Definition of Play – Health of the children has been considered as the vital importance to all societies because children are the basic resource for the future of humankind. Nursing care of children is concerned for both the health of the children and for the illnesses that affect their growth and development. The increasing complexity of medical and nursing science has created a need for special area of child care, i.e. pediatric nursing.
Pediatric nursing is the specialized area of nursing practice concerning the care of children during wellness and illness. It includes preventive, promotive, curative and rehabilitative care of children. It emphasizes on all round development of body, mind and spirit of the growing individual. Thus, pediatric nursing involves in giving assistance, care and support to the growing and developing children to achieve their individual potential for functioning with fullest capacity.
Definition of Play
In psychology and ethology, play is a range of voluntary, intrinsically motivated activities normally associated with recreational pleasure and enjoyment. Play is commonly associated with children and juvenile-level activities, but play occurs at any life stage, and among other higher- functioning animals as well, most notably mammals.
Types of Play:
| Attunement play | Which establishes a connection, such as between newborn and mother. |
| Body play | In which an infant explores the ways in which his or her body works and interacts with the world, such as making funny sounds or discovering what happens in a fall. |
| Object play | Such as playing with toys, banging pots and pans, handling physical things in ways that use curiosity. |
| Social play | Play which involves others in activities such as tumbling, making faces, and building connections with another child or group of children. |
| Imaginative or pretend play | In which a child invents scenarios from his or her imagination and acts within them as a form of play, such as princess or pirate play. |
| Storytelling play | The play of learning and language that develops intellect, such as a parent reading aloud to a child, or a child retelling the story in his or her own words. |
| Creative play | By which one plays with imagination to transcend what is known in the current state, to create a higher state. For example, a person might experiment to find a new way to use a musical instrument, thereby taking that form of music to a higher plane; or, as Einstein was known to do, a person might wonder about things which are not yet known and play with unproven ideas as a bridge to the discovery of new knowledge. |
Importance of Play in Pediatric Unit/Regarding Child Development:
| Physical development enhanced during play | Muscular and sensory abilities developed at the time of running, climbing, riding cycle and in other active play. These activities help to strengthen muscle and to learn coordinated movements and skills. |
| Intellectual and educational development | Intellectual and educational development promote during play. Children learn color, size, shape, number, distance, height speed, name of the objects, etc. while playing with various toys and play things. |
| Emotional development | Play improves emotional development. Children express their fear, anxiety, anger, joy, etc. during play. It reduces stress and strain and removes irritability and destructiveness, thus enhances the coping abilities. |
| Moral development | Play is the means of moral development. Children learn morality from parents, teachers and other adults. During play with peers, child’s behavior will reflect the right and wrong things, honesty, sportsmanship, and value system. |
(Ref by: Paediatric Nursing, Parul Datta/3rd/129)
Function of Play in Hospital;
Chronic illness children who experience prolonged or repealed hospitalized children are risk for developmental delay. Play is essential to children’s mental, emotional and social well-being. As with their developmental needs, children needs to play even they are ill.
Play in hospital serves many functions as following:
- Provides diversion and relaxation.
- Helps the child feel more secure in a strange environment.
- Helps to lessen the stress of separation and feelings of home sickness.
- Provides a mean for release of tension and expression of feelings.
- Encourage interaction and development of positive attitudes towards others.
- Provides an expressive outlet for creative ideas and interests.
- Provides a means for accomplishing therapeutic goals.
- Place the child in active role and provides opportunity to make choice and be in control.
Selection and Care of Play Materials
Selection of play materials and toys depends upon age, abilities, interests, likes and dislikes, culture, experience, personality and level of intelligence of the child the play materials should have the following characteristics:
- Safe, washable, light weight, simple, durable, easy to handle and non-breakable.
- Realistic, attractive, constructive and offer problem solving opportunities.
- No sharp edges and no small removable parts which may be swallowed or inhaled.
- Not over stimulating and frustrating.
- No toxic paints, not costly, not inflammable and not excessive noisy.
- Play things with electrical plugs should be avoided, only children over 8 years of age should be permitted to use them.
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