Play and recreation

What is play and recreation?

What is play and recreation?

Play is one of the joys of childhood! Children do it out of choice, under their own direction and because they want to. It’s a fundamental and vital part of growing up – essential for physical, social, emotional and spiritual development. So, we take play very seriously indeed.

What your child might experience

What activity does your child do which is controlled and structured by them, or other children? That’s playtime. Your child has a right to play; it’s how he or she makes sense of the world – and it informs every part of their development. 

The key thing about play is that it’s self-directed. Your child should initiate and lead play. But as a parent, it can be hard to do this – especially when your child’s playtime may be impaired by the challenges they face.  

How Pace can help

Our team can help you enable your child to play, and we’ll help you be playful too. Learning to truly play brings many benefits: 

• Play is social, so it develops your child’s communication skills  
• Messy play exposes children to new sensory experiences  
• Throwing and catching a ball develops coordination 
• Scooping sand or pouring water is the start of learning to hold a knife and fork  
• Children learn concepts, try out new things and explore their boundaries every time they play