In Episode 004 of Playfully Faith Parenting, I share some of the many benefits of play.
This post contains affiliate links, which means I receive a small commission, at no extra cost to you, if you make a purchase using these links. For more information, please see my disclosure policy.
Show Notes
Episode Summary:
In this episode we look at play and the important role it plays in a child’s development.
The Areas of Development:
- cognitive (includes language)
- social-emotional
- physical
- spiritual
Play builds synapses between neurons in the brain, when these connections are not made they are pruned making it more difficult to build later on.
If we can build our children’s brains’ connections in ways that glorify God and point them to him when they are young it will be much easier for them to continue on that path.
Verses from the episode:
Luke 2:52
Links from the episode:
Playfully Faithful Parenting Podcast is a ministry of CreatedtoPlay.com. For more resources, tips, devotions, and tools check us out online: https://createdtoplay.com .
Freebies for you:
Want to work with me? Sign up for a 15-minute free coaching call: https://createdtoplay.com/free-coaching
Join my free 5-day Bible Play Challenge: https://createdtoplay.com/challenge
Get 17 fun, free kid’s blessings for meals: https://createdtoplay.com/kids-blessings
Even though I’m an introvert, I’m social! Let’s connect!
Instagram: https://instagram.com/createdtoplay
Facebook: https://facebook.com/created2play
Twitter: https://twitter.com/createdtoplay
Pinterest: https://pinterest.com/createdtoplay
Did you enjoy the show?
Subscribe and leave me a 5-star review on Apple Music and make me giddy.
Music by jorikbasov from Pixabay.
Transcript
Here is a rough transcript of Playfully Faithful Parenting Episode 004: Benefits of Play. This isn’t meant to be pretty and perfect but is here as a resource for those who want it.
Transcript
Hello Mamas and welcome back.
I’m so excited to have you here today listening and today we are going to start a 3 part series on introducing play.
Today we’re going to talk about the benefits of play and how play helps your kids brains to grow and develop in Luke.
252 it says, and Jesus grew in wisdom and stature and in favor with God and me.
This verse comes right after the time where Jesus went missing from his parents.
They couldn’t find them and then they found him at the temple and so it’s one of the stories.
One of the very few stories we have of Jesus as a little kid.
And so then this verse kind of serves as a bridge from Jesus as a kid too.
When he is grown and beginning his ministry and it shows us that.
Hey, it shows us a humanity of Jesus.
He had to grow in wisdom and stature as well as in favor with God and man.
So those four words in the Scripture are very similar to the four main areas of development in kids, so.
There’s cognitive, physical, spiritual, and social emotional development that kids need to to grow in as they prepare for life.
And how do kids best learn and develop in these four air?
There is it’s play I believe God created all of us to need play in our lives and for that purpose he wants us to enjoy this life that he’s given us and play is just one of the ways that we can experience and enjoy the life.
That we have here on Earth with him, but God also designed kids brains to grow and learn through play play helps the neurons of the brain to connect.
Through what’s called synapses.
So the more babies and kids experience through hands on play.
The more connections and the deeper these connections in their brains develop and the more connections that are created and the deeper they are, the easier it is for kids to.
Access them as they grow.
So if a kid is constantly feeling safety in their relationships around them, that is going to help them to have safe, healthy relationships as an adult, and the same is true the other way, if a kid.
Did baby Young child is always feeling scared and insecure in relationships then that is going to be something that is brought into their adult relationships.
That is a connection of.
That’s created deeply in their brain early on, and it just makes it easier to access those connections later on in life.
And it’s not impossible to retrain your brain and rewire your brain to build new connections, but it’s a lot more difficult.
I think.
That it is possible for us as parents, especially if you have young kids to come.
It is possible to wire your kids brains to glorify God and to build relationship with God now so that as they grow older.
It will be easier for them to access that identity in Christ that they will have a safe place land and they will know that.
And that this is just my theory.
But as they become teenagers and go off to college and become adult if their brains have these deep connections through play to God and to their identity in him, those connections that wiring.
Will be easier to access and he will be a natural place of safety and comfort.
That kids will go to as opposed to these all these other options that they have drugs, alcohol, unhealthy relationships, all those things.
So that is just my my theory.
My thoughts, what I’m what I’m doing today is a lot of taking.
Secular scientific research on play and kids develop.
And I am translating those through a godly lens using my seminary and theological education.
My ministry experience my prayers and my understanding of.
So let’s look at how play helps kids develop in these four areas of cognitive development, physical, spiritual and social.
Now cognitive development includes language.
And problem solving, critical thinking and through play kids explore their world and they begin to learn how it works and they get to understand it better than if you were just to tell them that when I hold this ball.
Up in the air, it’s going to fall down because of gravity.
Well, that’s great to tell them, but they’re not really going to understand it until they take the ball themselves and they drop it, or they’re building a tower and it keeps falling over.
That is going to help them to really connect.
Oh, there’s this force.
There’s some thing that keeps making my blocks fall down.
I need to try to problem solve and they might try new ways of building the tower to see how they can stop their blocks.
Their tower from falling over that is all part of cognitive development.
Also within cognitive development.
Is something called our executive function?
Executive function is a set of mental skills.
That promote memory problem solving.
Being able to think more flexibly.
Have practice self control.
We use these everyday as adults and so they’re really important.
It’s really important for kids to be able to develop that executive function it includes.
Time management. It’s just soup.
They’re super important to be able to for planning and just organizing this kind of skills.
So that’s executive function.
So kids learn how to do those things through play when they’re playing a game with somebody else they have.
To plan how they’re going to play together and if they’re playing, pretend they have to decide.
OK, I’m going to be the cashier and you’re going to go shopping and we’re going to be in a grocery store and here is going to be your money.
And this is the money that I’m going to give you, and they have to plan it out.
And they have to decide the set of parameters and all of that.
Is building their executive function, so that’s all cognitive and language is also a part of the cognitive development and in play is where they really get to explore their use of language and practice.
This words that they’ve heard, and using them in appropriate, sometimes inappropriate but appropriate ways.
So all of that happens in in cognitive development through play.
The next type of development.
Physical so this one might be something that we very easily understand how kids learn.
Through play with the physical, so here they’re going to learn both gross motors, those big body movements and fine motor skills.
So by threading a needle like yarn and a needle and sewing kids.
Practicing sewing my daughters love it and those like those lacing cards that is really great.
Fine motor skill anytime they’re playing with small toys and that pincer grip.
Those are fine motor skills playing with Play-doh.
Builds those fine motor skills that kids are going to use later in writing.
Play DoH actually helps get your kids finger muscles ready for writing.
I think that’s just incredible and so tearing paper and play DoH are some great simple.
Fine motor skill practice.
Large motor skills.
Running, jumping, kicking all of those things are going to help them learn how to use their body and what their bodies are capable of, and God gave them these bodies and so they, through physical play, get to develop this beautiful.
Tool that God has given them and to understand the ways that it works next is spiritual in schools and public schools, the spiritual development.
It is not often looked at in Christian schools.
It can be and, but it is an important part of your child development.
I would also include their identity in there in that developing their identity and their understanding.
That they are created by God for a purpose is really important, I think, to their spiritual development.
So spiritual development is going to be helping them to know that there is a God and he wants a relationship with.
And giving them the tools to be able to pursue that relationship.
It does not necessarily mean that at age 3 or four they invite Jesus into their heart and then develop.
It just means that there are opportunities for them.
To develop that relationship that God so desperately wants with them, the last area of development is kind of.
It’s two areas, kind of combined into one, but they’re so closely interrelated, so it’s social emotion.
So this is really big in a lot of preschools.
I would say a lot of good preschools anyhow.
So social emotional development is giving kids opportunities to build relationships with others.
With kids with adults with their parents with their siblings, all of that is the social.
So learning social cues, learning polite manners, learning how to share, learning how to work together.
To solve a problem learning cooperation, learning some, give and take all of that is going to be social and then the emotional is learning how to understand their own emotions and to express those in healthy ways.
And I think all of these things are really important to God.
And I think a lot of them come out in when we look at like the fruit of the spirit.
Lovejoy peace, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, self control.
All of those.
I don’t know if I got all of them, but you know what I’m saying, they’re all we can put all of those into some area.
Of these of development and see the fruit of healthy development through an active faith soumm think when it says that Jesus grew in wisdom and stature and with favor with God and man.
That it really models.
A healthy way for our kids to also develop and play just provides the best way for our kids to experience and to grow in all four of those areas of development.
But there is so much more that we can talk about.
With play.
Hi and we’re going to keep this conversation going next week.
We’re going to talk about what is play and what are some different types of play and we’re just going to keep exploring this because I really do think that this is a beautiful tool and it’s such a fun tool that God has given us.
For our kids and for their brains.
And it also one amazing benefit of play is that it builds bonds when people play together, it helps their connection to grow and so we can play with our.
Kids and we can grow our own bond with our kids, which then sets us up to have a better platform to share Jesus with our kids when they know that we love and respect them, they are going to love and respect us and want to hear what we say and want to model to follow our modeling.
And so and then, as we teach our children about God through play, they’re playing with God and building that bond with him.
And so we’re going to continue talking about play.
And how we can use that to pursue our kids for Christ?
And how we can disciple them and really just teach our kids that they are so loved so valuable and created with a purpose.
So Mama, I hope this was.
Helpful and blessed you love to see some ratings and reviews and email me some stories of how you are playing with your kids this week.
You can do this Mama.
God will equip you.
