Why Play Is Important for Kids

Play is as crucial for a kid as everything else. Eating healthy food, learning, and getting enough sleep are all of the same importance. You may be under the belief that it’s just a good activity for them to exert their energy, but there’s more to it! When kids play, they reap many benefits, such as cognitive growth, creativity, improved literacy, a greater sense of independence, and broad emotional and memory advantages.

Not only is this activity broad in scope, but it is also quite sweeping in its benefits. You can’t go wrong with any activity, really. If they are playing alone, quietly, loudly, with friends, it’s all great. There is way more to a simple activity than you think. Building something from scratch helps them become independent, solve problems, and use their imagination. But because of technology, kids may not be getting enough of these types of activities.

Play Is How Kids Process the World

Adults have coping mechanisms. We do things like go for walks, listen to that playlist, hit the gym, and, unfortunately, scroll endlessly through various social media apps. Children do not know how to handle stress yet. Everything is a new feeling to them, even if it repeats, and they are just trying to figure this thing we call life out. When a child pretends to be someone else, they are trying to make sense of experiences. Psychologists have observed that children play a character to regulate emotions. The stakes are lower inside imagination. A child can think up scenarios where they feel fear, frustration, bravery, pride, embarrassment, and uncertainty. They don’t consciously do this; it’s just natural at this stage of life.

Even physically, active play reduces stress hormones while improving mood and emotional resilience. This is a great reason why we find kids decreasing in breakdowns as they grow up. When they have time to run, climb, and yell, they will be able to find the patience in themselves to learn, read, and sit quietly. For the time when they are learning to work, it must be balanced with time for play and vice versa.

Brain Development 

The natural parenting instinct is to ask whether something is good for their development or not. Yes, flash cards are good, so are reading apps, and of course, structured school activities. But as we continue on with the theme of the article, unstructured play does something that these highly structured activities do not. It forces children to think on their own with no instructions. During any kind of unstructured time, children are constantly making decisions. They make rules, negotiate, solve problems, adapt, shift attention, and come back from frustration. Similar to emotional regulation, this benefit deals with mental skills like planning, focus, and flexible thinking. Though they do go hand in hand. Regardless, this aspect is essential as they grow up and go to middle school, high school, and later in adult life.

There is also something to be said about being bored. Many parents feel bad and think their kids should be occupied at all times. But boredom leads to these great moments of play, where they gain all these benefits. The brain looks for simulation on its own. Like we were saying about imagination, everything becomes something else. Silence is the foundation of creativity.

The Importance of Movement

Children are always on the move, well, at least wanting to. Adults can find this exhausting because they have to chase after them and make sure they are staying safe. And if it makes you feel any better, these moments are beneficial. Through movement, they are overall developing their physicality and motor function. Running, jumping, climbing, and balancing all help. It strengthens coordination, reflexes, and spatial awareness. Back to the exhausting part, maybe you can find a way to let this happen in a safe environment. That way, the stakes aren’t as high, and for example, if they fall from climbing in a safe environment, they will be ok and learn from it. This all supports the brain’s ability to organize information coming from the body and environment. 

Children build confidence just like adults. They try, fail, adjust, and repeat. Adding to this, outdoor play is especially important. Studies show that time outside lowers stress, improves sleep, and improves attention span. A kid isn’t going to develop these kinds of things from sitting indoors under fluorescent lighting, as they have to absorb and apply knowledge day after day. Yes, that is important, just like unstructured play and being outside is too.

The Social Aspect

When children play together, they learn how to talk. They decide on rules, argue, negotiate, learn boundaries, and overall develop their social skills. They learn things about each other, experience rejection, cooperate, compete, and compromise, all in a light way as they play games they make up. Not every argument needs an adult to step in. Letting them sort through issues themselves helps make them independent and learn what to do when things aren’t going their way. Children who develop this early are often better equipped later in life to deal with any situation. Personal responsibility increases, which is great as they get older and deal with more each year.

Play Is Not a Waste

From reading this article, you’ve arrived at the same conclusion. Play is not a waste of time; rather, it is essential. It can be a lot of pressure to figure out what is wrong and what is right when parenting. Teach them this, don’t eat this, if you haven’t done this, they are set up for failure, and plenty of other fear-mongering media is out there to scare parents. We hope you have gained enough knowledge to take this into other aspects of their life. Trust your instincts, of course. The main takeaway here is balance. Let them be free and play when they need to, and have them practice discipline when they need it. Take it easy on yourself; it gets easier as it goes on. Before this, you might’ve thought play was just a casual activity with not a lot of importance. But as you can see, all of this makes a kid into who they are as an adult.