What was the significance of playing and learning within Edutainment?

This weeks readings I thought was going to be the same old Piaget and child development ideas
I have read as part of my education degree as well as the EdTech Instructional Design course.
However the readings were intriguing for me as I have read works by Piaget and Vygotsky
before but this weeks material looked at childhood development from a very different
perspective. The concept of play and how it helps a child learns to function in society and how
to learn was explored. This weeks reading dealt with how playing is an important aspect of
childhood development as well as learning and understanding their world. Vygostky basically
argues that play is the primary means through which children begin to understand the world
around them. He argues that play is a way to put off immediate needs, channel them into play in
order to learn how to function in an adult world (Vygotsky, 1933). Play is used by children to
teach themselves the rules of the immediate world around them; they start to develop moral
reasoning and how the world works and how to function in the real world as they mimic adults in
their life. Children will roll play people in their lives; such as a teacher, a parent or sibling.
Children will play mommy and daddy and or mommy and child and use a friend or a doll for one
of the roles. Through this symbolic representation the child represents objects and ideas through
play situations. As the child plays the role they also follow the rules that are part of that role
(Vygotsky, 1933). Cognitive development occurs when the external world is transformed and
internalized through this form of play, play is how we learn. The core aptitude and ability to
reason with emotions represents the learning a person has attained about emotion-related
information. Through play children have the opportunity to practice and demonstrate cognitive
and emotional development (Jeong, & Yawkey, 2000). Play becomes a strategy for cultivating
our imaginations, engaging our creativity, and embracing change, not something to grow out
of. As the world grows more complicated, complex, and fluid, our opportunities for
imagination, innovation, and play needs to increase, not decrease as it does now.

References:
Jeong, Y. K., & Yawkey, T. D. (2000). Principles of emotional development and children's
pretend play. International Journal of Early Childhood, 32(1), 9-13. Retrieved from
http://search.proquest.com/docview/194777733?accountid=9649
Rieber, L. P. (1996). Seriously considering play: Designing interactive learning environments
based on the blending of microworlds, simulations, and games. Educational Technology
Research & Development, 44(2), 43-58
Vygotsky, L. S. (1976). Play and its role in the Mental Development of the Child. Online
Version: Psychology and Marxism Internet Archive (marxists.org) 2002.