Learn more about how the play improve your child physical, cognitive, emotional, and social skills, along with creativity and imagination skills.

1. Why Play During
Early Childhood
Development Is
Important

2. There are times when children play with friends and sometimes want to be
left alone to play on their own. Sometimes they may speak aloud while at play
and at other times, be silent in their heads. Sometimes their play is messy or
risky and other times, quiet and relaxed.
Free play is also important for learning problem-solving skills. Your child may
prefer to try and solve a problem or come up with a solution on her own to
express her way of thinking. These skills develop rapidly when a child has the
habit of playing independently. When a child is playing on her own, she is
keeping busy and engaged and is using her imagination and creativity in
childhood.
When children play, they learn

3. As stated earlier, play is among the most important ways in which children
begin learning. While there are many characteristics of play, it is sufficient to
know that through play children get to practice and develop key physical,
emotional, thinking, and social skills, including creativity, imagination, and
problem-solving.
Free play in early childhood also lays a solid foundation for formal learning in
a regular school environment, enabling children to develop a sense of
achievement and increase their feeling of self-worth and confidence. What is
important to understand is that parents need not actively teach the lessons
their child will learn through play.
Benefits of different types of play

4. When kids play they are physically exercising their bodies, they get to use the
large muscles of the legs, arms and back to move. Physical play is important in
order to promote and maintain your child’s health, but also to connect with
each aspect of her development and growth.
Physical exercise improves brain activity by getting fresh air into the
bloodstream and flowing through the brain cells. Physical movement helps a
child learn through her senses about pace; spatial awareness; height; weight
and the surrounding environment.
Physical play involves movement:

5. Also known as parallel play, it involves children playing alongside each other,
but not quite together. Playing with objects helps your child develop her fine
and gross motor skills when she learns to fit building blocks together and put
pieces of puzzles together.
Playing with objects encourages your child’s cognitive development as it helps
her to think in a clear and logical manner, sort shapes, and sizes and develop
spatial awareness. It also creates opportunities for your child to acquire and
develop social skills. As your child begins to play with other children her age,
she learns what it means to cooperate, take turns and share her playthings.
Playing with objects:

6. More learning happens when a child takes part in activities where she gets to
convey her own ideas using materials with new textures and shapes — sand,
water, stones, and shells. You can use a wider range of materials to promote
discovery through play.
You can make it relevant even for babies when they are able to sit but are not
yet mobile. Encourage your baby to discover by using her senses. But make
sure the materials offered are safe and age-appropriate. Amongst the many
benefits of discovery through play, the biggest one is that a child develops
creativity, as she has the freedom to explore.
Learning through discovery:

7. Creative play enables the child to experiment and express herself by giving
your child an opportunity to paint, draw, sketch, dance and sing. Remember, it
is the process of doing and creating something that is important, rather than
the end result of the activity. This type of play enables the child to practice
physical skills and coordination, and develop relationships with others.
Creative play also helps the child to develop cognitive and language skills, and
to build confidence.
You can promote your child’s cognitive development as she will begin to
explore textures by using her sense of touch or sensitize her hearing by asking
her to listen to the sound of pouring water.
Expressing through creative play:

8. Imaginative play or role-playing is when children think and act out their
feelings and emotions, as well as by speaking to toys and by other objects
around them. This helps children to develop their language and
communication skills and is also connected to every other aspect of child
development e.g. physical, intellectual, emotional and social.
There are different kinds of imaginative play. But remember, it needn’t be
elaborate or expensive. Depending on the age and development stage of your
child, one day she may want to play the role of a doctor. While on another day
she’d want to stage a drama cooperatively by involving other children. Or
indulge in fantasy play, where she might want to play the role of
Wonderwoman, the character from her favourite television show.
Imagining role-playing:

9. My Gym has specially designed whole-child development programs that lay a
firm foundation for personal, academic and future growth by involving your
child in age-appropriate structured and unstructured physical activities and
developing thinking and problem-solving skills.
conclusion

10. My Gym Buona Vista
35, Rochester Drive,
Rochester Mall, #03-24/25/26
Singapore 138639
Phone: (+65) 6684 9220
My Gym Jurong East
3 Gateway Drive, Westgate, #04-
39
Singapore 608532
Phone: (+65) 6465 9205
My Gym Punggol
681 Punggol Drive,
Oasis Terrace, #03-02/03/04
Singapore 820681
Phone: (+65) 6787 1178
My Gym Tampines
300 Tampines Avenue 5,
NTUC Income, #05-05,
Singapore 529653
Phone: (+65) 6789 7061
Our Branches:
My Gym Parkway Parade
80 Marine Parade Road,
#15-03 Parkway Parade,
Singapore 449269
Phone: (+65) 6440 9916
My Gym Great World
1 Kim Seng Promenade
#03-106 Great World City
Singapore 237994
Phone: (+65) 6235 4070

11. Thank You