Parenting Solutions

Appreciating the Power of Play

At age 3, playtime is serious business. Here’s what your child learns from fun and games.

By the editors of Parents.com

Aside from having fun, kids this age gain many benefits from playing – by themselves, with you, and with peers. Beneath its seemingly frivolous exterior, play is a serious and effective teacher. Among other things, it helps 3-year-olds:
•    Increase strength, flexibility, and endurance
•    Fine-tune small motor control
•    Accelerate language development and thought
•    Expand creativity
•    Build confidence, self-esteem, and self control
•    Understand spatial relationships and cause and effect
•    Develop problem-solving skills
•    Make some sense of the world
In addition, play can enable preschoolers to sharpen their social awareness. In pretend play, for instance, children learn to identify and experiement with different forms of behavior. To try to imitate someone – whether it’s a doctor, sales clerk, school bus driver, or baby – they first pick up on various cues: how the person walks, talks, dresses, and acts. They can then reproduce the mannerisms they’ve observed.
Each new role that a child assumes brings her that much closer to figuring out who she is, what she likes, and how she ought to behave. It also gives her practice in manipulating symbols – a skill she’ll need later on for learning numbers and letters.
Play also enhances emotional well-being by providing a safe and healthy outlet for expressing – and resolving – feelings, fears, and fantasies. You’ll probably notice that one day your child acts like the “nice” parent, giving hugs and kisses to a favorite stuffed animal; the next, he puts the toy in time-out. By reproducing behavior that generates fears about separation and reenacting typical struggles for independence, a child gains control of such feelings.
Even imaginary friends – invisible companions only your child can see – can be therapeutic. Some studies indicate that as many as half of all children between ages 3 and 6 create these friends-not because the children are lonely and withdrawn, but because their imaginations are so rich. And, according to the research, children who have imaginary companions tend to be more creative, well adjusted, cooperative, and verbal and less likely to be bored than kids who don’t have them.

The bottom line is that play is essential to your child’s physical, intellectual, and emotional growth. Kids who enjoy playing and who play a lot tend to be happier, better liked, and more popular than children who don’t play often or well.