THE GAME IN CHILDREN: A NATURAL ACTIVITY
The game is a natural activity that all higher animals practice, since it constitutes a tool with which puppies can safely practice basic skills for their survival. In humans, the game has an even deeper connotation, since it not only contributes to physical development but allows the psychomotor, cognitive and social maturation of the child that continues even to adulthood until adulthood.
In this context, it is important to point out that recreational activity has a psychic and another physical component that is not possiblelevel of consciousness, but on the contrary the automatism and involuntary reflexes prevail. Towards the 5th and 6th month of life, this automatism gives way to the instinctive activity that is very physical, and the challenges and sudden games predominate;until finally reaching the conscious activity that we all understand as a game.
Psychological theories of the game
Throughout history, many thinkers, philosophers and psychologists have addressed playful activity from every point of view, in an attempt to explain their function in the complex scheme of the human mind.
One of the first who was interested in formulating a playful theory was Locke, who started from the vulgar concept of the adult who plays to rest;According to his theory, the child would do the same, however it was shown that in children the game does not have a recreational purpose because children play only when they are rested unlike what happens with adults.
Subsequently, psychodynamic theories arose, in which the game is considered as a liberating act. For example, Freud argued that in children the game constitutes an expression of their repressed feelings and their dissatisfied desires. While for Stern the game allows the release of the impotence suffered by the infant given its dependence on adults.
However, for some psychologists the game has a practical and natural function. Spencer affirms that the game constitutes a practical element of adaptation to the environment;And for Groos it constitutes a way of exercising his instincts in the struggle for survival.
Despite these postulates, the cognitive current is the one that has had the most acceptance. In this sense, Jean Piaget developed a complex psychogenetic theory in which children’s forms are expressed according to intellectual structures throughout development.
In the first place, the sensoriomotor game is expressed, in which motor responses are made based on a sensory stimulus;then the symbolic game, where activities are imitated as a form of expression;And finally the rules game, where restrictions are adopted within the framework of social interaction.
As can be seen, the analysis of recreational activity is a complex issue, but fundamental to the integral development of children. Consequently, it is important to determine cognitive evolution according to age when choosing the type of game and adequate toys to achieve comprehensive stimulation in the first years of life.
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