Learning Through Play: Why Play is Important

A child’s world is never complete without play. Their toys are their most enjoyable possessions. When they have chosen their favourite toys, they never get of tired playing with them. Their toys are enough to give them an enjoyable time through solitary playing and even without the company of other kids! The toys serve as their playmates in their magical world and eventually, the toys become their best friends to which they even hug or place beside them when they go to sleep and refuse to part with them at home or on a journey.

When no playmate is around or the members of the family are busy with the household chores, oftentimes the child becomes creative in making an imaginative world with his or her toys; talking to them, laughing and doing things with their toys as the narrator, director and the actors doing the protagonist and the antagonist roles all at once. The dialogues used during the role-playing express your child’s concepts of the good and the bad guys — things that they may have learned from the people around them, the environment that he is in and from resources like books, radio, and media. These factors influence many aspects for early learning, as well as the development of the child’s mental, emotional, physical and social capabilities and are often manifested on the way they create their imaginary world through play.

When a child is in an interactive or parallel world with their friends, their language and communication skills are developed through the playful experience as there is a need to verbalize their thoughts and feelings, when he or she explains and defends herself to friends as to why they choose to act a certain way; they are expressing an important life skill of defending what they believe is right. Play truly allows the kids to put to good use what they have learned. Our childcare centre in Miranda implements play in our early education to ensure your children are prepared to interact with the world and others around them.

The little ones gain a lot from play. Here are some points that prove why play is crucial in the early learning of children:

  1. Plays broaden the kids’ knowledge and skills gained from diverse learning experiences associated with playing through activities such as stacking blocks, pulling and riding toys or playing with sand. These different activities allow them to practise their motor capacities so that their muscles are strengthened and their eye-hand coordination become more enhanced. A wide variety of plays are organized at Wyralla Road Kindergarten, a  well-loved preschool in Miranda by the locals.
  2. Children who interact with activities such as painting, tracing and colouring develop their fine motor skills which inspire them to enhance their learning through engaging in more complex games or activities, having the creativity and confidence to express their growing skills in more challenging tasks. Different values such as adaptability are also developed as your children engage play.
  3. Plays boost self-confidence and social skills. The ability to interact, whether it is at home, at a playspace or at a kindergarten; teaches them to relate to others in various playing activities and is honed and practised in every playtime. Kids learn to share their toys and values like courtesy, generosity, cooperation, thoughtfulness and sportsmanship are gradually instilled. Although children can play by themselves without playmates, it would be beneficial to have varied interaction with other kids as-well as they learn to adapt themselves to ideas coming from the others and not just confine themselves to their own ideas. This would enable them to learn that there is also a need to validate one’s feelings and ideas from the others, to respect their friends and the people around them.
  4. Play develops decision-making skills. As early as toddlerhood, the child already shows his or her decision-making skills when they adores a certain toy or when they choose to participate in an exciting activity at a childcare centre.  There is also the decision-making skill at work when your child decides to share his or her favourite toys with a new friend. And when things turn out to be good, they develop a concept that what they did is correct because he/she enjoyed playing with a new friend, hence, their decision or choice has served them good.
  5. Play teaches the kids problem-solving skills. Along with the enjoyment brought by play, the child discovers the how’s and the why’s. In an organized or structured play, the child learns to abide by some rules; and when a rule is not balanced, it results in frustrations. Conflicts at plays are also experienced and how the kids and the supervising adults solve them give the kids ideas on problem-solving techniques. Later on, when confronted with the same problem, they tend to apply what they have learned in previous experiences and find a solution, objectively.

(Also Read: Encourage Your Child to Play Outdoors!)

With the right support and guidance, having patience and providing our little ones with plenty of opportunities, we give them a lot of room for fun and development. The happiness gained from playing makes a contributing factor towards the development of a happy and cheerful kid. The toys and games nurture their sense of values and creativity. Through play, a child’s thoughts are filled with the desire to become a good, heroic, or a successful person in the future; greatly inspired as they experience difficulties and then come out triumphant as problems are solved. When this happens, their confidence is enhanced; something that they absolutely need as they go out into the world, and would help them a lot in facing the most challenging tasks and decisions as adults.

Enjoyed the read? Please feel free to read our article about choosing the right clothing for kids

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