Play with children: Why is it important?

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Play is an unforgettable memory as children grow up. And this activity is almost only suitable for young children. So why don't families make games an important part of nurturing young minds?

1. How necessary is play for a child's development?

Play activities help promote children's social, mental, physical and cognitive development. It's how children learn about themselves and the world around them. This learning process is intense during the first year of life, when children will use all five senses to maximize their ability to learn.
As toddlers, children's games become more imaginative and complex. Through games, children practice skills and personalities such as independence, creativity, curiosity and problem solving. In addition, children's social skills are also developed. This is shown by the child giving food to his parents, giving food to the doll, taking care of an injured teddy bear.

2. Offer age-appropriate games

Play is a tool that children use to learn about the world around them. It depends on the child's stage of development. If your 3-month-old is learning to grab objects, let him play with soft, large-sized toys. If your baby is 12 months old and is in the process of discovering the law of cause and effect, play simple versions of hide-and-seek games with a blanket as a tool, or hide around the corners of the house.
According to Catherine Marchant, a play therapist at Wheelock University in Boston, there are several types of games parents can play with their children at different stages of development:
Interactive games: Talking to you and others is important to your child's development. Newborns love to smile, watch, and laugh. Older babies enjoy games like peek-a-boo or toy spiders. Playing with objects: Touching, banging, scraping, throwing, pushing objects is fascinating for babies aged 4 months to 10 months.

Play functional and performance games: Pretending to use familiar objects in an appropriate way such as pushing a toy lawn mower onto the lawn, or calling Grandma with a hairbrush, for example, helps create a feeling of Exciting feeling for children aged 12 months to 21 months when their imagination is growing rapidly. Symbolic games: This type of game, popular around the age of 2, stimulates children's imagination from surrounding objects. Children can play with a shoebox as if it were a school bus by making an engine noise, or pretend to eat an invisible object and insist on saying it's a donut. Role-playing: Around the age of 30 to 36 months, children will begin to take on new roles. Playing the role of doctor, teacher, mom or dad is popular nowadays.

3. How do parents make the most of playtime with their children?

Value playtime more than playtime: Play is really any enjoyable activity that involves people, objects, or movement. Everything from blowing bubbles together to singing and splashing in the bathtub to chasing each other around the room. If you've ever seen a 12-month-old get engrossed in a cardboard box, you'll understand how varied a child's play can be. Lie down on the floor with your baby: You are a favorite toy and any activity is more enjoyable if your baby is involved. Talking to your baby while playing with them will help strengthen their language abilities. Play activities make children feel happy and rested: suggests Marilyn Segal, developmental psychologist and author of Your Child at Play series. Stop when the child feels full: Children have different thresholds for stimulation. When your child seems bored, fussy, or tired, it's time to take a break. Give your child opportunities to play alone and with others: Both types of play are beneficial. Let your child choose the activities and control his play: You can suggest new things or make new choices, but the child should be the one to decide. Because at the end of the day, games are for fun and if your child has mastered the game, it's a really fun time for them.

Spending time playing with children will help children develop language, motor and physical early. Therefore, parents should be creative and spend time playing with their children so that they have beautiful childhood memories.
For children to be healthy and develop well, it is necessary to have a nutritious diet in terms of quantity and quality balance. If children are not provided with adequate and balanced nutrients, it will lead to diseases of excess or lack of nutrients, which adversely affect the comprehensive development of children in terms of physical, mental and motor skills.
Parents should supplement their children with supportive products containing lysine, essential micro-minerals and vitamins such as zinc, chromium, selenium, and B vitamins to help fully meet their child's nutritional needs. At the same time, these essential vitamins also support digestion, enhance nutrient absorption, help improve anorexia, and help children eat well.
Parents can learn more:
Signs of zinc deficiency in children
Micronutrient deficiency and failure to gain weight in children
Please regularly visit Vinmec.com website and update useful information to take care of your child. Take care of the baby and the whole family.

Reference source: babycenter.com