Playtime is fun time but it is also learning time that improves cognitive skills and intellectual development. In fact, cognitive development through play comes easily and naturally to kids as they interact with the world around them. Not only do kids learn through play but it also creates a love of learning when playtime is fostered. I am talking about all kinds of cognitive learning through building and making and manipulating, through roleplaying, and through planning and memorizing. This post is brought to you by Toys“R”Us.
How does play promote cognitive development?
There is no question that child development is helped along through play. Problem solving, improved language skills, and other cognitive development through play are a natural side effect of playing. In fact, studies indicate that play enhances early childhood development by 34%. Play is even important for improving a child’s social and emotional development as well as physical well-being. Even just 10 minutes of play improves children’s performance!
Pretend Play And Cognitive Development
Pretend play gets kids thinking and developing social skills. Young children start to think about what would happen next in this situation and how to problem solve when issues come up. They get to try out various responses and see what type of reactions they get. They are gathering immense amounts of experiencial data. There are many benefits of pretend play. This type of free play is great for encouraging social interaction and language development.
How Block Play Develops Cognitive Skills
Where pretend play allows kids to experiment and problem solve in social situations, block play allows them to do the same but with physical manipulation and dexterity. This type of constructive play improves their fine motor skills and allows them to start to see patterns. Building tall and skinny may make their creation more vulnerable to falling. Noticing cause and effect will naturally lead them experiment when other building methods. This is all a wonderful fun way to become familiar with early principles of science. It is a great way to encourage curiosity. In much the same way, the importance of play at board games is also critical to a child’s development and increasing their learning experiences.
Active Play
Physical activity and physical play may often get overlooked as contributing to brain development. However, the benefits of play are take many different forms. Physical health plays a vital role in healthy development. As kids engage in active play, they are also learning new things like how much energy certain activities will take. Critical thinking is beginning to develop as they choose which activities to do next and to create a natural order of activity and recovery periods.
Play with Purpose Campaign
Toys“R”Us has announced a partnership with Save the Children, a nonprofit committed to ensuring all U.S. children have a healthy start, and they are working on a brand new PLAY WITH PURPOSE fundraising and awareness campaign. Why? 15.5 million U.S. children live in poverty and many lack playtime in their daily lives. That seriously hearts my heart just typing it. Which is why I think it is a fabulous thing that PLAY WITH PURPOSE is embarking on a mission to provide children in impoverished regions of the country with opportunities and resources to integrate purposeful play into their everyday lives. All kids should have the opportunity to play, especially when it is a factor proven critical to children’s emotional, physical, cognitive development and future growth. The importance of integrating playtime in children’s daily activities should not be underestimated.
Make A Difference: #PlayWithPurpose
Toys”R”Us and Save the Children have joined forces to raise awareness and support for early childhood cognitive development programs promoting play in impoverished communities nationwide. They are providing ”play packs” of developmental toys and information to help parents engage with their children through play.
Play promotes cognitive development by allowing children to explore and test how things work without pressure or judgement. They can imagine and experiment without expectations. All of this helps to build their self confidence to learn more.
I hope you encourage your child to play and indulge them by playing with them sometime. You will get to see first hand how much they are learning. This is also a great way to strengthen your family bonds. Did you know about the importance of cognitive development through play? Will you help to spread the word?
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Sharisse says
Yes! Play is so very important to child development. What a great partnership that will surely change the lives of so many children who wouldn’t typically have the resources available to them. Thank you for bringing awareness to the Play With Purpose campaign!
Ask Helen says
Yes to this! Playing is really important for children’s development. It is also important to always spend time with your children. Play with purpose? Definitely a yes!