Children are learning and developing quickly. They are playing, experimenting and learning. They are also starting to get a sense of their identity and how they are different from others through play. Children benefit from being at a daycare or a playgroup during a young age. Playgroups or daycares helps develop the children’s learning capabilities in an informal setting. This also helps in preparing them for a formal school life.

 

Play is definitely one of the main ways children learn. And because playing is fun, children become more absorbed and attentive in what they are doing. This helps them boost their ability to concentrates. Here are other ways playing helps children learn.

 

Develop social skills:

Learning to negotiate, take turns, cooperating, and role-playing are crucial skills learned in early games. These social skills grow as the kid plays and consequently, kids learn the rules and roles of society

 

Boosts language skills:

Language drastically improves as the child plays and interacts with other kids. Language starts with parents playing cooing games with their kids and then advances to higher practical levels such as telling jokes and stories. During play, children interact with others and in the process, they are able to learn new words and phrases.

 

Promotes cognitive concepts:

Play helps children learn how to solve problems. For instance, they learn what something does and what piece of what puzzle fits where. Besides, children are also able to learn numbers, colors, shapes, and sizes during play. They get the ability to boost their memory skills as well as promote their attention span.

 

Improve their physical skills:

Physical motor skills are developed as kids learn to grasp, reach, climb, run and balance. Fine physical skills are developed as children operate and handle small toys.

 

Repercussions of Reduced Child-driven Play:

Despite the numerous benefits of child play, time for playing has been drastically reduced for some kids. This trend has greatly affected the kindergarten children, whose free time have been reduced in their schedules to make more room for more academics. Reduced play time affects the implications on kid’s ability to recess or store new information since their cognitive capacity is enhanced by a significant change in activity. An academic change in class doesn’t provide a physical release.

 

Parents Role in Play:

Parents are usually their children’s first playmates. Parents have a huge role in their kid’s play. This is because kids tend to be more creative when their parents are around. So, parents should play to ensure their kids enjoy the benefits.

 

Observe: Watch your kid closely to learn what he can do and also be aware of his or her favorite activities.

 

Follow: Join and play with your kid so that he/she knows you’re interested in what he is doing. However, ensure your child is under a watchful during playtime.

 

Be creative: Use toys or play in different ways and you will be surprised at how many diverse ways you can play with one toy. This helps remove boredom and making playing more fun for your child.