Play is essential for healthy brain development. It supports all areas of your child’s development—the cognitive, physical, social, and emotional.

What might look like simple play to you is actually your child hard at work, learning the skills necessary for success later in life. Even engaging in early musical experiences—like drumming to a rhythmic beat—can improve your child’s ability to to make predictions about rhythmic patterns in speech.

Play supports attachment, affection, and closeness. It helps your child recover from emotional distress, provides stress relief, and allows him the opportunity to express himself successfully.

According to Dr. Roberta Golinkoff and Dr. Kathy Hirsh- Pasek, play helps develop six key areas vital to success in the 21st century: collaboration, communication, content, critical thinking, creative innovation, and confidence. Plus, it’s fun!

Play is so vital to development that the United Nations Commission for Human Rights has recognized it as the right of every child. Make sure your child has many opportunities for free-ranging play.