Children Like To Play? Know 5 Benefits For Emotional And Social Development

Illustration of the benefits of playing for early childhood (Unsplash/Shirohata Yuri)

JAKARTA – In early childhood, playing is learning. Although many parents are not aware of the benefits of playing, it can actually help their children develop their emotional and social skills.

Learning is often associated with academic skills, such as counting, memorizing letters, writing, and so on. In fact, playing can be more than that, you know. Playing for children is not only a fun activity, but based on research, children learn by playing will be more effective.

Reported by the Parenting For Brain page, Thursday, December 23, there are 8 benefits of playing for early childhood children. Anything? Here's a list of benefits.

1. Stimulates brain development

Play can help stimulate brain development. In infants, the brain is connected by synapses. The more synapses produced, the more likely the information capture power will be better. Games that involve sensory aspects are needed to achieve these benefits.

As a neurologist recommends, that play can change the chemistry and physiology of the brain. Brain areas associated with higher cognitive processing when children play in a home environment.

2. Increase intelligence

A study conducted by the University of Arkansas, shows that giving babies toys is associated with increased intelligence. In addition, psychologist Edward Fisher who has analyzed 46 studies on play in children, he found that playing can improve children's cognitive, linguistic, and social development.

Illustration of a study on play in preschool children (Unsplash/George Bakos)

3. Sharpen creative thinking

Creativity is closely related to divergent or diffuse thinking, which explores many possible solutions. Usually the richer the thought the more creative ideas are born. Researchers tested the relationship between richness of thinking and creativity by testing 52 children randomly. Children aged 6-7 years were divided into two groups. The first group, the children were asked to copy the text from the blackboard. The other group was asked to play salt dough.

Both groups, in the second task, were asked to do a creative project. The results found that children who were asked to play with salt dough had a higher quality of creativity.

The expert then recommends that free play is an unstructured game that encourages children to explore and design their own games.

4. Enrich vocabulary and language

Vocabulary that is structured in a structured way is a medium of communication. The process to improve communication skills can be by playing. This is evidenced in a study that sought to understand whether communication is related to play. Researchers observed what happened when a baby started playing with a toy.

The study found that if the mother responded by manipulating or naming a toy, her 3-month-old baby would have better language skills.

Another study conducted by the University of Georgia, observed 65 kindergarten children in a classroom for 4 weeks. Role-playing, or pretend play, was found to improve performance in reading, language, and writing.

5. Develop impulse control and emotion regulation

Self-regulation is one of the most important skills before children are ready for school. Children are well regulated so they can control negative emotions and persist in new activities.

A study conducted by psychologists in New Zealand, examined how children deal with negative events during play. They found that children who played more were more able to regulate their emotions to continue playing in class.

Emotional regulation in children is not only needed for academic success, but also predicts children's social success. In the preschool classroom, children who demonstrate better emotional control are more likable and socially competent.

In addition to the 5 benefits of playing above, by giving children playing time apart from playing with gadgets, they can also contribute to increasing empathy competence, better mental health, and strengthening relationships with their peers.