The power of play: why parents should support play for child development  

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Research suggests that play can enhance children’s perspective to plan, organize, interact with others, and manage feelings. Besides, play contributes to the development of language, numeracy, and social competence in children and provides a means for stress management. Learners who need writing support can order custom help from online essay writing service providers. 

There is no universal approach to effective play. It ranges from putting a hand in mashed potatoes, playing video games, or just gazing out of a window. Children do not require fancy gadgets or papers to be produced to play. They require time, space, and liberty to develop the ideas that attract their attention. Regardless of how it may seem, fun is one of the ways through which children learn. This is why play is important for kids.

• Helps in Building Creativity and Imagination

In the play, kids explore and use their minds and bodies. They invent games or can play in imaginary worlds. Children role-play various solutions while at the same time increasing their self-esteem. They set their standards and experience how to work with those standards or at least with their violation. These are good assets in life, especially when it comes to building relationships with other people.

Symbolic play is when a child is capable of taking one thing and using it to represent another. For example, a stick may turn into a cooking spoon, the bucket – into a pot, and the pinecon – into yummy ingredients. A child needs to engage in symbolic play as it is a sign of normal development. It develops attributes that children require in their future learning and handling of problems. It also enhances creativity, a factor that is useful in the achievement of goals in one’s lifetime. 

• Fosters Cognitive Growth

What does it imply to support cognitive development? This means that play is a critical component of children’s development, especially in terms of their brains. Free play is the period when children decide what they want to do and how they want to do it. They are free from timetables or events that are planned and controlled by elders. 

Play without structure benefits a child’s brain in many ways. It enhances and develops the network of the neurons within the brain. These are the roads in the brain that we implement to think. Unstructured play also aids in the development and strengthening of the prefrontal cortex part of the brain. This area determines how the child acquires information, thinks, and develops an understanding of the surroundings.

• Improves Literacy

It is a fact that children are born with the capability to learn language. From the time they are born, they create language and literacy experiences through play and socialization. Babies and toddlers acquire new words when the adults narrate things that are seen, heard, or done. Verse combines syllables with beats, as in songs and poems. This assists children in learning how to listen and also about the sounds that are contained in words.

In the play, children develop aspects of communication. They can engage in back-and-forth conversations even if they cannot talk. Through books, oral or make-believe play, the child can learn about him or herself and his or her place in society. Stories also show how language functions and how stories are organized.

• Enhances Emotional and Behavioral Development 

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Play activities are not just a way to divert attention from problems and issues. They are a means of making play a part of our lives again and linking us with the aspects of life that are real. Parents and other people watching children at play can assist the children in understanding emotions by labeling them. Listening and asking questions also make kids know that adults are concerned about them. It makes them understand that what they feel and go through is valued.

Yes, play is an outstanding teacher. Through play, children can learn how to exist in the world in a way that is easily understood. The children get to know how to play with other children, how to share, how to negotiate, how to solve conflicts, and how to be self-directing.

• Encourages Greater Independence

Children are usually powerless or have no control over what they do during their day. They are compelled to do something, to do it at a certain time, and to be in a certain place most of the time. In that context, they can play the role of being the ones who decide the rules and be the authorities. It can be the other way round, and sometimes children can be the ones directing while the adults become the listeners.

Solitary play gives children an opportunity to be creative and come up with unique ideas on their own. When alone and even if they are bored, children’s brains seize the opportunity and engage in the process. They look for other means of exciting themselves in new ways. Albert Einstein once stated that “the lack of communication and the tedium of a simple life helps the creativity of the mind.”

• Promotes Physical Fitness

Unconsciously, children’s bodies are designed to move and engage in physical activities most of the time. Children have a very strong need for physical play, which can be defined as any type of play that involves the child moving. That is how they acquire the knowledge on how to handle their body, and it also helps in laying down connections in the brain. It is also good in that it is a form of exercise and therefore produces fit and healthy children. If you want to, you can easily buy essay papers online. 

Play is seen to have numerous benefits for young children, including mental, emotional, and physical well-being. The advantages are also not limited to children but also to adults. Discussions involving play make children feel that adults are interested, and this makes them respect their play choices. This helps to bring about a proper relationship between the adults and the children. Thus, respect, trust, and love form the basis of the emotional state that is most conducive to the development of the learning brain.

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