Role of ‘Playing’ in Child’s Development

Childhood is the most crucial period of a person’s life as the development which takes place during childhood frames the entire future of a person. So, it is very much required that we ensure that the development takes place in the best possible way through different means, and playing is one such great mean which helps immensely in the following:

Physical Development

Playing has the most important role in the physical development of a child. Outdoor plays or other plays that involve physical activity improve the physical health. First, it helps in increasing the height, and second, it helps in better digestion and metabolism of the food and also improves the appetite. This all makes the child eat better and utilize and absorb the nutrients better. To incorporate play for the physical development of my child, I include a definite time slot for playing in my child’s time table as it is as important as studying and eating. Along with outdoor games such as cricket, tennis, running etc., several games are available in the market these days which help children staying physically active even indoors.

Mental Development

Studies have proved that running and playing outdoors aids in better development of the child’s brain as more oxygen reaches to brain cells when the child is physically active. More importantly, there are several indoor games in the market which are meant for brain exercise. For toddlers, it can be blocks or stacking games; and for kids, there are games like Chinese checker and chess. Apart from this, parents can incorporate plays in an interesting manner to aid the mental development. For example, I can read out half of a story to my kid from a good story book and ask her to complete it, or I can give her characters and situations and ask her to frame a story out of them. This will push my child to think vigorously and will improve her cognitive abilities and other abilities such as ability to think straight under stress.

Spiritual/Social Development

Playing is the best and most important time when parents can teach the moral values to their children. Through group plays such as tunnel ball and others, I teach my child the spirit of team work, I teach her the value of mutualism and symbiosis, I teach her to not to be self-centered, I teach her the concept of equality, I teach her the value of honesty. For this, I make sure to incorporate such plays in my child’s curriculum. I buy all the props needed and invite all her friends to play. Through games, I canteach her to not to cheat.

Conclusively, above mentioned are the things which cannot be achieved even by studying or eating. This makes playing an utmost necessity of the process of a child’s development which has no substitute. So, every parent should invest time, efforts and money in incorporating different plays in their children’s daily life.