The experiences that a child undergoes early in life influence the way the child’s brain functions, how the child reacts to mental strains, and the ability of the child to establish stable relationships. The brain dramatically develops during this period to set the foundation for emotional, social, cognitive, and physical development. Children develop language abilities, motor abilities, complex thoughts, and emotions.
Play is essential during this period because it promotes children’s well-being as they grow and helps them to learn about social relations and behaviors.
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Play promotes the well-being of children because it allows children to move freely, which offers them a chance to exercise. In turn, this enhances children’s strength and helps them to develop strong bones. Play also contributes to the cognitive, emotional, and social development of children. Today children are pressured to achieve better results at school and are exposed to the adult world through technology, which causes them stress. Play allows children to engage in free activities without supervision where they release the stress.
Play also allows children to interact with their peers, share their thoughts, establish relationships, and learn non-verbal skills. During play, children also engage in vital cognitive processes that stimulate them to explore and discover their surroundings (Goldstein, 2012). In turn, this helps them to learn, develop skills in different domains such as reading, speaking, science and mathematics.
There are various types of plays that children can engage in as they develop. For example, they can play with toys indoors or engage in outdoor activities with their friend (Goldstein, 2012). All kinds of play are vital for children because each influences different parts of a child’s development. Parents, teachers, and guardians are responsible for assisting children to achieve a balance between indoor activities and outside activities (Britto et al., 2017). Children should not spend too much time indoors as outside play gives children a chance to play with their friends and to explore their surroundings. Indoor plays usually involve less movement than outdoor activities.
Some children, however, require additional support in relation to their well-being during play time. A child’s ability may be lower than the abilities of his or her peers of the same age. For example, a child may engage in inadequate play quality that is repetitive and limited, fail to interact socially with peers, become fearful, and demonstrate out of step behaviors, fail to control strong feelings, such as frustration and anger (Volkmar & Cohen, 2013). Some of these changes may last for a short time, which may not indicate the existence of an issue. The changes, however, may also last longer and become serious. The existence of these challenges means that parents, teachers, and guardians should always observe children closely during play time to identify any issue, even though they should not be involved too much to interfere with the play (Britto et al., 2017). Children with mental or behavioral issues can be identified and referred to experts where they can be assessed to control the issues.
The society has changed significantly today, nevertheless, and many children have little time to play. Most parents and teachers today emphasize academic achievement more than play. Children are pressured to focus on performing well in their exams, which compels them to spend too much time studying and less time on play. It is important, however, to achieve a balance between study time and play. Children’s school curriculum should involve a lot of play related activities that are tied to the various subjects they learn at school to enhance play activities.
Conclusion
Play is an essential aspect of child development. Play shapes the way children develop and grow as it influences all developmental aspects. All child development aspects are interconnected and influence each other. Play fosters this interrelationship by giving children an opportunity to develop wholly. Parents and teachers can enhance the positive benefits of play by identifying children with developmental issues and assisting them to get the required support.
References
Britto, P. R., Lye, S. J., Proulx, K., Yousafzai, A. K., Matthews, S. G., Vaivada, T., ... & MacMillan, H. (2017). Nurturing care: promoting early childhood development. The Lancet , 389 (10064), 91-102.
Goldstein, J. (2012). Play in children's development, health and well-being . Brussels: Toy Industries of Europe.
Volkmar, F. R., & Cohen, D. J. (2013). Developmental Disorders. Advances in Clinical Child Psychology , 11 , 249.
