Importance of Play in a Child's life

The key issues that apply to this theme are; education, how play has changed risk and challenge.

Education affects a child’s play and learning, as parents who aren’t well educated may not know the importance or benefits of play and the impact it has on learning. They will not value play as a ‘crucial’ part of learning. As an alternative of allowing their children to play they would force them to be seated all day and work.

Play helps a child cultivate socially, intellectually, emotionally and services the development of motor skills, as children play alongside each other they form and maintain relationships, recognize their own and other’s feelings and develop empathy for others. Play is important for a child as it is a technique that children use to convey themselves and release all the excess energy they don’t need that is stopping them from learning.

Children have been found to have better outcomes when parents are involved with their learning through home activities, as it is more important for children’s development than their parent’s education or income. Parents need to create a stimulating environment for their child through play at home, however some parents may not allow their children to play as they would want them to achieve and strive to their best abilities with nothing distracting them as they may be afraid of their children falling behind academically.

There are many benefits that play has for children; since giving them the time and space they need allows them to socialise with friends, gives them a sense of freedom, enhances self-esteem, provides children with self-awareness, it improves and maintains their physical health as children are constantly moving throughout play and allows them to increase their...

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...of a past incident the child may have suffered from or they just generally don’t wish to see their children get hurt. Children won’t progress or experience play in the way it should be as children need to play and take risks in order to learn.

From what I have written it can be clearly seen that play is very important for children’s well-being and development and a lack of knowledge about play can affect children’s play and learning.

Works Cited

Lotc, (2013), Risk and Challenge & Adventure, WWW.Lotc.or.uk, (Accessed 27 September 2013).

Macintyre, (2012), Enhancing Learning through Play, 2nd edition, Oxon, Routledge.

Spiegel, (2008), Old- Fashioned Play Builds Serious Skills, (http://www.npr.org/templates/story/story.php?storyId=19212514), (Accessed 27 September 2013).

WCBC, (2013), Play Development, WWW.Wrexham.gov.uk, (Accessed 27 September 2013).