June 15, 2021

June 15, 2021

5 Ways Playtime Influences Learning In Young Children

As Fred Rogers once said, “For children, play is serious learning.” That Mr. Rogers sure was wise. In fact, you may be amazed at all the ways playtime influences learning in young children – and how self-directed, unstructured play is one of the foundations children need in order to grow and learn.

Read on to find out some of the ways play can benefit and enhance learning in children, and why it’s so crucial to balance educational activities with playtime.

1. Playtime helps to cultivate creativity
Children explore the world around them through play, and playtime presents uninterrupted opportunity to do just that. These days, it’s not uncommon for children to spend a lot of time in front of a screen, even at school – but with screens, children cannot interact organically and directly with their peers or their surroundings. This means ensuring that your child has time to play outside of school and away from screens is crucial to their burgeoning creativity.

Playtime is also free time. Kids don’t have restrictions on what they can imagine or instructions on what they need to do. Instead, they use their imagination to think about what things can be instead of thinking about the way things are. This is one of the most important ways to help children develop their natural curiosity and channel their creativity – and it helps to build their sense of self and confidence in their ideas, too.

2. Playtime teaches problem-solving and persistence
Playtime is a time when kids don’t have to stress. They can do what they feel in the way they feel like it. That’s why play is the place for kids to experience the gamut of emotions – including failure. An activity as simple as building a tower out of blocks will teach a young child valuable lessons about solving problems and persisting when the results aren’t exactly what they expect. Activities children engage in during play help to encourage them to try things in different ways and figure out what does – and doesn’t – work on their own.

3. Playtime keeps children healthy
The human body was made to move – especially little bodies. Play is one of the most enjoyable ways for kids to be active and stay in motion. It naturally involves tasks that help to refine fine motor skills, such as painting, cutting paper, or building with blocks. Play also involves moving the body around, which is an activity that should be encouraged in children of all ages to help develop healthy habits along with healthy bodies.

4. Playtime gives children agency
If you want your child to truly develop a love of learning, then play is the way to do that. It helps to build a strong foundation that gives children not only an interest in new things but also helps them to feel they have ownership over their learning. Play provides children with the opportunity to be curious about things that interest them and follow those curiosities to their conclusions. If you can help to encourage your child to feel that way during play, then they will experience the joy that can only come from play.

5. Playtime helps build social skills
Education isn’t simply learning things in books; it’s also learning things about other people. For many children, play is the first way that they become social and learn how to interact with others. When your child plays role-playing games such as school or house, they are doing the work of processing interactions that happen in the real world in a way they can understand and grow from. These types of interactions help your child to develop healthy coping mechanisms and build the social skills they need to be successful in life.

Plus, play is a social activity and it gives children the chance to interact with their peers in fun but also challenging ways. This is how they begin to learn the fine art of collaborations and finding common ground with others.

How To Balance Play With Academics
There are several things you can do to encourage your child to play and explore the world while also providing them with the balance they need on the academic side. These tips are especially useful with older children of the elementary school age, who still need a lot of activity and creative outlets, but also have higher academic expectations to deal with.

You should:

  • Create a schedule. A schedule to do their homework that is balanced with plenty of time for unstructured play is crucial to your child’s development. Create a schedule that gives your child time for both.
  • Limit screen time. Screens don’t provide the type of play that your child needs, so make sure you have a cap on how much screen time they can have per day. The rest of the time, encourage imaginative play.
  • Avoid making children study too long. The best way to help your child retain information is to introduce it in short sessions. Try not to go longer than 30 or so minutes at a time. In fact, smaller, more frequent sessions may be just what is needed to help your child strike the right balance between play and academics.

Play is valuable to your child. If you can encourage their imagination and give them plenty of time to do the “serious learning” of play, the world will be theirs to conquer.

Featured image by Phil Hearing on Unsplash