• Build Social Skills

Social skills are key for everyone to learn at an early age. Social skills have an effect on every aspect of a person's life, through the connection they have with their teachers, their family and the friendships they build with peers.

Play is a great way to facilitate learning without a child even realising it! Social play helps them to understand the 'rules of the game' so that they can make friends and become more confident!

What do we mean?

• Games with rules e.g. board games and sports
• Making camps and dens together to interact with playmates
• Team games to learn to take turns and share
• Play fighting - children learn about boundaries and "how far they can go"

Anything that involves 2 or more children working together!

It is easy to be overly cautious about rough play but play-fighting helps teach children the 'rules of the game' and to understand when to 'draw the line'. So try to let your kids have some time to have a bit of rough-and-tumble as it is a natural learning tool. This is especially important for boys as boys develop social skills slower than girls and rough and tumble play can help them develop in this area.