How You Can Positively Influence Your Children's Play

For a child, playing is an important part of growing up and learning about the world. They get to physically test their body, discover which way their knees should go, that sand doesn't taste very nice and that cutting your finger really hurts. Also, through play they discover the social interactions that will stay with them throughout the rest of their lives. For example, if you teach a child early about sharing and being gentle with animals and not to steal, they will carry this with them into the rest of their lives. But it is the deep psychological building blocks forming in their heads which are the most important to nurture. While being safe and being kind can be learned through their own experiences and lots of trial and error, the different stages of development each have important effects on the outcome of a child's personality.

According to a Swiss developmental psychologist named Piaget who carried out much research into the importance of education in children, there are 3 stages.

Sensorimotor (0-2ish years old)

In this stage children learn through sensory and movement inputs. The child learns how it relates to the environment around it and that things exist even when out of sight e.g. Mum still exists even when in the next room. You can positively influence their play by using facial expressions and using toys which evoke different senses such as rattles and soft toys and play mats with different textures.

Preoperational (2ish – 7ish years old)

Now of the age when they can talk, this stage of development is focused around language. The child has trouble understanding time and doesn't yet grasp that other people think too. By catering to a child's fantasies at this stage can help them to develop their language and to understand their place in the world around them. Pots and spoons come to mind as this lets them fantasise while experiencing something similar in the real world and the effect it has on the world around them, effectively bringing them into the real world.

Concrete (7ish years old -mid teens)

At this stage children can understand things better without having to play with them. By creating play for the child which involves lots of questions and answering helps to develop the way they deal with information in their heads and to create logic and reasoning skills. Board games and computer games would be a great choice for this. Educational supplies can play a major part in their development and school and preschool equipment often provides the necessary exposure to help your child develop.

Formal Operations (Mid teens-early adulthood)

At this stage when kids are at high school, their brains are developed enough to deal with fully abstract and theoretical concepts. To help your child at this stage you should challenge them with increasingly difficult tasks and concepts to grow and develop their hypothetical and deductive reasoning skills.

By: Alistair Summers

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Sam Qam has invested in various educational supplies and preschool equipment to give his children the best start in life possible.