Early learning tip: Play is skill building

Play is purposeful. It has meaning and value. Young children learn essential social, emotional and cognitive skills while they play. There is so much more to a child playing than fun. Play builds a strong foundation for future success.

Consider two young children playing with a tub of water. Both are involved in the experiment as each discovers new textures and properties. Or maybe two children are playing dress-up. Both are exploring different roles while expanding their language and building their problem-solving skills. Children learn best through active exploration creating and making meaningful connections to their world while they play.

Building language skills

Play promotes language development helping kids learn how to express themselves and building their understanding and listening skills. Children also learn the important give and take of conversations while they play with you or other children.

Support language development by encouraging conversations, introducing new vocabulary and asking good questions during play. Good questions are open-ended so your child can't respond with a "yes," "no" or other one-word answer. For example, "What do you think will happen next?"

Building physical skills

Fine motor and gross motor skills (small and big movements) are also a large part of playing. Kids are painting, drawing, building, dancing, climbing, jumping or running. You can support gross motor skills by encouraging your child to climb, jump or run in a safe environment. Build kids fine motor skills by creating sidewalk art, mud pies and using crayons.

Building creativity

Creativity and imagination are a key part of play. Children are naturally curious and pretend play is a good way for kids to experiment with roles and props. You can support creativity and imagination by focusing on the the fun of creating art not the finished product. Using different materials like finger paint, watercolors and crayons add to the joy and variety of art. 

Building social & emotional skills

Play strengthens a child’s social and emotional development. Model and encourage kids to express their feelings. Talk with them about how they feel and ask them to describe their emotions. Recognizing emotions is a big part of managing them. It's also helpful to talk about ways kids can calm down when they are feeling angry, scared or frustrated like deep breathing or going for a walk.