Play and Children's Brain Development
Did you know that every time your child plays, they are not just building their body’s strength, but they’re also flexing their brain muscles and developing a solid foundation for future learning!
So next time you see your little one engaged in play, remember your little one's brain is hard at work in one or more of these ways:
1. Play builds confidence. It lets children explore ideas and concepts that they can later apply to the real world. They can become comfortable with a new idea within play and then confidently apply their new understanding to different real-life situations.
2. Play builds resilience. There is no fear of failure with play, if something doesn’t work, try again.
3. It creates brain elasticity. Want to try something new, something tricky? Practice it first in play. Hypothesize, test, try, adapt!
4. Learning becomes solidified quicker! The brain takes on new knowledge more quickly when it is presented through play.
5. Play builds strength and focus, physically and mentally! Ever notice that kids can stay within play for longer periods of time than other activities? Kids love to focus when they are engaged in their own ideas and interests, so get the engaging in child-led play.
6. It helps little ones to develop communication skills and new language. Play allows kids to enter worlds that are beyond their day-to-day existence. This encourages them to experiment with a language outside of their immediate environment.
7. Play builds connections between people.
8. Play shows kids how to organise information and how to build on that knowledge later on. That is, play teaches children how to learn!
9. Play fosters curiosity. It inspires children to explore their natural world and encourages them to question that they think and know. Its shapes them into people who want to explore their understanding of the world around them.
10. It’s joyful. There doesn’t need to be a purpose or an outcome…kids (and adults!!) can do it just for the joy of it!
So next time you see your little one engaged in play, remember your little one's brain is hard at work in one or more of these ways:
1. Play builds confidence. It lets children explore ideas and concepts that they can later apply to the real world. They can become comfortable with a new idea within play and then confidently apply their new understanding to different real-life situations.
2. Play builds resilience. There is no fear of failure with play, if something doesn’t work, try again.
3. It creates brain elasticity. Want to try something new, something tricky? Practice it first in play. Hypothesize, test, try, adapt!
4. Learning becomes solidified quicker! The brain takes on new knowledge more quickly when it is presented through play.
5. Play builds strength and focus, physically and mentally! Ever notice that kids can stay within play for longer periods of time than other activities? Kids love to focus when they are engaged in their own ideas and interests, so get the engaging in child-led play.
6. It helps little ones to develop communication skills and new language. Play allows kids to enter worlds that are beyond their day-to-day existence. This encourages them to experiment with a language outside of their immediate environment.
7. Play builds connections between people.
8. Play shows kids how to organise information and how to build on that knowledge later on. That is, play teaches children how to learn!
9. Play fosters curiosity. It inspires children to explore their natural world and encourages them to question that they think and know. Its shapes them into people who want to explore their understanding of the world around them.
10. It’s joyful. There doesn’t need to be a purpose or an outcome…kids (and adults!!) can do it just for the joy of it!
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