How Important is Playing for Children?

Playing is the active involvement of children in some kind of physical or mental activity which they enjoy. Playing is essential for children of every age right from their infancy. The benefits of playing vary depending on the type of play chosen.

Therapists consider playing as a stress reliever. Play therapy is used to help children shed their anxieties and cope with the problems they face daily. Playing makes children confident and helps them get rid of their inhibitions. Expression of feelings becomes easier for children who engage themselves in games regularly.

Playing enhances the creative skills of children as they tend to create or invent new toys or even games for their enjoyment. Such creativity should be encouraged as it improves their imagination. Kids who play regularly are often more active compared to those who are not exposed to such entertainment.

Playing, in a recent study, has even proved to help children develop their language and communication skills. They discuss the rules of games with their friends and negotiate with them which in turn improves their literacy skills. Playing is given due importance in today's education system. Playing can be broadly classified into different forms, some of which are sensorimotor practice play, pretense play, social play and constructive play.

Sensorimotor and Practice Play: Infants play using their sensorimotor skills by exploring the objects they see. They learn to distinguish objects with the help of their sensory abilities. It interests them to play with responsive objects like toys that make noises or objects that bounce back. Practice Play refers to the repetition of activities while playing. This is often observed in children as they require mastery of their physical, mental and co-ordination skills while playing. An indoor playground is a good choice to bring out these talents in children.

Pretense/Symbolic Play: Pretense playing involves playing with objects pretending them to be something else. You might have noticed kids who use building blocks as cars. This indicates their symbolic understanding which plays a significant role in improving their cognitive skills as well. This enhances their creative abilities as they discover new ways to play games and enjoy themselves, creating new toys with objects that they find interesting.

Social Play: Social play is when children start playing with peers by interacting with them as they exchange or discuss topics related to the games they play. Outdoor playgrounds often act as learning grounds for kids. It is observed that social play has a significant role in developing the social character of children. This form of playing helps kids face the problems of life at later stages. They also learn to maintain relationships as they meet other children frequently and it even helps in their emotional development.

Constructive Play: This is a combination of sensorimotor/practice play and pretense play. As kids grow, they focus more on their symbolic play whereas their sensorimotor playing skills tend to diminish. At this stage children engage themselves in finding solutions or creating new objects to play with.

Having discussed how important playing is for children, parents should ensure that their children are exposed to an environment where they get enough opportunity to express themselves and get actively involved in playing both indoor and outdoor games.

The writer of this article works as a Child Counselor and has read extensively on topics related to the mental and physical development of children. She also believes that a child can be molded into a better individual if given exposure to an atmosphere like an indoor or outdoor playground that can develop his character and skill set.