Why is play important to a child’s development?

The play is the foundation upon which a child develops his or her emotional, social, cognitive and physical growth. It is how your child learns about his or her body, the world and the people living in it. During the first year of life, babies rely on their senses to learn about their environment. This is the time they’re most likely to place things in their mouths and or feel certain items. It is the exploration and experimentation with different toys that your child will develop his or her skills and abilities. 

This begs the question, what types of play do children engage in? The answer to this question lies in the stage of development. Depending on your child’s age, choose toys that will nurture skills that occur at specific ages.

The following is a list of toys that encourage different types of play:

1. Social Play - Babies enjoy interacting with you and other people during the first year. Infants have a tendency to laugh, smile and look around. Older babies enjoy a variety of games that involve the senses such as itsy-bitsy-spider and peekaboo. To nurture social play, choose a toy like the NOZO Rattle & Squeezer. It is a soft squeeze toy that squeals in delight when the nose is pressed. When shaken, it makes a rattling sound. Parents can use it to hide their face when playing peekaboo or to gently rattle it near one ear than the next. 

2. Object Play - Touching, mouthing, pushing and banging; all actions that promote experimenting, is fascinating to babies aged 4 to 10 months. Toys like the Music Box Pink House is great because your baby will love pulling on the chord and hearing different notes of music. The material of the toy is soft as well, so if he or she were to chew on it, you needn’t be worried.

3. Representational and Functional Play - Children aged 12 to 21 months love to pretend play. They may push around a toy cart or lawn mower or telephone Nana with a brush. This is the time when imaginations blossom. To encourage this type of play, consider giving your child a toy phone or kitchen set. Both will prompt your child take on different roles, i.e. chef/cook, calling Dad at work, feeding toy animals, etc. A toy trike such as Ride On Trike Police will motivate your child to become a police officer and perhaps play cops and robbers. 

4. Symbolic Play - In this type of play which occurs around age 2, children enjoy creating something out of nothing. For instance, the child might use a shoebox as a bus and make motor noises or pretend to eat something, insisting it’s a piece of cake. 

5. Role Play - From 30 to 36 months, your child will enjoy taking on a new role such as the teacher, mommy, doctor, and fireman. Toys like a Play Palace or a Puppet Theatre prompts your child to put on shows and act out different roles.

The play is a fundamental aspect of childhood development. It helps to nurture a child’s social, emotional, cognitive and physical development. Visit The World Boutique for more toy ideas for your child.