Children And Play In The First

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difficult to assess. When infants are exploring their surroundings, they are usually cautious and serious. While examining an item during exploration an infant would smell, taste and perhaps rub the item against his/her cheek in a ritualistic manner. In play however, an infant would jump from one object to another without care, and play activities are completely devoid of the rigidity previously described.
Finally, when children explore their entire attention is drawn on the object begin explored. Their heart rates are steady, and they are unwilling to be interrupted. Yet, during play the children�s heart rate is variable and they are interrupted easily (Hughes, 1991). It should be easier to tell the difference between play and exploration using these behavioral differences as a guideline.
Sensorimotor Play
The first year of life consists of what Jean Piaget called sensorimotor play or practice play (Piaget, 1962), the repetition of already assimilated sensory or motor ...

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second stage is secondary circular reaction, and it appears at about four months. This stage is similar to the first, except now the child enjoys the pleasing effects that their actions make in the external world, and continue to repeat it. Piaget describes the actions of his son Laurent at four months. Lying in his crib, his father ties a watch chain to a set of rattles stretched above Laurent. �Laurent pulls...the chain or the string in order to shake the rattle and make it sound: the intention is clear� (Piaget, 1963, p.164). Thus, we see that Laurent�s focus has shifted from his own actions to the environmental consequences of such actions.
The third and final stage is tertiary ...

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