Young Children and Play

So often I am struck by the amount of planned activities scheduled into young children’s lives. I know there will be some who think I’m being behind the times when I say that too many children are over-scheduled, sleep deprived and kept from being able to have time in their day when they are allowed to involve themselves in imaginative or pretend play. Many young children spend anywhere from 6 – 10 hours a day away from home in a school or day care setting. This is usually followed by a quick dinner and then off to some sort of lesson or sport to be followed up by a bath, book and bedtime. Then the next day begins the cycle again. The weekends are filled with exuberant birthday parties, games to be played by various teams, errands to be run in between it all and then if no one is too tired or there isn’t a game scheduled time at church.

Children use play as a tool. It is how they make sense of the world that they are just beginning to explore independently. Listen carefully to your child’s play. It will tell you a great deal about what they know. We listen carefully at school. It tells us what they understand about what has been taught to them. As parents we can hear how we sound to our children through their play and what we model for them as parents. Children develop more in-depth language skills through their play as they use conversation and vocabulary that pertains to their play. When children are involved in pretend play with other children they work develop problem-solving skills and learn how to work cooperatively with others on their own terms.

Do you know that most creative people have a place, space or time where they remove themselves from the “rat race” to be able to hear the creativity in their head? Marc Brown (author of “Arthur”) has a day dreaming place. Children need adults to support them in their play by offering them time, places, supplies and materials to facilitate their play. Children’s play takes time, not just a few minutes. They need hours to play. The materials don’t need to be anything elaborate. I’m sure you’ve seen the joy that a big box brings to a child. It is through their play that they can become more creative, self-assured, better social and problem-solving skills and stronger language skills.

Give yourselves and your children permission to ditch the rat race of 16 hour days for some quality time to just watch, facilitate and enjoy playing.