Wednesday, January 21, 2015
Pretend Play and Theory of Mind Have a Big Impact on Child Development
Learning Social Skills
When a child engages in
make-believe, she experiments with the social roles she’s familiar with in her
own life. She might take on the role of the Mom while playing house, giving her
a chance to walk in someone else's shoes and learn empathy for her own mother.
Pretend play also often includes cooperation with others. This teaches children
to take turns, share, problem solve and be creative.Increasing Emotional Skills
"Theory of mind" is the awareness that not everyone has the same opinions and that people see the world from different perspectives. This important emotional understanding increases with pretend play as children make-believe they're someone else. Imaginative play also builds self-esteem as children test their limits and see what they’re truly capable of.Developing Language Skills
It’s difficult to play with others without using language. If you listen in on your child playing pretend with friends, you’re bound to hear words and phrases you didn’t even know she knew. Creative play also often requires participants to reenact a story, which further helps language skills develop.Practicing Problem-Solving Skills
Whether two children want to play the same role or a group of friends needs to devise rules for a new game, pretend play calls for problem-solving skills. This becomes important for future play, as well as important situations later on in life.Encouraging Pretend Play
Over the past 75 years, numerous researchers and theorists have pinpointed the values of pretend play and the impact it has on child development. It’s clearly important to encourage fantasy games and creative play to help your child grow into a happy, thriving young adult.Image via Shutterstock.com
Wednesday, January 14, 2015
Sensory Exploration Begins at Birth, Shaping Our Learning and Memory
As a baby’s senses become heightened with age, that contented, happy nature may change. He or she may become newly annoyed by a wet diaper or reject the texture of a new food. It may be confusing or annoying as a parent, but these changes are signs that your child is beginning to make more sense of the world.
Children and adults alike learn and make memories through their senses, which makes encouraging sensory exploration at a young age important.
Learning
Have you ever had someone try to teach you a concept without seeing or experiencing it for yourself? Learning through sight, sound, smell, taste and touch is much easier than just having the concept described to you.For example, picture trying to explain the word "melt" to a child. You would quickly find it’s much easier to get your point across if you have the child hold an ice cube and watch as it slowly shrinks and drips.
In a more drastic example, children are sure to immediately learn the word "hot" if they try to eat a steaming bowl of soup. By facilitating safe sensory exploration, you give your child the chance to investigate objects and materials and learn how the world works.
Memory
Have you ever smelled a particular perfume or tasted a certain food and been transported back in time to a memory from your youth? Sensory experiences and memories are closely related. Children are most likely to build memories based on sensory exploration when they're young. Having a good memory is a skill that will help your child for a lifetime, whether in school or while completing day to day activities.Image via Shutterstock.com
Wednesday, January 7, 2015
Encouraging Play in Children Teaches Necessary Skills for Growing Up
Pretending Becomes Reality
Consider two young sisters playing house. The older one decides she’s the mommy and assigns the younger one to be the baby. The pretend mommy is thrilled at the role she gets to play. Acting like an adult is fun, as long as it’s only for a little while.As they play, the pretend mommy trips and scrapes her knee. She’s still in character though, and doesn’t want the game to end, so instead of crying, she ignores the sting and goes back to "grocery shopping." By holding it together for the sake of the game, this little girl is actually teaching herself she can hold it together even when she’s not playing pretend.
Play Helps Children Grow Up
More and more, children today are over-scheduled with structured lessons, classes and activities when what they really need is more free play, or time to indulge in creative play that has nothing to do with parents, coaches or technology. It’s easy to mistake free play for a waste of time. After all, it’s not goal-oriented, and your child certainly can’t put "played house" on a college application, but that doesn’t mean it’s a waste of time.Benefits of Play
First of all, playing makes children happy. It also helps them learn to focus, create, problem solve, self-regulate, take turns and communicate more effectively. Some say encouraging play in children also makes kids smarter. These are traits you want to instill in your child, and it’s as easy as making sure they have time to play independently every day!Even baby animals play, unknowingly practicing the skills they need to make it to adulthood. Pouncing on sticks is early hunting training, while playing tag is great practice for evading those pouncing predators. Why would Mother Nature program play into all mammals if it accomplished nothing?
Many schools think that by cutting recess, they’re adding education time, but play is education! Help your child learn necessary skills for growing up b encouraging play! For more information, please contact ListenLoveLearn today. We want to help your child succeed.
Image via Shutterstock.com
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