Discuss the basic elements of play:

Play involves a state of mind and disposition: It is an absorbing, apparently purposeless activity that provides enjoyment and a suspension of self-consciousness and sense of time.It is also self-motivation and makes you want to do it again.

Play involves a process,attitude,and structure: It consists of those activities performed for self-amusement that have behavioral,social,and psychomotor rewards.It is child-directed,and the rewards come from within the individual child,it is enjoyable and spontaneous.

Play creates informal space for socio-historical comment: Play does encourage children to acquire social skills.It helps them adjust their thinking and social relationships.They probably also learn empathy through play.But there are clearly many more pathways for these forms of child development.

Play reinforces societal roles: Through play,children develop an understanding of social expectations and rules,and play provides opportunities to share thoughts and ideas,to listen,and to compromise.

The value of play for the holistic development: Play is very important to a child's development,it is an integral part of a child's early years foundation stage and supports their learning journey too.Young children can develop many skills through the power of play.They may develop their language skills,emotions,creativity and social skills.

Importance of including elements of play in teaching and learning: Play allows children to communicate ideas,to understand others through social interaction,paving the way to build deeper understanding and more powerful relationships.Children play to make sense of the world around them,and to find meaning in an experience by connecting it to something already known.

How to include play in foundation phase: Make learning an adventure- instead of describing a new topic,have learners use their imagination to visualise that they are right in the middle of what you are teaching.Use manipulatives while teaching and act it out.

Aspects to keep in mind when planning foundation phase lessons: Plan a range of activities,keep activities play based as well as developmentally appropriate.Know ability levels,backgrounds,interest levels,ability to work together in groups,prior knowledge and learning experience.Know who your learners are.

The value of utilising arts integration in foundation phase: The standards assist learners with learning facts,arts integration helps learners grow in their potential of understanding these facts.Arts integration builds cooperation,collaboration,and confidence,and when children are working together,they encourage each other to do their best.It also helps teachers reach every child.It provides a sense of ownership,giving children a way to express what they have learner in class through different art forms.

Using music in lesson planning in foundation phase: It is well recognised that music can help to develop the skills,attitudes and attributes that can support learning in other subjects.It helps to develop a child's spatial temporal reasoning skills,developing the ability to think in patterns and pictures.

Vygotsky's zone of proximal development:

Learning,according to Vygotsky's sociocultural theory,is primarily a social process in which the support of parents,caregivers,peers,and the larger society and culture plays a critical role in the development of higher psychological processes.The teacher knows how the learner learns best and can determine what a learner can achieve with outside guidance,and also assess how much they know.Zone of proximal development is the space between where you are,where the learner is,and where you want to get them to as a teacher.It is the minimum amount of intervention needed again to get the learner from plan A to plan B.I should also know what I can do to for the learner to gain the level of understanding with whatever topic I am teaching.We don't have to do everything for them,but to find how much guidance can we give to bring them to have the same understanding.Scaffolding is a supporting system or tool which we always need to match with the learner.If the learner can do without assistance, don't help rather use words of encouragement.

The important aspects of learning theories:

According to Erikson's developmental theory,each stage presents a conflict to the individual,which may or may not be successfully resolved within that stage.Foundation phase stage of industry vs inferiority can be explained as a productive relationship,where to get things done in order to succeed.Learners at this stage have a sense of competence,and they believe they have what it takes to succeed.They are also willing to try.With inferiority,here we find learners who have a feeling of failure,or have been disappointed many times.Such learners feel like they don't have enough,because children socially compare themselves to others.Some have a negative experience,or get negative feedback from the teacher.As teachers and parents we have to play an important role in our learners lives by providing enough motivation and encouragement.

Children,according to Piaget,learn in stages he referred to children as"active learners",believing that through their experience,children create their own views about the world around them.Teachers should allow learners to explore a variety of materials,particularly those that lend themselves to concepts,such as sand,water and dough.

Because Vygotsky saw learning as a social activity, collaboration is an important part of productive work in the ZPD.Vygotsky realised that we learn through our dialogic interactions with others,the area beyond a learner's level of independent skill or knowledge.Learners are apprenticing and so unable to engage in the task on their own when they perform in their ZPD for a specific assignment.They require appropriate supervision,modelling,and help,all of which can be offered through peer or teacher engagement.

The most important aspects of holistic development:

Physical development relates to the growth and skill development of the body including brain,muscles and senses.It helps identify children at risk of delay,and support their physical development through targeted activities and interventions.

Social development refers to the process by which a child learns to interact with others around them.When learners make music with their peers,they engage in social interaction.They also gain skills to communicate with other people.

Why basic knowledge about the musical development:

Children respond positively to music,and different emotions are experienced and imitated through music.Music will also teach children to develop time management skills and discipline.It can prove social skills

Arts integration is a teaching approach that uses fine arts and performing arts as a way of learning in all subject areas.Students engage in a creative process which connects an art form and another subject and meets evolving objectives in both.                                                                                                                                 The value of arts integration in the foundation phase: Through arts integration,learners in the foundation phase will improve their problem solving and critical thinking by participating in authentic learning activities.It provides teachers with the opportunity to promote and support the developmental needs of learners.Art promotes creativity.Students gain a sense of self-esteem in their ability to learn new information.Students find learning more enjoyable,and therefore are more engaged.

Applying music in teaching and learning for Foundation phase,promotes the development of the young learner.It most importantly helps learners to express their thoughts,feelings and desire.For teachers to introduce music in the lessons,allows all learners to interact with each other,and will able them to understand the lesson easily.Bringing Erikson's development theory,the fourth stage of competence,it allows learners to compete with their work.They also need support from teachers,and positive feedback.This will build their confidence and work harder.I enjoyed the lesson so far.