The importance of play has many benefits for children as they grow up. It’s something that they should be doing from a very young age so that they understand and benefit from the value that playtime can bring them.
Despite the advancements in technology, which have certainly altered childhood and growing up for younger generations. In comparison to those who existed without the internet for a time. Despite this, play will forever be important and it’s something that you should be encouraging your children to do on a daily basis.
What are the benefits of play? What can children gain from such a valuable activity? In this article, you’ll understand all the benefits that come from play and how it’ll benefit your child not just in the short-term but further down the line.
Learning
Play is highly important because it helps your children understand all about themselves and the world that they live in. From playing doctors or house to testing their creative skills through painting or dressing up, there’s a lot that your child or children will get from their playtime every day.
There are skills that your child will pick up when it comes to all facets of life. From studying and working to relationships and emotional understandings whether that’s confidence or self-esteem in.
Learning is something that you want to give to your child in abundance. It can be challenging and pressure to take on the responsibility of teaching your child everything you know. However, you are one of the best examples that your child could have. Everything they’ve learned so far has likely been greatly influenced by yourself.
That’s why it’s important to encourage play so that even when you’re not looking, they’re learning something new in life.
Helps with stress
As a parent, you want to take any type of negative feeling away from your child. However, it’s part and parcel of life. Sometimes, you have to take the rough with the smooth, the good with the bad.
Stress is one of those emotions that can become all-consuming and can be found in many areas of life. From work stress to personal stress whether it be studying for exams in school to dealing with the break-up of your first boyfriend or girlfriend. When it comes to coping with stress, it’s good to help find those coping mechanisms that will help your kids.
Play is one of those natural outlets that can be helpful to use for your children when they’re getting stressed out. It can be super handy when your children need that outlet so that they can work through their anxiety and/or fears without feeling like it’s drowning them.
At the same time, you want to try and be in tune with their emotions when they’re stressed so that you can do as much as possible as a parent to help reduce their stress levels.
If and when you spot the signs of a stressed-out kid, have a bank of activities that you can do as a family in order to relieve some of that stress.
Useful for problem-solving
Being able to solve problems is a skill that many employers look for when hiring candidates for their company. Problem-solving is something that can be helpful in resolving issues quickly and efficiently.
As a child, there can be many examples of problem-solving present during play. Play can help children practice decision-making, whether that’s on their own or with others present. The challenge comes when playing with others because every child might have a different and potential resolution to offer.
Being able to problem-solve while also listening to others is an important skill and quality to have. Independently, play can be great for your child or children to overcome the obstacles set in front of them. What is that’s preventing them from moving forward? How can they overcome the issue without creating any other problems?
While the problem may not be immediately apparent, it’s definitely something to watch and see how your child handles it once they realize it. As a parent, you can offer help but it’s worthwhile offering guidance so that they’re able to navigate the problem themselves. Even if that means it takes a little bit longer to solve.
Again, problem-solving starts from a young age, particularly when playing with toys that require the child to solve a puzzle or navigate from A to B which involves numerous challenges, is a great way to test this problem-solving skill.
Online games can also prove effective with problem solving, like mahjong or solitaire for those who are a little older and can understand how to play these games.
Self-control
Children can have a hard time, especially from a young age, regulating their emotions. The reasons why they tend to get emotional and have an outburst – usually referred to as a tantrum – is often down to not understanding the big emotions they’re feeling.
They will look to you as an adult for guidance on how to regulate those emotions. However, there are other ways in which a child can find success in self-control and that’s through play. Play can help children develop self-control, which allows them to regulate their feelings and negotiate with others.
It can also help with delaying gratification which is important when it comes to teaching children about the benefits of waiting for bigger rewards and not always going for that immediate reward when offered.
Mental flexibility
Play is helpful when it comes to developing their mental flexibility. Through the sense of the unknown, it can help your children to understand that things don’t always go to plan and many emotions can be sprung up at any time without much notice.
That mental flexibility is improtant as they grow and is particularly important once they reach puberty. As they head through their teenage years, there will be a load of hormones thrust upon them and that can impact their mental health. Take into consideration their education and every experience that comes with being a teenager, having that mental flexibility is key!
Social skills
Social skills are something that everyone should have and a lot of it is crafted from a young age. The social skills that you need growing up are important and they’ll end up shaping who you are as an individual, as well as who you end up surrounding yourself with.
Some children have more trouble with their social skills than others. Some may be more introverted, while others have no problem interacting with individuals they don’t know or only know so much.
Learning how to get along with others, even if they don’t particularly like them, is something that can be helpful to learn and improve upon. We all have to exist on the same planet, so it’s good to educate your child on this when interacting with others in your own environment and daily life.
Language and math
Language and maths are great skills to have and it’s something that’s going to help them once they’ve started school.
If you’re looking to give them a head start, then you should definitely consider providing play opportunities that are helpful for the purpose of language and maths.
For example, you could give them marbles to count or perhaps foam letters to learn the alphabet. You’ve got plenty of toys you can purchase but also plenty of resources and activities that you can print off or do online.
Improves physical health
It has to be said that kids have an unlimited amount of energy and when you’re an adult, it can be hard to keep up with the energy that they have available to burn. You forget just how much energy they have and you haven’t.
So with that in mind, look at how you can incorporate play into their everyday life so that they’re getting a good amount of exercise a day. By incorporating physical exercise and play that allows for plenty of energy burning, you’ll instill healthy habits within your children as they grow up.
We all need exercise and physical exercise should be fun, rather than being a chore. If it’s fun, then it doesn’t feel like you’re working out, which can be part of the challenge in getting kids interested in sports and physical activity.
Helps them follow rules
And finally, one of the most important benefits of play is that it helps them follow rules. Whether it’s rules made up by the kids they play with, to the rules of a game that they play with you or others. Following rules is an important part of society because, without rules, the world would be a very different place.
Being able to follow rules helps make them into better human beings not only as kids but as they grow up. The more they follow the rules, the less trouble they’ll likely get themselves in.
There are plenty of benefits when it comes to play, so make sure to do as much play with your kids as possible.