How play can help children’s development
- Develops fine motor skills
- Exercises body and limbs
- Develops balance and coordination
- Develops senses- sight, hearing, sound, touch, taste.
Social development:
- Learns to share
- Learns to cooperate and take turns
- Learns rules
- Develops social skills
Intellectual development:
- Develops language skills
- Learns about the world
- Develops memory and concentration
- Learns to experiment and test
- Learns concepts
- Develops new things
- Develops imagination and creativity
Emotional development:
- Gives pleasure
- Prevents boredom
- Gets rid of tension
- Lets off steam
- Develops confidence and independence
- Acts out feelings
- Acts out roles
There are four main types of play:
- creative play
- imaginative or pretend play
- looking-on play
- co-operative play
Creative play
Creative play takes place when children use different materials to make something from their own ideas and imagination. It allows them to explore and experiment and to use their senses to find out what can and cannot be done. The end result may not be too recognisable to an adult! However, it is important that it is praised and not laughed at.
Types of activities that represents creative play:
- Painting, drawing and printing
- Making ‘junk’ toys
- Sand and water play
- Play dough
How this helps the child to develop.
Creative play very often helps physical development of fine motor and sensory skills and hand-eye co-ordination.
It can also help language skills and it allows children the chance to express their ideas and feelings without the use of words- therefore it is important for emotional development. It develops the imagination, helps children learn about different materials and properties and helps them to understand different concepts. If done with other children it can develop social skills.
Imaginative play.
Imaginative play takes place when children act out being somebody or something else. They will often use toys and objects as ‘props’ and will enjoy dressing up for their part. This sort of play can also be called role play.
Types of activities that represents imaginative play:
- Dressing up to be a nurse, pop star, footballer.
- Playing ‘mums and dads’ or ‘shops’
- Making dens
- Making cars, trains, rockets out of cardboard boxes and going on exciting adventures
- Puppet shows.
How this helps the child to develop.
Depending on the type of activity, it will develop children’s language skills, imagination and confidence, help them to learn how to share and think about others, allow them to act out their fears, encourage fine and gross motor skills.
Physical play.
Although most play is physical in some way, physical play takes place where children are using whole bodies and larger muscles. It is usually very active, and it involves lots of running around allowing children to use up all their energy. It usually takes place out of doors as lots of space is needed.
Types of activities that represents physical play:
- Playing team games, such as football
- Playing on park equipment ( i.e. swings, slides etc)
- Riding bicycles, tricycles
- Swimming
How this helps the child to develop.
Physical play helps the development of gross motor skills, co-ordination and balance, as well as concepts of size, speed and spatial awareness, as well as helping them to learn about the outside world. When children are playing together, it will encourage language development and social – taking turns, sharing emotionally it helps children to ‘let off steam’, boost self-confidence and be adventurous.
Manipulative play
Manipulative play involves children in developing their fine motor skills and hand-eye co-ordination.
It is important because it helps them to begin to be more confident and competent in using all the different tools and equipment needed in life. Manipulative play usually involves children in building or fitting things together.
Types of activities that represents manipulative play:
- Jigsaw
- Using Duplo, Lego or stickle bricks
- Playing with shape sorters
- play dough
How this helps the child to develop.
Almost any activity which involves handling small toys or games will help manipulation skills. Although this type of play mainly helps to develop fine motor skills and hand-eye co-ordination it will also help with other areas of development. Intellectually, it encourages language development and helps children with problem solving because it encourages them to think logically. It will also develop their understanding of concepts (such as shape, size and volume) and spatial awareness. Emotionally it can build up confidence and give children a feeling of pleasure and a chance to succeed and cope with failure in a fun way. It can also help social skills if children are playing together.
