Last summer I went to an amazing desert in the north of Colombia called

La Guajira. It is isolated from civilization; a place full of nature,

hammocks, and Guayu indigenous people. One day I was walking
through the dessert and saw two Guayu kids cutting out and decorating
some paper cellphone templates. I thought it was their homework for
school, nevertheless when I asked them they said they were for playing.
I couldnt believe the irony, we had gone all the way there to get away
from our phones, city, technology; and these girls were in this natural
Paradise cutting paper cellphones. It is interesting how they were
somehow playing to be us, and we were playing to be them.
My ideas about play are portrayed by historian Johan Huizingas quote
from Homo Ludens: A Study of the Play Element in Culture, because I
believe that play is intrinsically related to a natural need that cant only
be seen in humans but also in animals. Play is usually associated to
children, nevertheless it can be seen in all stages of life. The difference
between the types of play at different stages of life relies on the kind
and complexity on the game.
There is a great potential of using play as a vehicle to educate and
shape how people see and relate to the world, as well as to one another.
One of the most interesting characteristics of play is that is self
motivated and based on collaboration. This means that players can get
ownership of the game, transform it, and take it to the next level. It also
means that it encourages human interaction, exchange of ideas, and the
development of social abilities. The third principle of play is related to
human nature, and states that it is a form of practicing for real life
experiences as a mechanism of survival.
These characteristics of intrinsic motivation, community, and survival
are the same ones that are tried to be achieved by modern formal
education. For instance, there is the necessity to motivate students to
seek knowledge on their own. Also, there is encouraged the
development of a community to exchange ideas and develop social
abilities in the students. Furthermore, the ultimate purpose of education
is to develop knowledge and skills in order to survive to contemporary
challenges.
Therefore
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Play as an informal type of learning

Playing: the most important form of early learning.

Learning: the way we construct reality
The toys were the totems of the industrial revolution

Playreflectshowchildrenunderstandtheworld,anditalsoprovides
themwithopportunitiestolearnandrefinetheirsocial,emotional,
motor,andproblemsolvingskills.
HACER INFOGRAPHIC TYPES OF PLAY ACCORDING TO AGE
*Interesting enough the levels of play go hand by hand to the levels a
child develops in regard to its own awareness and its relation to the
world.

Typesofplay:
AccordingtoHenninger(2013),thedifferenttypesofplaychildren
engageincanbegeneralizedintotwocategories:cognitiveandsocial.
Dramaticplay(37yearsold)involvesthechildsubstitutingoneobjectfor
another,and/orsubstitutingtheirroleasachildforanotherrole.Thistype
ofplayallowschildrentoportrayandexpresstheirviewoftheworld,and
isstronglyencouraged.
Finally,gameswithrules(7yearsoldandonwards)appearaschildren
enteraconcreteoperationallevelofthinking(Piaget,inCrain,2005).The
rulesestablishedbythegameorthechildrenifitisanewlycreatedgame,
areagreeduponandupheldbytheplayersinvolved.
Buildinguponthis,cooperativeplay(4to7or8yearsold)takesplace
inwhichchildrenareworkingtowardsthesamegoal.Onecharacteristicof
thistypeofplaythatmakesituniquefromassociativeplayisthatchildren
arecollaboratingandevenassigningresponsibilitiesamongthemselvesto
accomplishthesamegoal(Henniger,2013).
Similartothecognitiveplayofgameswithrules,cooperativecompetitive
play(7or8yearsoldandonwards)isdescribedasbeingcooperativein
thesensethatthechildrenareplayingtoaccomplishthesameendmeans
andadheringtoestablishedrules,buttheyarealsocompetingwithothers

toaccomplishthatsameendmeans.Inthiscase,onlyagroupofplayers
orasingleplayercanachievevictoryandworkstoobtainitbeforeothers
do.

DevelopmentofPlaying
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4.
5.
6.

Classify
Create(Build)
RolePlay
Gameswithrules
Cooperativelearning
Competitiveplaying