The use of art as a play therapeutic medium in the classroom

Abstract

SIGNIFICANCE OF PLAY IN A CHILD’S LIFE AS 3 title of a recent article by Brian SuttonSmith (1971) indicates, a child’s play is “very serious business” indeed. For Erickson (1963) play is an integral part of a child’s life; a kind of “emotional laboratory” in which the child learns to master his environment. Through creating and trying out model. situations he develops hypotheses about the world around him. Erickson (1964, p. 10) states: “I propose the theory that child’s play is the infantile form of the human ability to deal with experience by creating model situations and to master reality by experiment and planning.” As Sutton-Smith further points out (1971): “Play is the child’s way of confirming what he knows about the world. Wnat he doesn’t know, he guesses. In its most developed form, play becomes a quest for higher forms of integration.” In the same spirit, Ginnot (1961, p. 5 1) notes that “the child’s play is his talk and toys are his words.” It was Piaget (1969) however, who first demonstrated that much of what we call play is really the activity of intelligence. The child in play, Piaget asserts, learns discrimination and forms of adaptive behavior from the very first days of life through play activities. American psychologists such as White (1966) have further shown that much of a cnild’s time is spent in significant “play exploration” of his environment, which results eventually in “compentence.” Hence, play-seeking activities for the young child are seen as “compentence-motivated.” Millar (1968), in a recent review of the psychology of play, points out that play occurs more frequently as one goes up the phylogenetic scale. Play, she asserts, is a “biologically useful” activity which provides a species with an opportunity to learn and practice behavioral modes which are necessary for survival and growth into maturity. Play and learning are hence intimately related. In this connection, Gordon in her test, Games for Growth (1970), discusses the relationship of playful fun (i.e., games) to learning in the classroom when she says: