Clare Family Learning Project

The importance of play in childhood cannot be emphasised enough. Children develop socially, emotionally, physically, linguistically and ultimately cognitively through play. Cognitively development includes intellectual and language development, thinking skills, memory, attention and concentration levels.

Children need opportunities and space to create their own play with whatever resources and materials are available. In playing imaginatively and creatively children act out real life situations, they take on different roles, they construct things, they invent games, they make rules and in so doing expand their use of language.

They develop social and emotional skills through interaction with other children. Through play they act out their inner selves and they make sense of the world around them. Play helps children to discover, to practise old skills, to experiment and to develop physically.

In many cases the foundations to more formal learning is formulated through play activities and should continue to be part of children’s lives in the primary school. Above all play should be fun.