Exposing
your little one to the world of art and culture has always been deemed
beneficial. Extra curricular and group activities always help in
developing children's personality as well as social skills. Experts from
the University of Washington have found that using playground swings
for play activity can teach children how to get along with each other.
The measured synchronous movement of children on the swings was found to
encourage preschoolers to cooperate in subsequent activities, experts
suggested.
"Synchrony
enhances cooperation, because your attention is directed at engaging
with another person, at the same time. We think that being 'in time'
together enhances social interaction in positive ways" said Tal-Chen
Rabinowitch, University of Washington.
Researchers
paired four-year old kids in three groups - those who swung in sync,
out of sync and the ones who didn't swing at all. The kids were assigned
to take part in various activities to assess the level of cooperation.
It was found that the children who swung in synchronization completed
the tasks faster and indicated better cooperation when compared with
their counterparts. For kids moving in sync can create a feeling of
"being like" another child that may encourage them to communicate more
and try to work together, experts said.
"We didn't
know before we started the study that cooperation between
four-year-olds could be enhanced through the simple experience of moving
together," said Meltzoff.
Some of the previously conducted
studies analysed the association between music other pro-social
behaviours. Similar results were noted suggesting that such activities,
when done in sync with other children, can heighten the sense of
helping, sharing and empathising among young children. In this study,
researchers sought to focus on movement alone, without music, and
examined how children cooperated with one another afterward. The study
was published in the Journal of Experimental Child Psychology.
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