Oh, you get paid to play? That must be nice! If I had a dollar for every time I heard this, I'd have at least $100. Not enough to live on, but you get where I'm coming from. It is nice to play, but so often people underestimate it's power and importance. People think of it as fun and childish, but play is so much more. Play is how children learn.
Play is an opportunity for children to make sense of their world. There is so much to learn! Any play activity is a learning experience, and the benefits of play are unlimited. Play builds attention and focus, as well as helping to develop communication and cognitive skills.
And it's not just toys or objects that are important for play - "people games" are fantastic for building cognitive skills as well as communication. If you think about playing a game of Peekaboo with a baby, there are so many opportunities for learning. Opportunities for building communication skills - learning how to initiate interaction and take turns, learning about concepts such as cause and effect and object permanence, building eye contact, attending to facial expressions and gesture. All from a simple, easy game that requires absolutely nothing but the two people playing it.
Constructive play builds basic science and math skills as children naturally observe, sort, measure, compare and manipulate objects. This type of learning is not just something that happens when a child is older - it starts as soon as a child can play. Activities that develop this kind of learning include blocks, building toys, water play, sand, play dough, sticks and dirt. Filling containers helps children learn about volume and measurement. Building with blocks is a chance to learn about problem solving as well as balance and symmetry. ALL of these activities are an opportunity to learn about language. Following your child's lead and commenting as they play are fantastic strategies for building language through play.
Dramatic and imaginary play are also perfect for building social skills and creativity. This type of play is helpful for children to process and make sense of things happening in their lives. Often this is considered a 'dress rehearsal' for real-life events.
In a clinical setting, I use play in a number of ways. Play is a fantastic way to build relationships. Playing together builds confidence and comfort with each other. When children are comfortable and relaxed, they are considered to be in the optimal state for learning.
Play makes therapy sessions fun - some aspects of speech therapy can be a little repetitive and this is necessary to practice new skills. Making sessions playful increases a child's willingness to participate and practice.
Play is also a natural language builder. There are a number of effective strategies for building language through play - this will be covered in a separate post. The important thing to remember is that children (like adults) retain information when it is interesting and meaningful to them - targeting language development through play means that the words that you are using are the ones that are most useful and meaningful. No point in focusing on colours and numbers if your child is actually really interested in actions! Start with the motivating words, and build the others in later - enjoy all of the benefits of playing together.