Childhood is a key time for developing lifelong skills and abilities. One area that helps many children to learn and develop new skills is social playtime. Children learn so much through play and it plays such an important part of a child’s development.
Social play can include a wide range of activities from team sports to free play tor ole play, it covers anything that requires children to work together to play.
When children play it is such a natural and enjoyable way to enhance skills and is a fantastic tool, allowing children to understand the important aspects of the world around them and skills that will be so vital as they become adults.
But just how does social play benefit development and what are the benefits of play for a child? Here are some of the key ways social playtime helps children develop:
Improves social skills
Having strong social skills will help children succeed in many areas from academics to sports and is something that will be hugely beneficial as they grow up, working on social situations and learning how to interact with others.
Taking part in social activities during play is a great way to help a child improve their social skills as it enables them to build these skills in a fun and relaxed environment. Children who regularly play with other children learn how to work together, solve arguments amongst themselves and establish friendships.
It also encourages to understand and empathise with others, considering others feelings and pay attention to others around them; encouraging children to interact with each other and deal with any challenging situations.
Builds confidence
Social playtime helps to build not only helps with physical development and emotional development, it also helps build a child’s confidence in children. Often when children play together there is less on-hand adult supervision, which means that children cannot rely on an adult to tell them what to do and instead they have to organise themselves.
This means children need to gain the confidence to take leadership roles, voice their opinions and think independently; and these skills are vital for later in life.
Develops emotional intelligence
Having emotional intelligence is now often considered as equally important as having academic intelligence. Emotion intelligence is the key to forming good relationships with others, which is vital for both personal and professional success.
Social playtime helps to develop emotional intelligence as it teaches children vital soft skills that are essential for emotional intelligence, such as how to communicate effectively, negotiate and work together as a team.
Encourages teamwork
While some children naturally work well within a team, for others it is a skill that they need to learn and develop. Social playtime plays an important role, especially team games, is a great way of encouraging children to
learn and develop the skills needed to work well as part of a team.
These types of social play activities encourage children to learn how to lead, support and work with their teammates so that they can all work together to achieve a specific goal or overcome a challenge. Teamwork also encourages social and emotional skills that are greatly beneficial later in adult life.
Introduces concept of friendly competition
Along with learning to work as part of a team, social playtime can also teach children about the concept of friendly competition. It is important for children to learn how to deal with competition, especially if they are not naturally competitive, as it is something they will encounter throughout their personal and professional lives.
As well a this it is also important for children to learn how to lose or fail at something without it impacting their long-term confidence, along with learning how to win gracefully.
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