Why Play Matters
THE POWER OF PLAY AND WHY IT MATTERS FOR CHILD DEVELOPMENT.
What if I told you there was one thing you could do to increase your child’s physical skills, cognitive skills, social-emotional skills, and language skills? Yes, ONE thing! Would you do it?!
It’s PLAY!
Children have been playing long before any toys came into existence. That’s because it's a fundamental aspect of their growth and development. So let's dive into why play matters and how it impacts various aspects of a child's life.
PLAY MATTERS FOR PHYSICAL DEVELOPMENT
Active play like crawling, running, jumping, skipping, and climbing provide opportunities for children to develop gross motor skills, coordination, spatial awareness, and balance. Fine motor skills are developed during playful activities like stacking blocks, coloring and drawing, and puzzles.
Physical play also helps build strength and endurance. Whether they’re playing on the playground or crawling through a couch and chair obstacle course in your living room, physical play helps children develop and gain confidence to move throughout their own world.
BONUS: PLAY DEVELOPS FLEXIBILITY
We’re not talking about the splits! Instead of simply memorizing facts and figures, play encourages them to explore — with their hands and body!
PLAY MATTERS FOR COGNITIVE DEVELOPMENT
Cognition is anything that requires thinking. It’s one of our favorite aspects of play! Other than language, of course! Thinking encompasses problem solving, memory, making decisions, reasoning, attention, and perception. The best part is that play easily addresses each one of these skills!
Fun fact: Cognitive development through play really begins during infancy. Remember playing a simple game of peek-a-boo or imitating your baby’s vocalizations? In those moments, you were helping them build their cognition. Pretty amazing, right?!
Play and thinking go hand in hand.
To give you an example, let’s breakdown the cognitive skills involved in a simple activity like stacking blocks.
STACKING BLOCKS:
Perception and attention: It’s important to have an understanding of where our body is and the object is in order to manipulate it. We also need a fair amount of sustained attention to complete the task.
Problem solving and making decisions: When the block tower falls down, we can decide to try using the larger blocks for the base instead of the smaller ones.
Memory and reasoning: We learn by doing, right? A child will need to remember what worked and what didn’t. They’ll use reasoning to come up with a new idea that’s logical.
Language development: For a toddler, parents can incorporate basic concepts that naturally occurring during play to increase vocabulary. These are words like up/down, more/all done, short/tall, and high/low.
CHECK IN
Are you understanding the bigger picture?! During PLAY, children are constantly using their brains to figure things out. By engaging in play-based learning, children develop the thinking skills they need to analyze situations and make informed (and good) choices.
PLAY MATTERS FOR SOCIAL-EMOTIONAL CONNECTION
Social-emotional development includes:
Temperament: how we respond and interact with others and in different situations
Attachment: the emotional bond between child and parent or caregiver
Social competence: the ability to get along with others and adapt in new situations
Emotional regulation: the ability to control emotions and reactions
The parent-child bond is crucial to a child’s social-emotional development.
One of the most effective and efficient ways we can connect with our children is through play.
As parents, we value our children. We want them to feel seen, heard, and loved. During play, we get to observe how our child responds, adapts, and reacts to familiar and not so familiar situations. A secure bond with our child allows us to help them navigate the difficult situations.
Let’s go back to our stacking blocks example. Have you ever seen your child get frustrated when a block tower falls down or a sibling knocks it over? As parents, we have the privilege of guiding them through this situation and teaching them how to respond. Temperament, social competence, and emotional regulation occur BECAUSE of our trusted attachment to them.
PLAY MATTERS FOR LANGUAGE DEVELOPMENT
Language is the primary way we communicate our wants, needs, and ideas. Developing language skills allows children to effectively communicate with the people around them. That’s YOU, their family, friends, peers, and others around them.
As children learn to use language through play, they also develop their thinking and problem-solving abilities. Remember the cognitive skills we talked about earlier?
Play and Language go Hand in hand.
With strong language abilities, children can comprehend information, follow instructions, and effectively participate in classroom activities. You could easily say language skills lay the groundwork for reading, writing, and critical thinking.
Through language, children learn to take turns, understand and express their emotions, and increase their self-awareness. By engaging in conversations, children learn to actively listen and share experiences. Language is a catalyst for interaction and building meaningful relationships.
In short, communication, cognitive development, academic success, and social skills are a few of the big ways play can have an impact on language.
BOnus: Communication is the foundation of human connection.
As adults, we know the importance of teamwork and communication in the workplace. These skills are just as important for children to learn and play is the perfect way for them to practice. Whether they're playing a game of tag with friends or putting together a puzzle with siblings, play teaches children how to work together and communicate with others.
LEt’s recap
Not only does play encompass larger aspects of a child’s development like mental and physical health, relationships and language, there are also MANY smaller skills within those areas that are impacted.
At the core of play is the bond between a parent and child. Through play, parents have the opportunity to connect with their children on a deeper level, building trust, empathy, and love.
PLAY IDEAS FOR DEVELOPING PHYSICAL, COGNITIVE, SOCIAL-EMOTIONAL DEVELOPMENT, AND LANGUAGE
So we’ve talked about why play matters. How do we use each element within our daily rhythms to invoke wonder, curiosity, and connection with our kids? Here’s a list of a few favorite ideas that encompass each element — no sensory bin necessary.
Play a simple game of tag
Complete a puzzle together
Paint a picture
Play pretend
Go on a nature walk
THE IMPORTANCE OF PLAY
So what role does PLAY provide in early childhood development? In short: an essential one.
Play holds so much value in our children'‘s physical and mental health, their language development and relationships. As parents, caregivers, and educators, it’s necessary we prioritize playtime as an integral part of a child's everyday routine. In doing so, we help set the foundation for success in all areas of life.
The next time your child asks you to join them in a game of pretend or to build a fort out of cushions, say yes! Embrace the power of play and watch as your child grows, learns, and thrives. Because when it comes down to it, play isn't just something children do—it's how they learn, explore, and make sense of the world around them.
Now let’s all go play!
DON’T JUST TAKE OUR WORD FOR IT:
Learning Through Play: A Review of the Evidence
Learning Through Play: A Review of the Evidence — Summary
Neuroscience and Learning Through Play
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