Playtime is more than just fun and games, it's a secret super brain booster! Read on to learn more.
"It's playtime!"
As parents, we often use this phrase to keep our little ones occupied, distract them, or stave off the dreaded "I'm bored." But did you know that many playtime activities are crucial for a child's development?
While reading together is an obvious activity that significantly boosts cognitive skills like language, literacy, and numeracy, there are many other beneficial childhood pastimes you might not have considered.
Here are a few of our favourite playtime activities that support development:
Fort Building: Create a special space out of otherwise common household items like boxes, blankets, pillows, etc.
Fort building opens the gates (floodgates, that is) to so many developmental skills. But let's talk about why this activity is so appealing to kids. Building a fort, den, or cave - whatever your child has titled it - gives children a feeling of independence in a way. A place that is their own. A place where their imaginations can run wild and where anything is possible. Forts can provide a quiet haven away from the world's noise, or they can be a safe place for observation, seeing but not being seen. All this while engaging their inner tiny engineer. Talk about early STEAM on steroids!
Beneficial Skills: Problem-solving, creative thinking, spatial awareness, dexterity, cooperation, determination, divergent thinking and decision-making.
Simon Says: Easy setup, check. Multi-player, check. Ability to play anywhere, check. Improved listening skills-double, check. Simon Says gets kids up, moving and listening, shifting between the part of their brain that takes in information and then engaging the part that's responsible for movement. Verbally instructed 'follow the leader'. The leader gives an instruction, preceded by the phrase "Simon Says".
From a motor-skills standpoint, Simon Says can improve body awareness. What muscles do you need to use to walk like an elephant? Can you balance on your right foot while raising your left arm over your head? And from a cognitive vantage point, Simon Says relays the lesson of the importance of active listening. Did you hear "Simon Says" before the rest of the instruction? Do you recall the sequence of the instruction in its entirety, such as "Simon says turn around twice then sit down"?
Beneficial Skills: Heightened attention span, the ability to receive and follow instructions, balance, bilateral coordination, patience, and agility.
Hide and Seek: A game of search and discovery, and adaptability. Hide and Seek seems to have some primal roots. Perhaps its origins harken back to skill sets required when we were a hunter/gatherer society. Regardless, today's version seems to have lasted the test of time, but why? Some research shows that Hide and Seek is essentially a slightly older version of the infant game Peek-a-Boo. So, it stands to reason that the same benefits that come from one should be amplified in an exaggerated version. One of the draws of Hide and Seek is the element of safe danger. Can you hide before the counted time is up? Can you stay still and quiet while the searcher is looking? Can you be separated from the group, knowing you will rejoin them at some point? Moreover, it asks the hider to think from the perspective of the searcher. If I hide here, will they see me? Is this a good spot, or is it too obvious because I hid there last time? On the seeker's side, can you engage all your reasoning skills - sight, sound, spatial awareness- to find the other players? Senses, for both types of players, are firing on all pistons.
Beneficial Skills: Problem-solving, spatial awareness, forward-thinking, risk-taking, easing separation anxiety.
I Spy: One player "spies" an object and then initiates the search for the other with a small hint. The other player observes and makes guesses based on the hint until the object is discovered. If someone were to say to you, "What is that thing called?" in a room full of objects with their simple question as your only clue, it would be pretty hard to tell what exactly it was they were asking about. However, if they rephrased to say, "What is that round thing on the wall that ticks?" you'd be able to determine they were asking about a clock far more quickly. This is one of the skills the game I Spy can help develop, language descriptors. By surveying their surroundings and only being able to give or receive small hints, children must learn to observe and eliminate those that don't match the hint. Descriptors are an enormous part of our language, and thus, an early understanding is incredibly advantageous.
Beneficial Skills: Language development, spatial awareness, lengthens attention span.
Nesting and stacking toys: Stacking and nesting toys are an oldy, but a goody! There's a reason these seemingly simple do-dads have stood the test of timethey are awesome for brain development, and they're fun, too! Here is the best part: playing with them on their own is great (think fine motor skills and imagination), but playing together can tap into a whole other set of skills, like sequencing and reasoning. "Which colour goes next in the pattern?" "Which is the biggest cup? Then which one comes next?".
Beneficial Skills: Colour and shape recognition, fine motor skills, creativity, spatial and visual perception, coordination and pre-math skills.
Of course, these suggestions are just the tip of the iceberg. Any and all types of play will nurture your child’s development in one way or another. After all, in the words of Maria Montessori: “Play is the work of children” and with any luck, as parents, we can make sure our children are employed 100% of the time. Who knows, perhaps the next time you tell your child "let's play" you may just be nurturing skills they'll use throughout their life.
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