The Importance of Playtime for Children

Creativity

• Playtime fosters creativity as children discover new ways of using old toys or objects. For example, a child playing with a plastic bowl might start by pretending to eat a meal. As he continues playing he discovers that the bowl fits nicely on his head, becoming a hat or rolls along the floor, becoming a wheel. This process of discovery and application encourages children to create new possibilities and think outside the obvious.

Cooperation

• Children who play together are learning to cooperate with each other and the larger environment. Two kids pushing each other on a swing aren't just learning to take turns; they're learning that moving a swing feels differently with someone inside. They're also learning to negotiate limited space as they switch places. By taking turns pushing one another, children learn to think beyond their own experience and recognize the value in providing enjoyment for someone else.

Independence

• Playtime affords a young child control of his environment, encouraging cognitive and social independence. Creating scenes and adventures between action figures allows the child to arrange cause and effect relationships, like flying his figures into the table and simulating the sound of an explosion. Building story plots at his own pace requires logic and sequencing, two important skills for the future.

Leadership and Social Roles

• Watch a group of elementary school children play and you're witnessing leaders in the making. As children mature and begin playing make-believe, they assign roles such as "you be the dad and I'll be the mom" or, "I'll be the princess and you be the pirate." Experimenting with and negotiating these roles help children to be effective leaders, followers and supporting members of a micro society. Assuming different social roles and leadership is so beneficial that therapists often use make-believe games to help abused children to make sense of and heal from past experiences.

Physical Benefits

• Unlike watching television or playing video games, childhood playtime encourages movement and helps to expend energy. Playing tag in the backyard or pirates on the jungle gym allows them to release energy in a way that feels natural and enjoyable, as opposed to a structured environment like a gym class. Even activities that appear more sedentary, such as building a block tower or playing pretend grocery store, foster coordination and fine motor skills.

Emotional Benefits

• During playtime children process and make sense of the behaviors they witness. A child feeding her baby doll and pushing her in a play stroller is reenacting the nurturing behaviors she sees. Conversely, child therapists and treatment centers use playtime to describe and untangle past traumatic or upsetting experiences. Unstructured playtime is so important to a child's social and emotional development that St. Jude Children's Hospital in Memphis regularly arranges individual and group playtime so that children outside a traditional home environment engage in this critical facet of childhood.