There are two types of play-based education:
1) Education through guided play
Education through guided play depends on the existence of an educational program and a pre-directed plan as well. Of course, the guided-play has some level of teacher guidance or involvement. Because education through guided-play contains many educational activities, it is usually associated with schools and educational clubs.
2) Education through free play
Education through free play does not depend on a prior plan or existence of an educational program, being opposite to education through guided play. In education based on free play, children determine which games that may suit them and the way they will be playing them. Therefore, free play is usually performed at home with the help of parents.
Types of play
There are many types of play that indirectly develop children's perceptions and mental powers, where researchers have classified them in several categories, including:
Spontaneous free play is a primary form of play, where no rules or principles governing the play are existing. This type of play is most often corried out individually, not in groups, where the child plays whenever he wishes, stops when he becomes saturated and begins to feel bored. Most of games associated with this type of play are investigative and exploratory.
This type of play depends on children's broad imagination and creative abilities, where children take on roles of some human and material life paradigms surrounding them. This type of play has arisen in response to some strong emotional impressions, where the child is affected by a life model from environment surrounding him.
Recreational and sports play: This type of play includes all activities passed on from generation to generation and carried out by children, including popular games.
Illusionary play is one of the most common play carried out in the early childhood stages. This type of play is also considered one of the popular types of play, where the child deals with materials or situations as if they have more properties than they actually do.
This type of play is most related to synthetic games, and is one of the expressive artistic activities that stem from conscience and aesthetic taste, including drawing using different materials.
- Investigative and exploratory play:
This type of play includes every activity that a child performs to learn the structural components of something and how they work.
This type of play represents a distinguished activity for children governed by objective rules, where it has a specific beginning and end, through which efficiency of language communication between children can be developed. In the language-related play children are trained to use many language tools, such as letters, names or verbs, correctly, giving children opportunities for language creativity through free oral exercises.
This kind of play enables the child to acquire various information, knowledge and experiences, including various story-related activities, such as reading and writing.
- Building and constructing play:
This type of play includes building and construction activity in various methods, using different materials.
This type of play includes different aspects of activities directed to children with different mental disorders to rid them of their suffering.
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