- Family and Parenting
Why You Should Play With Your Children - Part One
We all know how important play is for young children. It stimulates them both mentally and physically and, in a properly controlled environment, can be an important tool in the learning process
Watching a very young baby react to a funny face, music on the radio, or a colourful mobile, shows us the responses achieved through everyday simple play, and research also shows that families who converse and involve their children from a very young age in activities such as board games and puzzles, combined with outside activities such as swimming and dancing, find that their children cope much more effectively with their general academic studies than those sheltered from this type of play. Bearing this in mind, it is therefore equally important that play takes its rightful place in the everyday Nursery and School Teaching of our children
A shy withdrawn child will have the opportunity through exploration and play to find his or her own strengths, and in time, to build upon them. At the same time, a teacher may discover a child’s anxieties linked through group activities. This subject will be objectively covered in a number of hubs, but the basis of the theory is quite simply this - Whether it be a handicapped child with Special Educational Needs or a mentally disturbed child from a broken home, the same rules apply in that play, in its many forms, can be a therapy in itself and in the correctly controlled environment, a tremendous teaching aid.
Play, used in the correct way should produce
Visual Stimulus for the child
Mental retention of the primary elements of the game
Quickening of mental/physical responses
Personal satisfaction and pleasure resulting in increased confidence
These fundamentals should if used correctly, link together to form a chain of learning for the child which will be further explored in Part Two. Subsequent hubs on this topic will look at the effectiveness of the above fundamentals of play as listed above and assess their success as a building base on which a child’s preliminary education can be soundly erected.