Vice Principal 

& Wellbeing

The Importance of Play

Learning through play is one of the most important ways children learn and develop.

Play is one of the few activities where children show their remarkable ability for exploration, imagination and decision making. The type of play children engage in and its purposes change over the course of childhood from infancy to adolescence. Regardless of the type of play being explored, it supports various types of development.

Physical development - active play uses large and small muscles when climbing, running, ball games, digging, jumping, and dancing which supports:

• overall health and sense of wellbeing
• physical growth
• appreciation for the benefits of active lifestyles
• skills for independence in self-help such as dressing or feeding.

Social and emotional development - dramatic and imaginative play, including dressing up and role play, can develop positive social and emotional skills and values. This provides opportunities for children to:

• practise how to work with other children, negotiate ideas, and make choices and decisions
• develop self-confidence by experiencing success and challenges
• learn to control their emotions, reduce impulsive behaviour, or reduce stress as they act out feelings and events that might be worrying them
• develop empathy and fairness as they learn to play alongside and with other children.

Cognitive development - when your child plays individually and with others their cognitive skills, such as thinking, remembering, learning and paying attention are all being developed.

The following cognitive skills develop:

• problem solving
• the power of imagination and creativity
• concepts such as shapes, colours, measurement, counting and letter recognition
• strengths such as concentration, persistence and resilience.

Ref: startingblocks.gov.au 

Have a look at our wonderful students, engaging in a huge game of tiggy, which was lead by our senior students and involved most of the kids in our school!

We are so fortunate to have lunchtime clubs every day at St Mary's to encourage play and support the development of our students.