With summer’s arrival, and the structured days of school soon behind us, let us embrace this time and encourage our children to play. By boosting brain development, fostering independence, and promoting social, emotional, and physical skills, play affords the opportunity to grow, explore, and thrive.  In Einstein Never Used Flash Cards, Dr. Kathy Hirsh-Pasek and Dr. Roberta Michnick Golinkoff highlight “[p]lay is the key to nurturing happy, intelligent children” (2003, p. 215).

Why Summer Play Matters:

Brain Development

• Play is learning, involving creativity, problem solving and decision making.

Physical Health

• Play involving activities such as running, biking, swimming, or hiking, improves motor skills and coordination and contributes to active and healthy lifestyles for our children.

Emotional Well-being

• Play and activity is a natural medium of communication for children and helps them express feelings in healthy and safe ways. Confidence building and resilience are outcomes of children inventing new games and facing challenges.

Social Skills

• Children learn how to get along with others through play, as it supports the growth of cooperative skills and empathy, resulting in the cultivation of stronger friendships.

Independence

• Making choices, taking risks, and learning through trial and error comes with unstructured play time and is critical in developing independence and initiative.

Meaningful Summer Play Activities

• Park visits, nature walks, backyard camping, sandcastle building
• Beach time, swimming, water play with sprinklers, buckets, water tables
• Arts and crafts: painting rocks, friendship bracelets, sidewalk chalk, creating with clay or playdough
• Group Activities: hide-and seek, capture the flag, water balloons, scavenger hunts, backyard bowling, bean bag toss, and invented games

Play leads to an enhanced understanding of the self and others. This summer, let’s provide children with what will help them develop strong minds and good hearts: the time and space to play.

Contributed by Wendy Turriff, M.Ed., RCC, Junior School Counsellor