January 29, 2020
Throughout childhood, playing is not just about having fun, but also promotes countless learning experiences. Play is one of the main ways children learn about the world. From an early age, children play by exploring the environment and objects around them; imagining characters, situations or stories; drawing; moving their bodies; trying out roles and situations; singing; or interacting with other children.
Ensure moments and spaces for play
Play is not something that babies are born with; it is something that must be learned through social and cultural interactions, and initially through interactions with their parents or primary caregivers or older siblings. When we offer objects and toys to our little ones, we ensure that they have time and space to play in their routine. When we play with babies and children, we are teaching them activities. At any age, whether they are boys or girls, it is important for little ones to learn new games and ways of playing, with the freedom to experiment with whatever they want.
Playing is more important than toys
Ensuring that children have time to play every day is more important than having countless commercially produced toys. Letting them explore objects that can be transformed into any toy (such as cardboard boxes, paper rolls, kitchen utensils) is always a good idea! Babies, for example, tend to be fascinated by colorful sock balls and plastic bottles with objects inside, so it is not necessary to always offer commercially produced toys.
It is also important for adults to play with children, entering into the world of fantasy. This can happen in games with characters and roles (such as playing house or school); in physical games (dancing, soccer, merry-go-round); exploring objects and their characteristics (organizing cubes, observing balls, fitting pieces together, naming objects of the same color) and also playing with words (in songs, poems, rhymes or nursery rhymes). Some of these games are great ideas for moments of waiting, such as waiting for a doctor's appointment or waiting in line.
at the supermarket or even in traffic. Moments like these, of interaction with other people, allow children to acquire learning with an emotional meaning, which does not happen when they are made to watch videos or play on a cell phone. Although electronic devices are often offered to children while they are waiting, it is important to vary this offer, enabling different ways of learning.
Children learn through play
Playing fosters many learning experiences and contributes to the development of different skills and aspects. When children interact with other people (children or adults) during play, they need to learn to cooperate, divide tasks and roles, share the same space or certain objects, and respect others. They also learn to make agreements and accept that their wishes will not always be met.
Furthermore, from a physical point of view, when participating in games that involve running, jumping, hopping or balancing, for example, children acquire greater knowledge about their own bodies, their possibilities and limits, and also learn about self-control. They can also be encouraged to overcome challenges that are appropriate for their age and characteristics, such as jumping a few steps or facing a slide with more autonomy. This helps them learn about overcoming obstacles and the importance of facing obstacles. Not to mention, of course, that this type of game helps combat childhood obesity.
In game situations, children face other challenges, having to reflect and predict decisions and moves of their opponents. They can also learn to build strategies by observing the actions of other players, as well as understanding and playing according to the established rules.
Some games involve playing roles or being different characters, such as playing house, school, doctor, or creating stories in which one is a hero, a monster, a king, or a queen. Through these pretend games, children learn about social relationships and emotions experienced in different contexts. For example, when teaching a doll, treating it as a student, the child experiences putting themselves in the teacher's shoes, or when caring for an injured stuffed animal, they can feel affection for it and imagine its suffering. These situations encourage children to experiment with different ways of acting (depending on the role in question), to face fears, and to express feelings.
And we cannot ignore the importance of playing for language development. Talking to other adults or children, imitating and using lines borrowed from films, stories or real situations, sharing ideas and creating games are opportunities to learn how to speak, listen and communicate, which happen while the child plays.
Similarly, written language comes into play when they write, even with errors, the name of a space, a magic potion or a list, for example. In this way, they experiment with different uses of writing and develop their hypotheses about how to write.
Playing is essential
For us adults, it is important to ensure that play is part of children's daily routine, not just at home, but in any space, including outdoors, such as parks and squares. It is through play that many fundamental and irreplaceable learning experiences occur.
Playing at different ages
Up to 2 years
When they are very young, children play mainly through exploration. They have fun and learn by touching objects, putting them in their mouths, trying to fit them together or stacking them... They interact mainly with adults, such as when they are surprised to find them and lose sight of them in games like "Where is it? Found it!", they follow the words of some songs with movements or babbling and they discover their bodies by tickling, blowing, caressing and trying to reach older children by crawling or taking their first steps.
Up to 4 years
As they grow older, children are able to move around more independently, run, jump and climb. They have a lot of fun at times like these, especially outdoors! Many are already interested in playing with other children and are able to communicate better. Pretend play is emerging, in which children invent stories and characters, as well as imagining themselves in different roles. In addition, they love playing with water, feeling its sensations on their bodies and noticing how toys and objects look when they are submerged. They also enjoy exploring different materials, such as paint, sand, mud and play dough.
Up to 6 years
At this stage, children begin to make stronger friendships. They often play make-believe games with their friends, in which they imagine and experiment with characters, stories and roles. They often have fun wearing costumes, inventing hiding places and participating in games in which they need to use their bodies and move around a lot. They also like to experiment with mixtures or using materials for unexpected situations.
Let's look at some situations in which children play and adults contribute to this?
