Play is a universal phenomenon and a right of childhood.
It is spontaneous, rewarding and fun with several benefits:
- Education: helps children learn and build skills that lay the foundation for learning to read, write and do maths.
- Social skills: provides opportunities to socialize with peers of the same age, to learn to understand others, to communicate and to negotiate.
- Cognition: encourages children to learn, imagine, categorize and problem solve.
- Therapeutic benefits: Gives children the opportunity to express troubling aspects of their daily life, including stresses, trauma, family conflicts and other dilemmas.
Our children live in a time of busy schedules and high expectations for achievement; we should take care to give them the time and space to discover the joy and benefits of free play.