BENEFITS OF PLAYING

We all know that play is fun, but aren’t kids just wasting time when they’re rough-housing around instead of practicing spelling words, piano, or taekwondo moves? Well, actually not. If you think about it, the human species evolved without formal education or traveling sports teams. On a survival of the fittest planet, play was where children acquired the functioning and skills that enabled them to problem-solve, cooperate, build human relationships, make sense of the world, and in other ways become “fit.” These skills have not gone out of style simply because we have more sophisticated tools (computers instead of spears) at our disposal.

Using those sophisticated tools, considerable scientific research has been done on play. Some of the benefits that have been identified are:

Physical – Play burns up calories and builds both a strong mind and a strong body. In the large muscle/ gross motor arena, child at play may crawl, walk, run, reach, climb, jump, bend, throw, catch, balance, rotate, and so on. In terms of dexterity and fine motor skills, play often involves handling and manipulating objects and tools.

Social – Most play is highly social and both teaches and requires that children learn to cooperate, negotiate, take turns, share, play by the rules, and follow directions.

Cognitive – Neurological studies have shown that play stimulates brain development, increases exploratory learning, and strengthens memory. Play is an excellent laboratory for problem solving, decision-making, learning about cause and effect, about “what if’s”, about spatial relationships, and more. We all learn much more readily when the process is fun.

Emotional – Children learn about feelings, including how to process them, how to manage and express them, how to understanding the feelings of others, and how to feel and show empathy.

Language – Play is rarely silent for any length of time. Children are testing out sounds and words. A child alone may be narrating his own activities. Children together are learning about and practicing speaking, listening, and conversation skills.

Executive Function – Children at play are highly motivated to learn perseverance, resist impulses, work on self-regulation of emotions and behaviors, and exert self-control and self-discipline in order to accomplish the tasks they set for themselves and to successfully engage with the other players. They are practicing their EF skills on their own initiative without even realizing it.

Creativity and Imagination – An essential element of play is the creative brain, as seen in pretend play and fantasy. We don’t have to teach a child at play to “think outside the box,” they are already doing that instinctively. Daydreams and a rich inner life are often the seeds for goals and passions later in life. The challenge is keeping the creativity vibrant through adulthood.

Resilience – Play helps children use their imagination to handle adversities such as stress, loss, or illness. The child can mentally be somewhere else when things are too big to handle, they can envision and practice real ways to address tough problems, and they can keep important memories alive—all through play.