What is work and what is play to a child?

I recently found a vintage health book on Amazon and it is a part of a series that I used when I was in early elementary school. The activity that I am going to share with you is from the health text ‘All About You’. This was a first grade text, but with today’s children it would be perfect for pre-K and Kindergarten.

Health Lesson

The teacher will need toys, puppets and/or stuffed animals and dolls to complete this activity discussion. Gather the children in a circle on their mats and ask them ‘What is work?’ The teacher can share with the children the definition we learned as students ‘Play is a child’s work.’ The teacher will have all the chosen toys just laying around on the floor then the teacher will ask the children how do we get these toys to do something. The teacher could ask other questions like ‘What does your dad do for work?’ or ‘What does your mom do for work?’ ‘What is work?’ ‘Is work healthy for you or anybody?’ Once again the teacher can ask the children ‘How do children work?’ All the answers to the questions will vary. Ask each child to pick a toy and then tell them to make them do something like make the toy dance, jump or kick a ball. Explain to the child that them trying to make the toys do something is work. Maybe not like your dad and mom, but it is work.

Cognitive domain: The children will learn that play and work are different yet the same.
Affective domain: The children will get a sense that work can be fun and lets them express themselves in many ways.
Psychomotor domain: The children will play ‘Work’ with the toys to make them to things.