Fostering good behaviour in children through positive play is not only effective but also enjoyable for both parents and children.
SASKO Siyasizana, a leading advocacy campaign focused on child development and well-being through Better Play continues its quest to positively impact 5 million children by 20230 through Better Play.
Based on the findings from 2022 Lego research, the following types of play are critical in fostering positive play in children with the aim of developing their cognitive skills.
Physical Play
Is any type of game or activity that gets children moving around and expending energy. This includes sports such as football, netball, and other sports where the child uses their whole body to move around. Physical play is very important in the early years as children need to develop both their fine motor skills and gross motor skills. To do this, children need to regularly practice a range of physical movements, both big and like running or hopscotch.
Physical play has benefits such as building healthy muscles and bones, Children will build healthy muscles and bones, helping with balance and overall co-ordination, improving mental health and cognitive development in kids.
Social Play
Social play is crucial for children’s development, fostering important skills like cooperation, communication, empathy, and problem-solving. Some examples of social play activities for children includes outdoor activities like tag, hide-and-seek, or treasure hunts. These games help children understand cooperation and teamwork and allow them to practice negotiation skills and learn about sharing space and resources.
Constructive Play
Constructive play is another essential form of positive play that contributes immensely towards children’s development as it encourages creativity, problem-solving skills, and social interaction. These are some of the examples that parents and teachers can use as constructive play activities for children:
Building Blocks: Provide children with different types of building blocks like LEGO, wooden blocks, or magnetic tiles. Encourage them to build structures, vehicles, or anything else they can imagine.
Puzzle Time: Introduce age-appropriate puzzles to children. From simple wooden puzzles to complex jigsaw puzzles, children can improve their problem-solving abilities while having fun.
Game with rules Play.
Games with rules are not only entertaining for children but also help them develop important skills like following instructions, teamwork, and problem-solving. Games like Monopoly and Chess are some of the games you would want to have your kids play to foster positive play.
Monopoly teaches kids a lot about money, including Budgeting: In a Monopoly, players have to budget their money to purchase properties, pay rent, and manage their finances. This teaches kids the importance of budgeting and managing their money wisely.
Chess helps children develop cognitive skills as well as social skills. A benefit for children of playing games with rules consists in developing social aspects, such as taking turns, learning fair play, self-respect, and respect for others, understanding others’ perspectives, and developing empathy.
“We are very intentional about the SASKO Siyasizana initiative and want to really impact positively young children and help build a nation of brilliant, empathetic, and responsible adults and it starts with campaigns like SASKO Siyasizana. Our plan is to make sure that by 2030 we have positively touched the lives of more than 5 million ECD and Primary school going children through better quality play and allowing these children to express themselves through positive play” remarked Nomawethu Ngadlela – Marketing Manager at SASKO.
While all these forms of positive play can be fun and engaging it is also important for parents to adapt these activities to suit the age and interests of their children, and always provide positive reinforcement to encourage Better Play and continued good behaviour.
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