The Benefits of Play for Developmental Success

You’ve heard the saying, “Work makes you smarter?” Well, play makes you smarter too. It is the way adults and children alike learn the skills necessary for survival. Play is how children learn social skills, how to solve problems and how to master both their physical environment and cognitive development. Finding the best toys is important if you want to benefit with developmental success with play.

One of the most important skills to learn is how to play a game well, not just to win. One of the main purposes of play is to learn how to lose gracefully. If children cannot accept losing, they will have a difficult time dealing with the “reality” that they are not always going to play the way they would like to. If children are taught to play the game well, when they do lose, they will be able to accept that loss.

Let’s take a look at some of the other benefits of play when it comes to developmental success for children.

The Skills Children Learn in Play

Children learn the following skills through play:

• Creativity
• Problem solving
• Compromise
• Flexibility
• Teamwork
• Mercy
• Respect
• Listening
• Tolerance
• Grit
• Fearlessness
• Courage
• Balancing act
• Reflectivity
• Focus
• Pattern recognition
• Independence

The next time you are having a hard time getting your children to play, think of the skills they are learning and the problem solving they are doing.

The Benefits of Play for Small Children

Play is important in learning the skills necessary to succeed in life. Without play, we could never learn how to lose gracefully, how to listen, how to resolve a problem on our own or how to learn problem solving. It is the foundation for cognitive development.

In the meantime, play is fun. That is why children play. In order for children to play, they need to be allowed to be themselves. If they are not allowed to play, they will act out. If they are allowed to play and be themselves, they will learn the skills they need to succeed at social and academic pursuits.

When I am feeling frustrated and I want to give my children a good talking to, I remind myself that playing helps them learn how to learn. And it gives me time to cool down and come up with an adult decision about the matter.

If we want our children to succeed in life, we need to let them play. Let them play the way they want to play. We just might be surprised at some of the things they will do. Small children who are allowed to play will grow up to be better adjusted.

The Benefits of Play Time for Parents

Have you ever noticed that your children become more agreeable when it is play time? They are not interested in fighting or arguing. They are giving you the opportunity to relax and be yourself. They are your children. You do not need to be the boss or the supervisor.

When you allow them to play, you have the opportunity to take some of your own time. You have the opportunity to play. This is a time when you can be yourself without the responsibility of being the boss or the mother or the father. When you have a little time to be yourself, you are more relaxed. More relaxed, you are more of the real you. When they see the real you, they are more inclined to act out. You may even see your children taking on some of your habits.

In order to be a good parent, you need to be relaxed, which leads to being more of the real you. Perhaps you are a relaxed parent. If you are, you are probably a lot more fun to be with than the stressed out parents. It is not easy to be a parent. You need to make time for yourself. Play time helps you do that.

Conclusion

Children who are allowed to play will grow up to be better adjusted. Play time and toys can help them learn to lose gracefully, how to be a good sport, how to share, and much more. These are lessons they will use throughout their lives.

Overall, play is indispensable to learning. It is one of the ways we as humans learn to be a better human.