Indoor Climbing Toddler Toys
WhatIs Creative Play and Why Is It Important for Toddlers?
Encouraging our children’s creativity from a young age canbenefit them, not just as children, but throughout the rest of their lives. Thedevelopment that comes from all types of creative play allows children toexplore their interests, problem solve and develop self-confidence. Byencouraging creative play, we can help our children gain independence andbenefit from everything that creative play has to offer.
What is creative play?
Creative play is the most important type of play andactually covers many of the different ways that toddlers and children play.During creative play toddlers are engaging in imaginative play, using materialsin new ways, exploring, crafting, and/or experiencing self-directed play. Thistypically involves reenacting familiar experiences from everyday life such asplaying “family”, “house”, “school”, or “work”. This type of play is truly howyoung children learn and the best kind of play for our children to engage in.
Luckily, children do this pretty naturally and don’t needmuch from us. In fact, because creative play is really a form ofself-expression, it’s best if we don’t do much to interfere with what they aredrawn to do naturally and allow them to explore on their own. Creative playshould be child-led rather than directed by an adult. Creative play encourageschildren to think differently, try new things, and be creative by using theirimagination during play.
Why is creative play important for toddlers?
Creative play is so important for toddlers and should be alarge portion of their everyday life. Spending the day independently exploringand being creative helps develop a variety of skills and allows kids to developinterests on their own.
Photo by: Milkweed Photography
When children play creatively together, they are often usingtheir imaginations and having social interactions with other children. Even youngertoddlers who may not be talking yet, but simply play next to other children,will start to develop social skills even in the small amount of non-verbalinteraction they may have. By reading facial expressions and learning how tointeract with others, they are developing the skills to be able to communicateand take others into consideration during play and during life.
Builds emotional development
Photo by: Milkweed Photography
Through creative play, children are able to experience arange of emotions within a safe space to feel these emotions. This can be seenwhen your child is engaging in pretend play and has to act out differentemotions or react to another child’s emotions during their imaginative play. Itallows them to explore positive and negative emotions in an environment whereit is safe and appropriate. In exploring these emotions, they will be betterequipped to work through and understand these emotions in themselves and inothers later on in life.
Allows exploration of interests
Photo by: Milkweed Photography
During creative play, children are able to explore their owncreativity. They can be anything, do anything, and analyze their surroundingsfreely without unnecessary adult direction. This allows children to look intotheir interests, try things out, and decide what they do and don’t like.
Builds confidence
When engaging in creative play, our children are able tobuild up their confidence. They can begin to shift from familiar situationslike playing “house” to more adventurous situations. For example, when playingwith a natural developmental toy such as a Pikler Climbing Triangle, kids canuse their creativity to use it for all kinds of play scenes from dressing it upas a tent to pretending they are climbing a big mountain. Succeeding in goalsset during creative play, like climbing their pretend mountain, can help tobuild their confidence.
Watching your child go from having an idea, to making itcome to life, and all the problem solving needed to get to their vision is sucha magical experience. As your child becomes more confident, they will becomemore independent and their curiosity will bloom even more.
Fosters physical development
Photo by: Milkweed Photography
Since there is plenty of creative play that uses motorskills as well as sensory exploration, it can help with physical development aswell. In the previous example of the Pikler Climbing Triangle, the child mustdevelop balance, coordination and strength to climb to the top. This may comein phases. First they will become comfortable with just standing on the firststep. Then climbing higher and eventually all the way over. They will learn tochallenge themselves and explore their physical boundaries on their own.
Creative play comes naturally to toddlers, it’s just how theynaturally play. It’s a way for them to engage with their imaginations and theirsurroundings in new, creative ways. The experiences that children have and thebenefits they get from creative play can enhance development of their skillsand creativity that they can carry with them for the rest of their lives.
https://tottlr.com/blogs/blog/what-is-creative-play-and-why-is-it-important-for-toddlers
