Children are born with an instinct for play. We can see it very early on in a child’s development, from the way they’ll use their hand to play with the light filtering through a window through to their games of peek a boo and the development of their imaginative play. Play is the language of children and an important part of how they learn and develop. Play experiences are not only fun for children, but play promotes neural growth which in turn contributes to social, emotional and physical development.
Play helps children to:
Explore their limits and boundaries
Learn about their body and develop their physical skills
Learn about their emotions and how to manage them
Develop social skills, communication and language
Develop rhythm, listening and hearing
Build their confidence and self esteem
Build their imagination and creative skills
Build their attention, concentration and focusing skills
Build their problem-solving skills.
You can help to encourage play by promoting and building different types of play into your child’s life.
Unstructured play is a vital form of play, and children benefit from having unstructured free play in their day every day. Unstructured play is play that is led by your child based on their interests at the time. It could be creative arts, playing with toys, building with blocks, inventing games, playing outside or at a park, playing music or dress-ups, playing alone or with friends, with their siblings or with you. When it comes to unstructured play anything goes! And it helps to think of your child as the expert and that often, the messier the better!
Structured play is also useful but is more often led by an adult and is an organised part of a child’s schedule. Structured play could be music lessons, sport lessons, dance or drama classes, board games, story time at the library, holiday program activities or a specific art activity. Structured play is great for the building of specific skills, confidence, self-esteem and social connectedness.
Outdoor and nature play is also really important for children, but in our more modern world, something that children don’t have as much access to as they used to have. Nature play is the experience of being outside in nature, be it the back yard, the local park, the beach or creek. Playing in nature has all the benefits described above but has the added benefit of helping children to nurture their relationship with their environment, to enjoy the feeling of moving their bodies, to experiment with getting dirty and messy and to explore limits, boundaries and safe risk taking.
Knowing all this, it’s no surprise that children are driven to play and engage in play so easily. So don’t wait. Help your children to get busy playing, help them to spend time away from their screens and encourage them to tap into their creativity and inner desire to explore and innovate. And don’t forget, play can bring beautiful moments for connection too – when the moment strikes set aside what you’re doing and allow yourself to join your child in their wonderful world of play.
Want to know more about your child’s development or how to use play to support their social, emotional and physical growth? We’re here to explore all these issues and more. To get in touch with our team call us on (03) 9882-8874.
Blog written and prepared by our Principal Psychologist - Dr Victoria Miller.