1. Personality development of a child
2. Breeding ground for the subsequent acquisition of necessary academic and professional skills
3. Combining play and school skills
Why is playing so important for children?
Contribution by: Johanna Schubert
Psychotherapist, among others, working in educational and family counseling / therapy Johna Schubert
Everything that children see, hear, feel, hold and understand quickly becomes a game. Whether it's drawing patterns on the mashed potatoes, playing self-entertainment while getting dressed, making faces while washing in the mirror, picking up and throwing a stone or climbing a tree: a play action quickly emerges. It is the “active engagement” of children with their entire environment.
The game basically combines three functions:
No routine
For children there are - thank God - no routine, no habits, no behavioral patterns. It is their world of constant encounters with new things and with possibilities for action, which in turn the children perceive as a completely natural motivation/provocation for action. According to the motto: "The unknown must be known, the new awaits a personal discovery, the attractive needs to be experienced!"
"Children want to discover and understand their environment, get closer to its laws, and become familiar with unknown things." — Johanna Schubert
"Play is, in a sense, every child's primary occupation."
How often do children actually play?
So it's no surprise that game researchers estimate that children (must!) play approximately 15,000 hours by the age of six. That's about eight hours per day! This is where the developmental learning sequence in children comes into play.
