Benefits of Play

At The Kind Store we love all things play, especially educational, mindful and sustainable toys. Make someone's day and spread a little kindness with our thoughtfully curated collections that inspire memories, encourage creativity and promote a sense of calm. 

Communicating through Play

Play is the best way for children to learn and communicate. Through play they can practice sharing, decision making, they learn to work in groups, resolve conflicts and advocate for themselves.

Through play, children also learn how to interact with others, and understand the impact their behaviour may have on other people, and how other people impact them, developing their empathy and understanding.

Open-ended Toys

Open-ended toys provide more opportunities for children to engage in critical thinking and problem-solving. They foster creativity, imagination, and exploration. Playing with open ended toys helps develop both gross and fine motor skills needed to be successful in school.

Play Schemas

Schemas are described as patterns of repeated behaviour which allow children to explore and express developing ideas and thoughts through their play and exploration. 

Age appropriate toys are safe, they match a child’s stage of development & their emerging abilities. Toys that explore schemas are very beneficial as they allow kids to repeat behaviours and facilitate their development.

If you hadn’t heard the term play schemas before you may recognise them below in their categories and some examples of these schemas in play.

 

1. Connecting – Building and demolishing with Lego and building blocks, train tracks and puzzles, ties up and glues things together.

 

2. Containment – Fills containers with water/sand/rice, puts things in bags or boxes and climbs into boxes.

 

3. Enveloping – Puts hands into paint, gets inside things or hides, wraps up toys and covers themselves or belongings.

 

4. Orientation – Looking through their legs, climbing to get a better view, being under things and hanging upside down.

 

5. Positioning – Sorts and orders toys by colours and shape, puts toys in a line, doesn’t like their food touching and sits in a particular place.

 

6. Rotational – Your child may love spinning and twirling around, likes toys with wheels and spinning toys and loves to draws circles.

 

 7. Trajectory – Throws and drops toys, they like to jump and run, pushes toys in straight lines and likes running water. 

 

8. Transformation – They love potion play, enjoys baking and cooking, pours their drink into their food, enjoys dressing up and mixes all the paint together.

 

9. Transporting – Collects things and brings them to you, carries many things at once, moves toys and pushes pram.

 

Types of play

Children learn and develop through different types of play such as Physical, Social, Constructive, Fantasy and games with rules.

1. Physical Play encourages kids to move their bodies and help to builds their muscles, cones, and physical skills. It can include dancing, ball games, bike riding, kite flying, jumping castles, play grounds, swimming, playing tag. This helps your child build their muscles, bones and physical skills.

2. Social Play involves social interactions which can be from a play date, playgrounds visits, day-care or any parent and toddler groups where you can meet other children. This helps children learn how to take turns, develop language skills, cooperate and share.

3. Constructive Play may involve play such as building Lego or blocks, building a blanket fort or putting a toy train track together and is great for experimenting and developing problem solving skills. This type of play can help kids develop an understanding of distance, size and how things work.

4. Fantasy play encourages your child to develop their imagination whether they are role playing or dressing up they could be pretending to be super heroes, playing shops and children love to act out ordinary things their parents do.

5. Games with rules such as “Simon says” or “Duck Duck Goose” can teach younger children about fairness. Board games are also a good way of teaching children about fairness and rules, as well as being a fun family activity.

Play improves the cognitive, physical, social, and emotional well-being of children and young people. Through play, children learn about the world and themselves. They also learn skills they need for study, work and relationships.