Play is essential because it contributes to the cognitive, physical, social, and emotional development and well-being of your child. Play also offers a great opportunity for you, as a parent or caregiver, to positively engage and interact with your child. Play is so important that it has been recognized by the United Nations as an inherent human right of every child.
Through play, children learn to interact with the world around them. Play allows children to create and explore a world they can learn to master, sometimes while practicing adult roles, and in turn, developing a greater understanding of the thoughts and feelings of others. At every age, from birth through the teenage years, play teaches children vital life lessons.
- Child-Centered Play (or Child-Directed Play)
- Pretend Play (or Imaginative Play)
- Sensory Play
- Art Activities
- Feelings at Play
- Nature and Outdoor Play
- Writing and Journaling
- General Play Ideas