Play is the foundation of learning.

Play is crucial for a child’s development, but it benefits people of all ages. Play can relieve stress, add joy to life, amplify learning, and connect us to others and the world around us.

Relieves stress. Doing something you enjoy can release the body’s natural feel-good chemicals. These chemicals, called endorphins, promote an overall sense of well-being. The social interaction of playing with family and friends can also help ward off stress and depression.


Improve social skills. Social skills are learned when engaging with others as part of the give-and-take involved in playing. Play teaches us about cooperation, collaboration, verbal communication, body language, and boundaries. Playing games and sports allows us to learn how to “play nicely” with others, follow mutually agreed-upon rules, and socialize and be a part of a group. We talked about play as an action; now, let us reflect on playfulness as a state of mind. Developing a playful nature can help us and our children loosen up in stressful and challenging situations, engage with others, make new friends, and form new relationships.


Stimulate the mind and improve brain function. Puzzles, chess, and other fun activities that require us to think, focus, problem-solve, or identify possible outcomes help cognitive development.


Foster creativity. Play can also stimulate your imagination, helping you adapt to and solve problems. Imaginative play allows us to create new worlds and ideas to solve problems. When we can think creatively, we can come up with various ways to handle challenges or get our way out of difficult moments.


Skill development. Children and adults often learn best when they are playing. A new task or skill is easier to learn when it’s fun, and you’re in a relaxed and playful mood.


Improve relationships. Engaging in fun activities with our family and friends allows us to connect in a joyful way, creating stronger bonds, empathy, compassion, trust, and intimacy.

Types of Play

Children play because they deeply desire to understand and experience the world. Pretending to play with dolls, puppets, stuffed animals, and action figures is a great way to share life lessons and have fun with your young children.


Play is different for individuals at various stages of life. What playing looks like for a two-year-old child will look significantly different than for a ten-year-old. For those who still remember how to play, an adult's form of play will also look quite different.


One of the best environments for playing with younger children is on the playground. The playground offers many opportunities for social interaction, body awareness, coordination, and strength development. Spatial perception is strengthened as the child climbs through tunnels, and balance and attention are required while on the balancing board or chain bridge. Swinging stimulates the vestibular and visual systems. These two sensory systems need development opportunities as they work together to build reading, writing, and attention skills.


Toys are an excellent resource for interactive play, especially those that require problem-solving, such as putting together puzzles, and those that require imagination, like playing with action figures or dolls. Sometimes our kids need help in creating those first few story plots. I encourage you to embrace your inner child and play with them. No one is looking, so why not have fun?


Music is also an excellent way to have fun and play. Engaging in children's rhymes and sing-alongs are great ways to play. Music is an avenue for fun for adults as well. Enjoying the music of a live band with friends, dancing, or exercising to music is enjoyable for many.


As your children get older, play will start to look different. Playing may involve sports, video games, adventure parks, or board games. Yes, video games are a way of playing, and they do have benefits. However, to gain various skills, we need various forms of input. Board games are much more strategic and require patience and focus, turn-taking, and strategy. Monopoly supports math and money management skills.


And let's not forget the importance of play for us as adults. We must make time to do things that give us joy. Playing is doing something that you enjoy and can be alone or with others. The Oxford Dictionary defines play as the act of engaging in an activity for enjoyment and recreation rather than for serious or practical purposes. Enjoying ourselves and having fun sounds like something we could all use. So I encourage you to take a moment to think about what you enjoy doing, and then, the most critical part, take action and do it.

Toys & Game Ideas

Playing with others


Card games (war, go fish, memory, rummy, poker)

Lawn & yard games (croquet, corn hole, ladder toss, hide and seek (with people or objects), water fun with sprinklers, catch

Table GamesYoung children: Busytown Eye Found It (I love this one, and so did my kids), Spot it, suspend or Ladders, Mouse Trap, Hi Ho Cherry-o, Chutes and Ladders, Gnomes at Night, Marble Run
Older children and adults: Blokus, Battleship, Clue, Connect Four, checkers, Double Ditto, Life, Monopoly, Risk, Mastermind, Chess, Brain Game Kids

Self-play


Solitaire, Sudoku or Colorku, Balance Beans, IQ twist, Gravity Maze, Simon, Rush Hour, Tacto Lazer, Clue Master, Little Red Riding Hood, Marble Circuit, Paint, Play do, coloring, Legos, Snap Circuits


More ideas for new toys and games from these online toy companies:


Fat Brain Toys - https://www.fatbraintoys.com/specials/top_sellers.cfm

Learning Express https://learningexpress.com

MindWare: https://www.mindware.orientaltrading.com

BrightMinds https://www.brightminds.co.uk/

Children benefit from playing both with their peers and with us. When playing with your children, remember to

  • Meet them at their level. Play age-appropriate games and consider safety. If a game is too hard or too easy, kids will not be as engaged.
  • Be mindful of their needs. Some children are sensitive to loud noises. When we clap or cheer in excitement about their accomplishments, this may be too stimulating for their nervous system, so be mindful of this when playing and celebrate success with smiles, words, and high-fives (if this is something your child likes).
  • Make play time a routine. Creating a regular time to play helps us follow through with our intentions. This can be after dinner each night for 20 minutes or game night on Sundays.
  • Practice makes progress. Children learn through repetition. Let your child play the same game over and over. Your child will move on to a new game when he or she is ready.


  • Give your child your full and undivided attention. Let your child feel special and important. Turn off the TV and your cell phone to play with your child without distractions.
  • Promote independence. Let your children take the lead when possible and participate in learning how to engage in new games by reading the directions or setting up the game. In pretend play, allow your child to make the rules, determine the pace of play, and ask questions.
  • Have fun, and don’t force play or prolong the game. When your child grows tired of an activity, it’s time to move on to something new. If they are confused or do not understand, jump in and help, as we tend to avoid things that are too hard, so make it easier.

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Information is liberating. Education is the premise of progress in every society and family.”


- Kofi Annan

(2001 Nobel Peace Prize - UN)

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