intelligence, creativity, imagination, expectation, intention, and belief. For each of these functions of intellect a case can be argued that a child during the act of play is improving on each of these aspects of intelligence. Both attention and perception are raised by the focus required to master games of skill. Language formation and development is a completely social process and as such benefits greatly from the social interactions provided through play-time. Reading, writing, problem solving, and all the various functions of the intellect are sharpened through a persons social interactions. In this sense, a great deal of the linear transfer of human knowledge from one generation to the next is a social occurrence. Due to the large amount of effort a child go through in order to develop the very complex cognitive skills required for their survival it is evident that Dr. Brazeltons idea of play being the work of a child has some merit. Research indicates that play a method use universally, regardless of culture or soci-economic statues, by children to explore the limits of their body, their limits of sensory perception, and how to fully assimilate the information provided through these senses into the range of human interaction. As Dr. Brazelton said, through play children learn about themselves and the world around. During play children create worlds of fantasy and in these imaginary worlds they learn to incorporate their day-to-day experiences into their psyche through actively attempting to understand and control those experiences. According to Bettelheim, through play, more then anything else, the child achieves mastery of the external world. A childs imaginative skills during play are totally devoted to an attempt at manipulate the environment around them. This trait has proven to be vital to humanitys survival and consequent evolution. A Childs exploration of their environment during the act of play is a function of t...
