The Importance Of Play For Your Children

A child playing chess on a wooden chess board, they are about to make their first move.

All kinds of games are important for children

Collaborative post by another author.

Children have a variety of needs that need to be met in order to develop into balanced adults and one of the often under recognised things is lots of time to play. Play is actually one of the most vital elements of all when it comes to your children developing as individuals, so anything you can do to help with this is really going to be worthwhile. In this post, we are going to discuss the importance of play for your children and talk about some of the things you can do to help ensure that they are getting an opportunity for regular play in their lives.

Cognitive Development

One of the main benefits of play is it's role in cognitive development. It might look like they are engaging in a simple task to you, but play gives children a safe environment in which they can develop problem solving, process information and understand the world around them. While all play will have some form of cognitive benefit you can also encourage it to be incorporated in a conscious way. Certain kinds of games are good for cognitive development, for example simple matching games for younger kids and puzzles like minesweeper for older kids. Think memory and mind games, pretend play and jigsaws, even hide and seek encourages cognitive development.

Physical Growth

Play is also important for reasons of physical growth, which is something that people often forget about or overlook. From climbing trees to riding bikes, active play helps children to develop strength, coordination, and motor skills, all essential skills for life. Building healthy habits early on, such as regular physical activity and movement, will benefit children as they grow up as they can help prevent obesity and other health issues.

Emotional Benefits

Play provides a lot of emotional benefits for children. It gives them a safe way to express and develop their emotions; whether they’re pretending to be superheroes or reenacting real-life situations with toys. Allowing them time to act out scenarios allows them to work through different feelings and how to manage them. It's not just pretend feelings they get to explore either; in many games children will have moments of frustration, disappointment and happiness as they try to master a technique or win a game. Playing with them to help them recognise and name those feelings, as well as teaching them skills to manage some of the negative feelings helps develop a healthy balanced child.

Social Skills

Another hugely important development that can be learnt through play is social skills. Playing games that involve turn taking, teamwork or negotiation are a great way to develop social skills. Role play allows children to take on different scenarios which will develop empathy skills as they explore feelings from the perspectives of others. Any play that involves other people are great for developing social skills (although in the case of role play they can simply imagine others) so consider boardgames and group games like charades or sports where they need to work as a team and collaborate to win.

When children are encouraged to spend time playing they will develop a whole range of skills. While it is important children spend time reading, writing and learning real world tasks like cooking, the importance of play (even for older children) shouldn't be overlooked. They get to explore ideas and skills in a safe environment, better preparing them for what they will face when they are older. All time spent playing: whether on a computer game or building with bricks are important, but for the biggest benefits encourage a balanced approach with lots of different forms of play.