A childhood full of play and wonder is a childhood lived fully. Encourage children to step away from the screens and get playing. Free play is self-directed play: a way for children to learn as well as express themselves. Learn how important child-initiated play time is and help them play, play and play some more.
Free Play is an unstructured time where your child can use everyday materials and play using his/ her own ideas. Encouraging your child to think beyond the box and creating one’s own interpretation of toys, spaces and situations can help spark creativity, develop social skills and learn empathy.
Often you will notice that children during free play like to role-play. When we were children, we imitated our parents, our teachers, our older siblings and even the vegetable man. By nature's design, children primarily learn through imitation of real-life experiences for the first 7 years of life.
Pretend play/ Role play has significant advantages, such as:
It creates a channel for children to learn how to engage with the world
Learn real-life skills, like cleaning up or getting dressed by themselves
Create imaginary worlds that helps them explore their creativity
Helps them interact with children and adults alike
Helps children express issues that they might not be able to verbally communicate
Inspires children to seek creative solutions for problems
Pretend play is the cornerstone of the development of self and we must let children direct their own play. Freedom within a safe boundary.