You have to learn the rules of the game.
And then you have to play better than anyone else.
Albert Einstein
Playing games (“Game”) is an activity which is willingly accepted and loved by children. A game tests one’s possibilities, wakes dormant strengths and abilities and presents a powerful motivation to develop. Game has inherent values and can work wonders; it can turn an unmotivated child into “hard-working,” “I don’t know” into knowledgeable, “whatever” into purposeful and directed, awkward into do-it-yourselfer. Like a magic wand, a game can change youthful attitudes toward the things they have to do to achieve success that otherwise might sometimes seem to them ordinary and boring.
The essence of game activity is that the process itself is very important, usually more so than the result. Game is a serious mental activity that develops a child’s abilities to expand and enrich his range of ideas about the world [4, 6]. In the course of a game, the child learns to challenge and overcome fear, anxiety and stress. Game educates honesty, resourcefulness, initiative, perseverance and sense of purpose. Game reveals the traits that can serve as an example for others: compassion, humility, friendship, partnership. So, watching the games of children and their behavior during games, teachers can identify children’s individual characteristics and identify the most effective ways to influence them [1].
Playing, children perform various plans and roles: express their ideas and feelings about the world. A game is the main source of knowledge for a child. It develops a child’s intellectual abilities, gives opportunities to exercise reasoning, directs and focuses excess energy and emotions.
Game performs several functions:
- educational (develops skills and abilities, memory, attention, perception, etc);
- entertaining (creates a favorable atmosphere);
- communicative (develops communication skills);
- relaxation (relieves emotional stress);
- psychotechnical (prepares psyche to learn and comprehend greater amounts of information);
- developing (harmoniously advances personality traits);
- pedagogical (promotes preparation for life situations).
Game activities promote child’s physical, aesthetic and moral development [5]. Game is a means where education becomes self-education and self-education is a complicated systematic work on oneself, without which growth is stunted. The essence of a game is to solve cognitive tasks in an entertaining way. A game helps to reduce mental stress and overcome difficulties while learning [3, 7]. A game teaches a child to observe, compare, categorize items, develop memory and attention. Game allows each child to develop personality, teaches patience and enhances:
- cognitive abilities;
- imagination;
- curiosity and discovery;
- emotional stability;
- communication skills;
- organizational skills;
- problem-solving skills.
Moreover, game encourages the solution of many problems in the development of children; it:
- helps children feel unity with others;
- teaches children respect, patience and compassion;
- develops cognitive skills;
- develops decision-making skills;
- cultivates openness and the courage to express one’s attitude and opinion;
- helps to cope with one’s fears, uncertainty;
- gives the sense of security and happiness;
- develops the stronger aspects of character (initiative, persistence, determination to have things done, creative abilities, etc) [2].
Game favors smoothing of children’s negative traits: shyness, timidity, naughtiness, sensitivities, susceptibility and arrogance.
Thus, a game mobilizes intellectual potential of children, contributes to the acquisition of knowledge and skills, develops communication skills, social skills, strengthens logical, creative and spatial thinking.
References:
1. Григорян К. И., Пистун Ю. В., Ковачева Г. П. Игра как средство всестороннего воспитания личности младших дошкольников // Молодой ученый. 2014. № 17. С. 474–476.
2. Куимова М. В., Струков К. Е. Роль игры в гармоничном развитии детей младшего школьного возраста // В мире научных открытий. 2014. № 7.1 (55). С. 516–524.
3. Тясто А. А., Куимова М. В. Игра как средство развития иноязычных умений // Молодой ученый. 2015. № 2. С. 561–562.
4. Юрьева Л. А. Игра как средство общения дошкольников // Молодой ученый. 2014. № 10. С. 461–463.
5. DeVries R. Moral and intellectual development through play: how to promote children’s development through playing group games. http://www.uni.edu/coe/regentsctr/publications/Moralandintellect.pdf (accessed May 12, 2015).
6. How educational games help in child development http://www.besteducationalgamesforchildren.com/how-educational-games-help-in-child-development/ (accessed May 12, 2015).
7. Kuimova M. V. Games and quizzes in teaching English as a foreign language in a polytechnic university // В мире научных открытий. 2010. № 3–2. С. 29–32.
