Children learn through play. Play is meant to be the only work of children. Most notably, during play, they learn how to learn, which is why it is one of the most effective approaches during their early years.
ECD experts suggest that play-based learning should be incorporated across all educational institutions for children aged between 1 and 8 years. Every child should have the right to access early childhood development, care, and pre-primary education to create a solid foundation for their well-being.
Let’s find out how you can try some of these amazing activities with your kids to make them smart and enhance their cognitive development.
The Importance of Play-Based Learning
Play-based activities are always appealing to children. They will display their desire to engage in activities based on their interests. Certain elements need to be followed in the learning through the playing process. Typically, it has to include self-direction, open-ended play, unstructured exploration, and fun engagement.
There are tremendous benefits to incorporating a play-based learning approach for young children. They are language and literacy development, better social and emotional skills, enhanced creativity and imagination, and Learning centers like Raising Stars Understand encourage a positive approach to learning.
For example, if you look for free printable word searches on the internet that are appropriate for your child’s age, you’ll discover new ways to improve your child’s literacy skills. You’ll be impressed at how fast they grasp the idea of solving it and improve their vocabulary too. This is a fantastic example of a play-based learning approach for primary school goings kids as well, not just early learners.
In the following section, we will explore our top 8 activities promoting play-based learning for children aged between 1 and 8 years.
Sand
Sand play is an excellent opportunity for children to engage in sensory play. It builds self-confidence and independence and introduces them to scientific learning too. Playing sand includes digging, touching, feeling, grabbing, scooping, pouring, and sifting. These hand movements are known to develop their motor skills and hand-eye coordination.
If you can get other kids to play along, it will also allow them to improve their communication skills, language skills, and teamwork.
Sand play is often therapeutic for hyperactive children. It calms them down and allows them to sit and focus on one activity.
Water Play
Water play is similar to sand play in terms of benefits. Again, when children touch and feel the water, their motor and basic cognitive skills also improve. Let them explore water by adding additional ingredients to give them a better idea of texture. You could also try science experiments such as color wheels and water movements to teach them the concept of the consequences of their actions.
Play Dough
This is an everyday learn-through play activity that has immense potential. Playing with dough has various benefits, such as strengthening fingers, better hand-eye coordination, and boosting creativity and imagination. It also teaches these early learners to be patient and follow step-by-step processes.
Playing with dough can be open-ended if they are not given a set of instructions to create or replicate a particular piece. But if you want, you can also make it a structured and processed play activity by asking them to follow steps to achieve their desired goal.
Imaginative Play Dress Up
Playing dress us is a memorable part of every kid’s childhood. This is because children have the fantastic skill of letting their imaginations run wild. If your child is interested in playing dress-up, you must know that they are ready to explore the adult world. Try to keep it simple and exciting by sticking to their interests.
Let them choose their outfits and show their independence while dressing up. Self-dressing is an essential aspect of their primary school life, so it’s recommended to support them in doing so.
Imaginative play drawing and Painting
Color recognition is crucial for young children as exploring colors during the early years provides them with essential learning tools. Combining colors with pencils, brushes, and paint enables them to experience sensory play. –
Children often like to express their emotions through the form of drawing or painting. This indicates that this play-based activity creates a pathway for them to communicate better.
You can also encourage them to look outside and observe their surroundings before drawing. It means you positively reinforce them to observe and use their memory power to draw the object.
Parents need to show them how to clean up afterward as well. Because tidying up is a life skill that will cross their paths unlimited times.
Blocks, Jigsaws, and Shape Sorters
Playing with blocks, stacking shapes, and building objects is an effective play-based activity. It lays the foundation of sensory skills, reasoning, sorting, and spatial thinking. Blocks are open-ended and unstructured methods of keeping children engaged through play, while jigsaws or puzzles are process-orientated. Both reinforce them to self-direct and use logical reasoning. It also helps them understand the concept of shapes, sizes, and colors. For older kids, you can try involving them in playing trivia board games on game nights. It improves the quality of family time and makes them feel important, boosting their confidence levels.
Music, Dancing, and Singing
This is the ultimate confidence booster. Singing and music play a huge role in developing language skills. Did you know that dancing can improve their counting skills? Singing and memorizing songs also indicate cognitive development getting developed.
Dancing has multiple benefits too, especially for young growing children. Dancing requires muscle movements and strengthens flexibility and coordination. It is highly recommended for parents to explore music, dancing, and singing to help their introverted child thrive.
Imaginative Play
All kinds of play should include imaginative play. This basically means you should encourage them to talk to leaves if they insist that it’s their friend. Some parents feel concerned when their child starts to make imaginary friends and scenarios. Still, you must allow them to do so, as children are naturally meant to immerse in imaginary play up until the age of 8 years.
The best thing about imaginative play is that it increases their self-esteem and sense of self. It develops their creativity and enhances their intellectual reasoning. Kids who are involved in imaginative play are also able to handle boredom better.
Conclusion
We strongly feel that every child deserves the best care, and the early years, especially from the age of 2 to 8 years, are crucial for their development and milestones. As parents, we should focus on facilitating such activities for kids to ensure that every single one of them reaches their highest potential through the power of Imaginative play.
Let us know if you try any of these amazing activities with your kids to make them smart, and independent, and boost their social skills. Happy playing!
‘This post was featured by Twinkl in their Creativity in Children blog‘
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