Leo F. Buscaglia
The Importance of Play
“It is paradoxical that many educators and parents still differentiate between a time for learning and a time for play without seeing the vital connection between them.”
What is the value of play? To list just a few:
Play stimulates the imagination:
- It encourages creativity
- It is important in healthy brain development
- It helps develop language skills
- Role playing helps develop social skills.
When they're playing, children are having a good time, they're happy, they're relaxed and their imagination knows no bounds. This is when they're in their most creative state.
They're developing language skills, they're developing social skills - having to negotiate with their play-mate over the toys or deciding who is going to play which part in their pretend world.
Maybe they're giving their toys instructions or allocating them different personalities. When they play like this they're allowing their brains to grow and expand whilst creating their own special world.
Playing can come in many forms. It may be physical like skipping, chasing or kicking a football around in a park.
It can be playing hide and seek, I-Spy or any number of traditional games.
It can be imaginative - making a cubby house, building a fortress or dressing up and playing make believe.
