The symbolic game as a starting point. Breaking down the word we could talk about two concepts: On the one hand, play, a fundamental need for every child to know and grab or own the world around them, is the engine of development. On the other hand, symbolic, “to pretend”, it is about all that reality created by the children. According to J. Piaget (1896-1.980), this process corresponds to the balance between assimilation and accommodation. That is to say, face a stimulus from the environment and then modify our behavior by adjusting to external conditions.
This type of game appears, according to the stages of Piaget’s cognitive development at the end of the sensory motor period, prior to the preoperative period, between 2 and 7 years, but spontaneously as the subject acquires the notion of permanent object, simulating non-existent situations, people or objects. The child understands that even though the object is not in front of their eyes, it still exists. In addition, there is a subdivision in stages of: pre symbolic game and symbolic game.
There is a succession of stages according to their evolutionary age, depending on whether they play alone or in the company of adults or their peers (individual game in solitude, parallel to both children but unrelated or shared and cooperative), whether they are structured games or without organizational logic, and the presence or disappearance of egocentricity and social roles. All these, with common objectives of promoting meaningful learning, benefiting fine motor skills, allowing socialization and a new way of communicating.
Symbolic play has great benefits in child development, stimulates creativity and imagination, through games that involve roles, dialogues, creation of characters and descriptions. Like, for example, such as playing moms and dads, doctor cures, creating a hairdresser, dressing up, simulating scenes from everyday life, etc. They begin by simulating everyday scenes, then they include fictitious roles and emotions. Later they substitute objects and create complex scenery.
All these allow the subject to represent mental situations and develop cognitive skills, as well as promote the effective use of spoken language, since they generate rich interactions in the narration of roles and negotiation. This interpersonal intelligence generates an increase in their socio-emotional capacity.
The whole set of indirect learning that we achieve with symbolic play reveals the positive consequences for early childhood: enrichment lexical resources,vocabulary in vocabulary, stimulation of symbolic language, creativity, imagination, social skills (friendship, empathy and cooperation), increased intellectual and motor capacity. It helps to structure thinking, assimilate new behaviors, influence curiosity, experiment and need to know reality. Possibilities for action are not limited, quite the opposite. Children’s freedom emerges and helps to forge their own personality and identity. Based on your abilities and interests.
References
Klga. Macarena (2018). Juego simbólico. Estimulación Temprana y Neurohabilitación- Crece de colores. Recuperado de: https://www.crecerdecolores.com/post/etapas-del-juego
El juego simbólico en los niños. (24 de agosto de 2016). Recuperado de: https://www.etapainfantil.com/juego-simbolico
SerPadres. El juego simbólico en la escuela . (2028). Recuperado de: https://www.serpadres.es/1-2-anos/educacion-estimulacion/articulo/el-juego-simbolico-en-la-escuela-infantil-591477393342
Escuela de padres. La importancia del juego simbólico en los niños. (9, diciembre de 2019). Recuperado de: https://www.educapeques.com/escuela-de-padres/juego-simbolico.html
G. Alba y M. González. Prácticum II de la universidad de Cantabria. (2018-2019).
Imágenes: CEIP Antonio Mendoza. Santander.
El juego en el desarrollo infantil. Unidad 2. (2020). Pag 30. Recuperado de: https://www.mheducation.es/bcv/guide/capitulo/8448171519.pdf
Ceballos, N. (2020). “El valor de lo cotidiano” – Atención psicoeducativa 0-3. (Diapositivas de PowerPoint). Universidad de Cantabria.
Authorship
María González Real, Sara Castellanos Rivas y Alba Grijuela Rodrigo, 2020.