"Play gives children the chance to practice what they are learning."- Fred Rogers.
Play is an important part of every kid's childhood. Through play, kids learn about their capabilities and discover the world around them. It helps kids in different ways, for instance, in the growth of their social, emotional, physical and cognitive skills. In crux, for the overall development of your young ones, play is an important element.
As kids start growing, their excitement of exploring things around them keeps on increasing, for instance, how heavy is a particular thing? What will happen if a particular thing is pushed or pulled?
To understand more, let us get straight to the reasons one by one.
1) Expanding your kids' language skills
Are you familiar with the fact that when you are making silly sounds or murmuring softly to an infant, they are actually learning communication? So, it becomes very essential to be cautious around your little ones while speaking.
When you are singing to your little ones, it not only soothes them, but also teaches them about words. All that babbling that you hear from your little ones is their way of communicating with you and that may be an expression of excitement, pleasure or any other emotion that they are trying to express.
2) Learning Gross and Fine Motor skills
Play is fundamental to the development of the kids' gross and fine motor skills. The very first thing related to gross motor skills that kids do is that they put everything in their mouth. Through the medium of play, children get to practice their control and coordination skills of both small and large body movements along with fingers and hands. You can also enhance the children's motor abilities by planning play activities that offer them with the opportunity to move their bodies.
Hangings above your kid's crib are an ideal way to encourage motor skills as they are sure to attract their attention. Soon your little ones will try to reach up to these playthings or the musical things that's hanging out of their reach.
3) Being physically active in a tech-savvy world
Getting children involved in outdoor play will not only make them physically active, but will also keep them healthy. Kids these days are more tech savvy and don't like getting dirty in the mud. Thus, in a world that is too technology focused, it becomes important to make the most of the time that kids get to play outdoor games. Children's playground equipment makes kids physically active.
Outdoor games give more exposure to kids and more space to enhance their imagination. Next time when you go for outdoor games, please ensure to let your kids play freely.
4) Cause and Effect relationship - Cognitive Thinking
Even though a child begins to learn cause and effect with small things as rattles (if I shake it, this thing will make noise!), they are only the start of cognitive thinking. If I cry mom would come, if I laugh mom laughs, and so forth. Besides these, there are a great number of toys and games that can teach us about cognitive skills, i.e. cause and effect. There are learning toys available in the market that teaches kids about the art of cognitive thinking. Toys such as puzzles help kids to put the pieces together.
Through this, they will be able to learn to put things in proper perspective in their lives as well. Similarly, stacking rings and building blocks are ideal for working with the color, sizes and shapes.
5) Developing sense of security and safety
When you are playing with your junior, it is the time when you can portray a sense of well-being and a sense of safety by helping them. This all is possible when you take out some time for your little ones from your busy schedule. This all can be inculcated in your kids from their very childhood.
Nowadays, parents are so busy and caught up with so many other things that they have trouble finding time to spend with their little ones. You can make a routine wherein you read bedtime stories to your kids at night and play games to show that their mom and dad are with them.
A Content writer by profession and day dreamer by birth, Vaaridhi is a creative, optimistic and God loving soul. From maintaining a dear diary to writing professional tech articles, this girl has come a long way. And she is not planning to stop any sooner! She is currently writing for the Indian based online store, ToyCart. If you are looking for some tips while purchasing toys online, then you can refer to her comprehensive articles.
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