The value of play
Nicolene du Preez
Years of research has confirmed the value of play. In early childhood, play helps children develop skills they cannot get in any other way. Babbling, for example, is a self-initiated form of play through which infants create the sounds they need to learn the language of their parents. Likewise, children teach themselves to crawl, stand, and walk through repetitious practice play. At the preschool level, children engage in dramatic play and learn who is a leader, who is a follower, who is outgoing, who is shy. They also learn to negotiate their own conflicts. For these reasons, and many more, children should be exposed to different forms of play.