Benefits of play – Social
Benefits of play – Social
A child friendly café like Eden soft play should always be interested in the benefits their services provide for children. For this reason I thought it would be good to chat briefly about the benefits of play, namely the social, physical, mental and emotional benefits. Play is something kids just do, it’s so great that it’s part of their development and it’s so great that soft play area’s get to be part of it!
When we watch our children playing, in a soft play or park or anything, we will undoubtedly see them begin to interact with other children. This is a natural part of behaviour and vital to development. Children will improve their social skills by playing with other children, and research shows that a child’s success at school (and employment in the future) depends a lot on their ability to form positive relationships and interactions with their peers. For social skills, practice makes perfect!
Children learn language and words from books, but communication is more than just words. Play, like the kind we see in Eden Softplay every day helps children to practice communicating verbally (words, tone of voice etc.) and nonverbally (facial expressions, body language etc.). This all happens as they interact, building games together, creating roles for each other and experiencing the desires and feelings of other children.
Play also allows children to experience the role of another person, for example playing as a firefighter will help children to understand firefighters, the diversity experienced in role play can’t be replicated in any other way!
The biggest challenge in play comes with disagreements, where a child learns to understand and value the needs of others, and if they get really good at it, put those needs above their own. If every child learnt to do that at an early age, the world might be a different place!
So that’s a few social benefits of play. Eden’s soft play centre is designed to give space for play, without too many “specific toys” like the ball pit shooting stuff you see at other soft play centres. We believe that play needs to stay creative, without too much pre-decided by the environment, and we see children thriving in play every day, what a pleasure!
For more information about child development, reading research by two great pedagogues, Piaget and Vygotsky will give a balanced view. Or if you prefer easier reading, mumsnet.com has all sorts on this stuff!