By kids’ very nature, they come off as curious. Often, their curiosity comes in the form of playful activities. As kids, they must be allowed to have a variety of playful activities for health and development.
There are plenty of reasons why children should be allowed to play, and one major one is the fact that playful activities help children in the development of motor skills, social skills, and brain development.
There are three main simultaneous stages of growth that happened throughout your child’s development: physical, cognitive, and social-emotional.
Contents
Indoor Play is More than Just Fun
Allowing a child to play indoors really is important for the child’s all-around development. Hopefully, if you’re a parent this will help you to understand how important it is to just let your kids be kids and play.
Hide and Seek
This simple game is known to help develop working memory, origination and planning and prioritizing tasks. It’s a simple game all kids love to play. Think of how much planning, memory, and strategy goes into it.
Board Games
One of the great features of board games is that anyone can play. From young to old, sick or healthy, just about anyone can participate in board games. And they are great for your kid’s development.
Some of the skills that board games can teach are:
- Memory and following the rules
- Learning to play fairly and what is right and wrong
- Planning and thinking ahead
- logical reasoning
- Improve memory function
- Learning social skills, how to handle winning or losing and how to be a good sport.
Block Building and Legos
Legos can build social skills when playing with others, but more importantly, this is an activity that can be used to learn to play by one’s self as well
In 2014 constructive play was linked to kids doing better in math in this study.
Legos or block building allow a child to develop the ability to visualize three-dimensional objects. This is also known as spatial development.
Legos or Building Blocks are Basically like weights for your kid’s brain
In addition to spatial skills construction type toys are known to help develop:
-memory
-social skills
-processing speed
-attention
-motor skills
-reasoning
The title of this post included outdoor play for a very good reason. It is also necessary for your kid’s development.
Great Outdoor Activities for Your Child’s Development
As a parent, I know how difficult it can be to get your children to go outside. Sometimes I have to push them out and lock the door. This is both for them to get some sun and exercise and me to get my sanity back.
Rollerblading, Skating, Biking
According to Kids Ride Wild, every child should learn how to use roller-skates or inline skates, ride a bike and do lots of activities that involve wheels and other kids.
Activities like this have shown to help motor skills, balance, and social interaction. The better your children get at these activities the more your child’s confidence will grow.
Please do not underestimate the importance of your child’s confidence. Children with low self-esteem confidence issues will grow into adults with self-esteem and confidence issues.
Outdoor Play Time Benefits
There are plenty of reasons why outdoor plays are typically more diverse than indoor plays, and this will reflect on how the child develops from these activities. Usually, outdoor play will result in more social interaction and social skills.
Social Interaction from Outdoor Activities
Outdoor play may generally involve more people, than just one child. It may include a group of children who may be friends or it may include a group of children who are clear strangers, as in a basketball or football where playing is in groups.
Whichever one the child will undoubtedly have to relate with other kids. Sometimes, the child will have to relate to adults. In the end, these relations will culminate into an ability to have and hold social interactions, which is an important part of a child’s development.
Conclusion
Playful activities are a necessary element of a child’s development. In this regard, also, the area playful activities are conducted, to a large extent, plays a role in how the playful activity aids in child development. The way outdoor plays affect a child’s development is different from the way indoor plays do. However, a child needs all the development possibly available for a healthy development process, and this is a major reason why kids need both indoor and outdoor plays.