!!!!!!!
• No tangible rewards- you do not win anything as such!
• Spontaneous- it just happens
• Time decided by agreement / No set time-
• ‘Rules’ are changeable / equipment is improvised / no
officials
• Standard is not important / low skill
• Learning experience

5. Examples of play?

6. Exam notes…….
The characteristics of play are grouped…..if you give one answer from a group you
cannot give another!
1 Fun and Enjoyable
Non serious / Non competitive / No clear outcome
Intrinsic Value
2 No tangible rewards
3 Spontaneous / low organisation / unplanned
4 Time decided by agreement / No set time
(Time and space are freely decided and can change at any time)
5 Space/Place decided by participants / no set boundaries
6 ‘Rules’ are changeable / equipment is improvised / no officials /
no fixed numbers (Few pre determined rules- any rules are fluid
and are freely accepted, but there are basic rules)
7 Standard is not important / low skill
8 Learning experience / physical / social / moral / environmental /
cognitive skills learned / escape reality / master reality

7. Adults also???
Children Adults
Adults play - Mimics the real world
- Increases the mastery of
- Tries to escape from the
real world
reality - Tries to escape from the
also, but for - Learning to cope with
emotions (cathartic
pressures and stress
of everyday life-
function) escape from reality
different - Release surplus energy
(e.g. play time at
- Release of emotions
(cathartic function)
school) - Refreshing and relaxing
reasons to - Opportunity for
experimentation
- leads to relationships
and friends
Exam tip: if
- Learning experience - self expression
asked to
children e.g. socialising and
co operation
discuss
- Self realisation (learning
differences
about ones self) always
- The child can learn to
perform with
compare i.e.
success in a safe children use
environment
- The child copies,
play
pretends, practises as….whereas
being an adult
adults…

8. Homework:
Answer the following exam questions
4.Using hide and seek as an example, give four characteristics of
play (4 marks)
2. Both children and adults partake in play. Give three
differences between children and adults in relation to play (3
marks)