Free Play is when the child has an initiative to play without the intervention of adults, whether he plays alone or in a group.  As today’s family is getting smaller with one child or there is a big age gap between siblings, the siblings don’t play together. The child often feels lonely with the free play and no friends to play. Often, when he comes to Pre-School, he doesn’t even know how to play together in a group.  

I came to know about Structured Play when my youngest child, Aimee, go to Pre-School. There is Structured Play in her timetable. What is it about ? The Pre-school headmaster explained that play was structured in such a way so the children could benefit from it.  The teachers act as a facilitator to assign the theme of the play, numbers of children and how the play shall proceed.  With the involvement of teachers,the teachers introduce new ideas of play to the children and monitor their learning abilities and social skills. The benefits that children gain from structured plays are tremendous:

•  develop learning abilities, support healthy brain development. The Pre-School headmaster said it would develop children multi-talents skills.
• Increase physical and social skills.
• gain experiences in cooperation or team skills
• develop a positive self-image and self-confidence
• develop self-discipline and responsibility as they are responsible for the toys that they play