https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Learning_through_play#Criticism_of_play-based_learning

Learning through play is a term used in education and psychology to describe how a child can learn to make sense of the world around them. Through play children can develop social and cognitive skills, mature emotionally, and gain the self-confidence required to engage in new experiences and environments.[1]

Key ways that young children learn include playing, being with other people, being active, exploring and new experiences, talking to themselves, communication with others, meeting physical and mental challenges, being shown how to do new things, practicing and repeating skills and having fun.[2]

Definitions of work and play[edit]

According to proponents of the concept, play enables children to make sense of their world. Children possess a natural curiosity to explore and play acts as a medium to do so. In the book Einstein Never Used Flash Cards, five elements of children's play are listed:[3]

• Play must be pleasurable and enjoyable.
• Play must have no extrinsic goals; there is no prescribed learning that must occur.
• Play is spontaneous and voluntary.
• Play involves active engagement on the part of the player.
• Play involves an element of make-believe.

Definitions of play

• Creativity

Role play and pretend play involves creativity, such as: making props to use or finding objects to be used as props. Play can also be creative when the player constructs building blocks, uses paint or uses different materials to build an object. Creativity is not about the end product, but the process of the play scenario.

• Imagination

Imagination is used during play when the person involved creates images in their minds to do with their feelings, thoughts and ideas. The person then uses these images in their play.[4]

Seven common characteristics of play are listed in Playing and Learning, by Beverlie Dietze and Diane Kashin: Play is active, child-initiated, process oriented, intrinsic, episodic, rule-governed, and symbolic.[5]

Work[edit]

There are critical differences between play and work. Play is mostly a self-chosen activity by the child, rather than prescribed by a parent or teacher; it is a process, rather than a predicted outcome or product. Work, on the other hand, has a definite intent and a prescribed outcome.[6]