Play is vital for children’s physical health as well as their mental health and cognitive development. There is also some evidence that if children are physically active when they are young they are more likely to adopt healthy lifestyles as they grow up.
Play builds health and wellbeing – being active through play helps children physically and emotionally, contributing to their health and happiness.
Play builds brain development and supports a range of learning skills.
Play builds resilience – playing boosts children’s confidence, creativity, problem-solving skills and perseverance, enabling them to cope with stress and challenges throughout life.
Children from a very young age take part in lots of different types of play. From early games such as peek-a-boo to more complex dramatic role play, to just “hanging out”, children and young people are learning to communicate and build relationships. So many skills are best learned through play. There is also no need to buy expensive toys for play, in this booklet we have ideas for lots of things that can be made from things you might have in your house. Don’t use small loose parts for very young children.
We created this booklet during the Coronavirus pandemic in order to provide indoor play ideas for children to do at home.
