Play is not fancy; it’s foundational and fundamental

“Play is a break from learning”? Absolutely not! PLAY IS THE LEARNING AND DEVELOPMENT. By the age of five, 90% of the human brain’s volume is already developed. Play provides the blueprint for children to think, explore and connect with the world around them. It profoundly shapes learning by building strong pathways and synaptic connections in the brain.

A substantial body of research from neurosciences and social sciences support play. Every time a child engages in play, they build their brain, both biologically and cognitively. Through play, they learn to solve problems, communicate, make decisions, store information, and form lifelong pathways for learning.

In child development literature play is viewed as a form of survival. Historically children engaged in pretend play helped them innovate solutions to make life easy, explore ways to gather food and develop basic survival skills. As the science advanced, the role of play was increasingly linked with moral reasoning, empathy, and cultural knowledge. Children learn best by doing, and that doing is ‘play’.

Play fosters holistic development and help children develop a wide range of skills, literacy, numeracy, metacognition, and emotional intelligence. Games like symbolic play, e.g., using cucumbers as a phone, let them learn and communicate. Storytelling and role-play establish the groundwork for their reading and early syntax development, and tracing in sand builds their early writing skills. Similarly, block play or board games or something as simple as sorting different types and colors of leaves in a park are foundational to their early numeracy skills, i.e., estimation, fractions, sorting, spatial awareness, and counting. Reflective play, like puzzles, Jenga, and name-place-animal-thing, massively impacts their metacognition and development of working memory. Playing with dolls and characters builds their emotional regulation skills and helps them make big decisions in life in the future. Dramatic play, cooking, and helping with house chores  via playful ways prepare them to become resilient, learn empathy, and build capacity to face future traumas. As small as a child holding a trolley in a grocery store or simply going to a vegetable cart with a parent and touching those vegetables in joy and exploration, it teaches them about nature, about being grateful, and about learning about food. Risk and outdoor play teach them self-protection, agility, and physical and mental resilience. Playing games with other children helps them learn negotiation skills and activate a part of the brain that is responsible for making decisions. It also helps them gain skills like collaboration, communication, compassion, and the spirit of being able to perform under high pressure. Play is not a luxury; it is oxygen. It is super essential for young children and their growth.

The consequences of play deprivation go beyond child development; it’s a silent crisis of that limits broader community growth and cohesion. Declining play opportunities can be detrimental for children and their development. When children lack diverse play experiences, their physical and mental health and wellbeing are directly affected. Play reduces cortisol and increases natural mood and stress regulators.

A lack of play also has a huge impact on their academics and educational attainment. United National Convention on the Rights of the Child—Article 31 affirms on every child’s right to play. Yet, with the advancement of technology and rising screen time, climate disruptions, and declining social order, many children are being deprived and denied of their basic right to play.

Screens consume their time, extreme weather limits outdoor play, and sociopolitical unrest restricts access to safe play spaces. We, as a nation, need to work very hard to ensure we sustain play. Reclaim play as a right and embrace it as a shared responsibility.

• Learn what play is, its types and how it support early childhood development.
• Schools must adopt play as both a pedagogy and the primary language of learning.
• Parents to protect unstructured playtime, reduce screen exposure, and support natural play. Become climate and peace ambassadors to reduce adverse impact of these on child development and the opportunities to play.
• The state must invest in providing infrastructure that enables and supports play.
• Policy makers must ensure that public spaces, schools and communities preserve time and resources for play.
• Global leaders and agencies must commit to reduce inequities in play resources and exposure and make it accessible for all children.

This World Play Day, let’s all pledge to protect play. Let’s provide infrastructure, resources, time, and opportunities for all children to play, grow and thrive. Let’s also care for our climate, promote peace, and become ambassadors for play—locally and globally.

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