The Importance of Children's Play Reading Answers

Dec 6, 2022

The Importance of Children's Play Reading Answers is an IELTS academic passage. This IELTS reading sample – Importance of Children’s Play is taken from Cambridge IELTS 14 Reading Test 1. This is among the many educational IELTS reading topics and consists of two question types: One Word Only and True/False/Not Given. The IELTS Reading Answer talks about Importance of Children’s Play talks about the importance of play in children’s life. With the changing times, the opportunities for free play are almost becoming increasingly scarce. Today outdoor play is decreased by perceptions of risk to do with traffic, as well as parents wanting to protect their children from being the victims of crime. Candidates can improve their reading skills and practice from IELTS reading practice papers.

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Section 1

Read the Passage to Answer the Following Questions

The Importance of Children's Play Reading Answer

Section 2

Solution and Explanation

Write your answers in boxes 1-8 on your answer sheet.

Uses of children’s play

building a ‘magical kingdom’ may help develop 1 ....................
board games involve 2 .................... and turn-taking

Recent changes affecting children’s play

populations of 3 .................... have grown
opportunities for free play are limited due to:

- fear of 4 ....................

- fear of 5 ....................

- increased 6 .................... in schools

International policies on children’s play:

it is difficult to find 7 .................... to support new policies
research needs to study the impact of play on the rest of the child’s 8 ....................

(Guide: This is a one-word-only question type where after reading the passage properly, the candidates need to find the perfect answer to each of the blanks as given from 1 – 8.)

Question 1

Answer: Creativity
Supporting Sentence: “Although she isn’t aware of it, this fantasy is helping her take her first steps towards her capacity for creativity and so it will have important repercussions in her adult life.”
Keywords: this fantasy, helping, take her first steps, creativity
Keyword Location: Paragraph 1, last 2 lines
Explanation: We find the word ‘magical kingdom’ but nothing related to ‘develop. But we do find that the author is talking about ‘taking first steps towards her capacity’ which means she is developing. Now that we have deduced the word ‘develop’, we find what follows after is the word ‘creativity’. Hence the answer is creativity.

Question 2

Answer: Rules
Supporting Sentence: “Later on, when they tire of this and settle down with a board game, she’s learning about the need to follow rules and take turns with a partner.”
Keywords: settle down, follow rules, take turns
Keyword Location: Paragraph 2, last line
Explanation: The word ‘board games’ occurs in the second paragraph. From the supporting sentence, we can clearly see that the ‘board games’ is succeded with a closely related word ‘rules’. This is again succeded by ‘turn-taking’. Hence, “rules” is the correct answer.

Question 3

Answer: Cities
Supporting Sentence: “But we live in changing times, and Whitebread is mindful of a worldwide decline in play, pointing out that over half the people in the world now live in cities.”
Keywords: Whitebread, mindful, worldwide decline in play, half the people in the world, live in cities
Keyword Location: Paragraph 5, first 2 lines
Explanation: The author states that worldwide decline in play, pointing out that over half the people in the world now live in cities. We can clearly see that it is summarised as the population in cities is growing every year hence there is a decrease in children’s play. Hence the correct answer is cities.

Question 4

Answer: Traffic
Supporting Sentence: “Outdoor play is curtailed by perceptions of risk to do with traffic, as well as parents’ increased wish to protect their children from being the victims of crime, and by the emphasis on ‘earlier is better’ which is leading to
greater competition in academic learning and schools”
Keywords: Outdoor play, curtailed, perceptions of risk, traffic
Keyword Location: Paragraph 5, line 4
Explanation: The author states that Outdoor play is curtailed by perceptions of risk to do with traffic. It is also because of parents’ increased wish to protect their children from being the victims of crime. Here ‘perceptions of risk’ is summarised in ‘fear of’ and there are two risks/fears mentioned, i.e., traffic and crime. Hence the correct answer is traffic and crime.

Question 5

Answer: Crime
Supporting Sentence: “Outdoor play is curtailed by perceptions of risk to do with traffic, as well as parents’ increased wish to protect their children from being the victims of crime, and by the emphasis on ‘earlier is better’ which is leading to
greater competition in academic learning and schools.”
Keywords: protect their children from being the victims of crime
Keyword Location: Paragraph 5, line 5
Explanation: the explanation is similar to question 4. We can find a reference for this sentence in paragraph 5. ‘Outdoor play is curtailed by perceptions of risk to do with traffic, as well as parents’ increased wish to protect their children from being the victims of crime’. Here ‘perceptions of risk’ are summarised in ‘fear of’ and there are two risks/fears mentioned, i.e., traffic and crime. Hence the correct answer is traffic and crime.

Question 6

Answer: Competition
Supporting Sentence: “Outdoor play is curtailed by perceptions of risk to do with traffic, as well as parents’ increased wish to protect their children from being the victims of crime, and by the emphasis on ‘earlier is better’ which is leading to
greater competition in academic learning and schools.”
Keywords: earlier is better, greater competition, academic learning
Keyword Location: Paragraph 5, last 2 lines
Explanation: In paragraph 5, it is mentioned that ‘emphasis on ‘earlier is better’ which is leading to greater competition in academic learning and schools’. Here ‘emphasis on ‘earlier is better’’ clearly points to the increase, and then it is succeded by ‘competition’. Hence the correct answer is competition.

Question 7

Answer: Evidence
Supporting Sentence: “But what they often lack is the evidence to base policies on.”
Keywords: But what they often lack, evidence, base policies on
Keyword Location: Paragraph 6, last line
Explanation: We can find the reference for this is found in paragraph 6. ‘what they often lack is the evidence to base policies on’. Here ‘often lack’ clearly points to difficulty and is succeeded by ‘policies’ which is preceded by ‘evidence to base’ which clearly points to ‘support new policies’ in the sentence. Hence the correct answer is policies.

Question 8

Answer: life
Supporting Sentence: “Dr. Jenny Gibson agrees, pointing out that although some of the steps in the puzzle of how and why play is important to have been looked at, there is very little data on the impact it has on the child’s later life.
Keywords: very little data, impact, child’s later life
Keyword Location: Paragraph 8, lines 2 - 3
Explanation: In paragraph 8, the author mentions that ‘there is very little data on the impact it has on the child’s later life. We see the word ‘impact’ match which is followed by the word ‘child’s later’ which clearly points to ‘the rest of the child's. Now only one word is left that completes the sentence which is ‘life’ and thus it is the right answer.

Questions 9-13:

Do the following statements agree with the information given on the reading passage?

In boxes 9-13 on your answer sheet, write

TRUE if the statement agrees with the information

FALSE if the statement contradicts the information

NOT GIVEN if there is no information on this

Children with good self-control are known to be likely to do well at school later on.
The way a child plays may provide information about possible medical problems.
Playing with dolls was found to benefit girls’ writing more than boys’ writing.
Children had problems thinking up ideas when they first created the story with Lego.
People nowadays regard children’s play as less significant than they did in the past.

(Guide: In this question type, candidates need to recognize if the particular question is true or false after studying the passage. In case the answer is not given in the passage, candidates can mark it as Not given)

Question 9:

Answer: True
Supporting Sentence: “Now, thanks to the university’s new Centre for Research on Play in Education, Development and Learning (PEDAL), Whitebread, Baker, Gibson and a team of researchers hope to provide evidence on the role played by
play in how a child develops.”
Keywords: self-control, problem,s more quickly
Keyword Location: Para 11, first 2 lines
Explanation: We find a reference for this statement in paragraphs 11 and 12. We can clearly deduce that children with greater self-control, does significantly well in educational practices which is very much in sync with the given statement. Hence the answer is true.

Question 10:

Answer: True
Supporting Sentence: “Gibson adds: ‘Playful behaviour is also an important indicator of healthy social and emotional development. In my previous research, I investigated how observing children at play can give us important clues about their
well-being and can even be useful in the diagnosis of neurodevelopmental disorders like autism.’’
Keywords: observing children, play, important clues, well-being, useful, diagnosis, neurodevelopmental disorders, autism
Keyword Location: Paragraph 13, lines 2 - 4
Explanation: The author mentions that observing children at play can give us important clues about their well-being. This can even be important for the diagnosis of neurodevelopmental disorders like autism. It can be clearly deduced that the way a child plays helps with medical problems. This clearly makes the given statement true.

Question: 11:

Answer: Not Given
Explanation: The passage does not state any information related to the question. Hence, the answer is not given.

Question 12:

Answer: False
Supporting Sentence: In the latest study, children first created their story with Lego, with similar results.
Keywords: Children, longer, better-structured stories when played with dolls representing characters, the latest study, children, created, Lego
Keyword Location: Paragraph 14, lines 3 - 5
Explanation: We find the reference for this statement in paragraph 14. It can be clearly seen that the children wrote better-structured stories when they played with dolls as well as lego. They were producing similar results which are in contrast to the given statement, hence the answer is false.

Question 13:

Answer: True
Supporting Sentence: Somehow the importance of play has been lost in recent decades.
Keywords: Somehow, the importance of play, lost, recent decades
Keyword Location: Paragraph 16, line 1
Explanation: The supporting statement says that the importance of play has been lost in recent times. This means that they were more significant in the past.