Learning Through Play

 

I find that I am often reminding myself and other homeschool mommas that children do a lot of learning through play. I am learning that dramatic play (acting out house, church, a story from a book or movie) can often be one of the best ways to discover what your child is feeling or questions that need to be addressed. It is also a great opportunity to see them growing and learning about the world around them. They can act out situations that are worrying them. And if there is a situation that they have misunderstood as it happened around them it is a great time for the parent to explain it and to set the child’s mind at ease.

Board games are another way that we love to encourage learning through play in our home. It helps the children to learn how to take turns, play by the rules, and how to be happy for someone else when they win. All of these skills take repeated practice for children to learn and they are best learned at home with the supervision of a parent than in a room filled with peers. Board games can also allow for the practice of math facts as scores are added and many card games especially require that you add up points as you play. This is a fun way to reinforce learning without your children even knowing it is math class. The mental workout of strategy games is great for older children. It helps to ready them for real life problem solving.

Playdough is another learning through play opportunity that most families miss out on because all they can see is the mess. The fun tools that come with playdough or a simple rolling pin and cookie cutters can help a preschooler or toddler to build fine motor skills and to strengthen their hand muscles. And once you really get down to it most children will play with playdough for at least 30 minutes and who wouldn’t be willing to do 10 minutes of clean up for 30 minutes of quiet play.

Building with blocks, legos, train tracks, or even simple Styrofoam cups is an excellent way to foster problem solving and engineering skills. Boys especially can benefit from this introduction to building skills. They will probably face many situations in life when they need to be able to build something that their families might need, or to fix something that breaks. And if they can problem solve and do it themselves it will save them lots of time and money when they are grown.

We strive to play with and to interact with our children from the very beginning. If you take the time to “teach” children how to play it will foster a great imagination and years of self-entertainment to come. Children thrive off of the affirmation of their parents and by building a strong bond early on you will often times find that children have a desire to please those that they are close to so discipline is easier through the rough toddler years.

 

Learning through play is vital, at least in our house. We don’t do a lot of preschool workbooks, or baby learning videos. We surround our children with a lot of different types of toys, most of which don’t require batteries, and then give them lots of time to explore and to play with them. As our children grow we include them in the daily functioning of the home from the time that they can walk. They put away shoes, carry clothes to the hamper and throw things away for momma. These small jobs can still be fun for little guys and yet they begin to feel like such a needed part of the family. It all works hand in hand to build better relationships, stronger families, vivid imaginations, and independent children.

How do you foster learning through play? What are some of your favorite things to do with your children that teaches them while they are having fun?

 

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