Towards a world of play and connection, for every child

worldwelivein. Playful interacons contribute to the well-being and posive mental health of parents, caregivers and children.Playcomfortsandsoothes children.

Whether it's throwing a ball, dancing or a game of tag, everyone knows play when they see it. I r re s p e c ve o f e c o n o m i c background or culture, people all overtheworldengageinplayinone form or another. Yet not everyone understands play is a biological imperaveforeverychild. Play is how young children learn to navigate the world, and build narraves, knowledge and social skills. Play is essenal business for children. It is an effecve way for parents and children to connect andexpresslove.

Whyisplayimportant?

Children learn best through play

Play creates powerful learning opportunies across all areas of development – intellectual, social, emoonal and physical. Through play, children learn to forge connecons with others, build a wide range of leadership skills, develop resilience, navigate relaonships and social challenges as well as conquer their fears. When children play, they feel safe. Children play to make sense of the world around them More generally, play provides a plaorm for children to express and develop imaginaon and creavity, which are key skills crical for the technology-driven and innovave

To encourage playful interacons between parents and children, there is a need to create an enablingenvironment.

What are the challenges and soluons?

Promong safe and healthy environments for parents to engage and play with children is important for them to thrive. However,parentsmayexperiencea lack of bandwidth and support to engage in play with their children due to various stressors, including financial,personalandprofessional ones.Moreover,alowawarenessof thevalueofplaycanbeanobstacle.

ParenngOfPreschoolers

(3-5yearsofage)

DevelopmentalMilestones

Skills such as naming colors, showing affecon, and hopping on one foot are called developmental milestones. Developmental milestonesarethingsmostchildren can do by a certain age. Children reach milestones in how they play, learn, speak, behave, and move (likecrawling,walking,orjumping). As children grow into early childhood, their world will begin to open up. They will become more independent and begin to focus more on adults and children outsideofthefamily.Theywillwant to explore and ask about the things around them even more Their interacons with family and those around them will help to shape their personality and their own ways of thinking and moving. During this stage, children should be able to ride a tricycle, use safety scissors, noce a difference between girls and boys, help to dress and undress themselves, play with other children, recall part of a story,andsingasong.

PosiveParenngTips

Following are some of the things you,asaparent,candotohelpyour preschoolerduringthisme: Connue to read to your child Nurtureherloveforbooksbytaking hertothelibraryorbookstore. Let your child help with simple chores.

Ÿ Encourage your child to play with other children. This helps him to learn the value of sharing andfriendship.

Ÿ Be clear and consistent when disciplining your child. Explain and show the behavior that you expect from her Whenever you tell her no, follow up with what heshouldbedoinginstead.

Ÿ Help your child develop good language skills by speaking to him in complete sentences and using “grown up” words. Help himtousethecorrectwordsand phrases.

Ÿ Help your child through the steps to solve problems when sheisupset.

Ÿ Giveyourchildalimitednumber of simple choices (for example, deciding what to wear, when to play,andwhattoeatforsnack).

Hobbies Are Good For You

Need some convincing that you need a hobby?

Let's start with some science. A largebodyofresearchsuggeststhat howyouspendleisurememaers to your health, and that your hobbies are good for you in many ways.

In 2010, a team of researchers from universies in Kansas, Pisburgh and Texas published the results of four large studies with a total of 1,399 parcipants, including men and women with various health problems,suchasupperrespiratory illness, arthris and breast cancer The researchers developed a scale called the Pisburgh Enjoyable Acvies Test to measure the effect of hobbies and leisure pursuits on overall health. Here's what they found:

Beerphysicalhealth

People who scored higher on the enjoyable acvies test had lower body mass index, smaller waists, lower blood pressure, lower stress hormones and beer overall physical funcon. While it's possible that people who start out healthy are more likely to engage in hobbies, the findings are consistent with other research showing that having hobbies and other leisure pursuits is associated with a variety of benefits, including less severe diseaseandgreaterlongevity

Moresleep

While you may think that a hobby willtakeuptoomuchofyourleisure me or cut into your sleep, the Pisburgh study showed that people who spent more me on their hobbies actually got beer sleep.

Lowerstress

A large body of research shows that leisure acvies can help reduce stress.ThePisburghstudyshowed thatpeoplewhotookpartinalotof enjoyable acvies dealt beer with stressful life events People who scored high on the enjoyable acvies test showed lower findings were based on studies of 430 workers and military personnel thatfoundthathavingahobbygave workers a chance to recover from the demands of their jobs, increasedtheirsenseofcontroland in some cases challenged them to learn new skills that were transferabletowork. levels of negave moods and depression, and higher posive atudes than their lowscoringcounterparts.

A word to the wise: Don't pick a hobby because it will help you at work. Pick a hobby that makes you happy, and any improvement in yourworkwilljustbeabonus!

Happiness

People who said they parcipated oen in enjoyable acvies also had greater life sasfacon and felt their lives had a greater sense of purposeandmeaning.

Morefriends

Notably, spending more me on hobbies and leisure pursuits was associated with having a larger and more diverse social network. And we know that a strong social network is a key factor in healthy aging.

And there's one addional benefit tohavingahobbythatmaysurprise you.

Improvedworkperformance

A study at San Francisco State University found that employees who had creave outlets outside of the office were beer at creave problem-solving on the job. The