Importance of Play

AAPCH

The Australian Association of Parenting and Child Health (AAPCH) is an international organisation of key agencies in Australia and New Zealand providing early parenting education, guidance and support for professionals working with families and young children. AAPCH is committed to optimising the physical, social and emotional health and wellbeing of children.

CHILD SAFE COMMITMENT STATEMENT

Our organisation is committed to safe, respectful, and empowering environments for children and young people. We embed child safety and wellbeing in our culture, guided by the National Principles for Child Safe Organisations, ensuring children’s voices are heard, families are engaged, diversity is respected, and robust systems prevent harm and respond effectively.

Aim

This position paper discusses the importance of practitioners providing parents and carers of babies, toddlers and preschoolers with anticipatory guidance on the importance of play. Babies and children learn and encourage brain development through play and playful interactions. These moments of connection and interactions have an emotional and physiological impact on the child and the way their brain develops neural connections.  Parent-child attachment is strengthened through play and playful interactions. It is also through play that children of all ages learn about their world, including how to interact with and relate to other children and adults.

“From infancy on, play is an important part of a child’s life. For babies and toddlers, simple, playful interactions with adults help develop sturdy brain architecture, the foundations of lifelong health, and the building blocks of resilience. Through games and playful activities, children can practice and strengthen important executive function skills that will help them throughout their lives, including learning to focus their attention, strengthening their working memory, and developing basic self-control.” Harvard University on the Developing Child. 2024

Definition/s

  • Parent/carer/caregiver – The baby/child’s attachment figure and/or primary carer. In this paper we refer to the parent but are aware that families present with many variations/come in many forms.
  • Play – Play supports learning, growth, and development from birth through the lifecycle. It is core to the human development experience and builds babies brains. Play is integral to building parent/carer child interactions
  • Child/children refers to babies, toddlers and preschoolers.

Key Principles

  • Children need:
  • a parent who supports their exploration of the world
  • a parent who can be present with them, provide attuned responses to their state and cues and support them to regulate their emotions
  • Play is crucial to a child’s brain development; it supports brain building
  • Playful moments and interactions strengthen parent-child attachment
  • Children reach their developmental milestones when opportunities are provided for them to play, this could include at bathtime, nappy change times or even with food at mealtimes. Play provides opportunities for children to [SS1] move their body as well as communicate and interact with other children and adults
  • Play and playful interactions are key to language development and emotional interactions
  • Children learn about social interactions through play. Siblings and other family members are important in developing relationships and supporting the child’s learning and development
  • Play supports the child’s curiosity and imagination
  • Parents are the first teachers of their child

Professionals working with families with children are in a unique position to provide anticipatory guidance to parents and carers. Many parents are unaware of the importance of play and playful interactions for their child’s development and brain growth. Play can mean many things to a parent and understanding what a parent interprets as play can support the way we provide information. Being curious and gaining awareness of cultural values and beliefs are important in our discussions with parents. We should be respectfully curious in the way we provide anticipatory guidance and facilitate these discussions using partnership skills and qualities. Providing guidance and education is skillfully threaded through our time with parents and their children. The following are some ways we may do this by discussing and role modeling the following:

  • Ensuring we create space to discuss play and its importance for the child’s emotional, cognitive and social growth. Play and playful interactions start from birth and last a lifetime
  • Discussing the child’s brain development and how the parent is helping to build their child’s brain during positive interactions and playful moments
  • Explaining how the development of the front of the brain (pre‐frontal cortex) is influenced by the caregiving experiences people have in their early years. This area of the brain is responsible for executive functioning, this includes decision making, problem solving, social and emotional behavioural regulation and personality development and expression,
  • Exploring the parent’s understanding of play and the child’s developmental age. Does the parent know they are their child’s first teacher and how to create opportunities for their child’ learning and exploration.
  • Supporting the parents to create moments to be ‘child led’ during play
  • Observing and providing a narrative of when playful moments occur. Noting and commenting on moments of mutual joy
  • Providing a voice for the child’s body movements, noise and reactions
  • Supporting parents in play activities and explaining that toys are not needed for playful moments. Role modelling when parents are experiencing challenges
  • Ensuring parents know about screen time and the recommendations of keeping screentime to a minimum and no screen time for children under 2 years. Screentime is not playtime.
  • Explaining that play includes daily indoor and outdoor activities, talking, music and books. These activities promote thinking, language development, social interactions, child curiosity and exploration.

Practitioners working with parents and children have a responsibility to discuss play and help parents recognise that it is an integral part of building their child’s brain.  We use our qualities and skills to ensure we recognize parental knowledge and expertise. We advocate for the child and the importance of play and playful interactions to support their physical, emotional and cognitive growth. Anticipatory guidance and interventions are strength based and enhance parental knowledge, confidence and skills. Some parents may need additional support and role modelling to enable them to play with their child. Observing parents and children experiencing moments of mutual joy within playful interactions is a privilege.

References

Aussie Childcare Network. (2025). The Value of Play. https://aussiechildcarenetwork.com.au/articles/childcare-articles/the-value-of-play

Dilshard, N. Play and Child Development (99+) Play and Child Development sourced March 2025

Harvard University, Centre on the Developing Child, (2022) Brain Building through Play: Activities for Infants, Toddlers and Children. https://developingchild.harvard.edu/resources/handouts-tools/brainbuildingthroughplay/

Howe, N., Recchia, H., & Kinsley, RC. (2023) Sibling Relations and Their Impact on Children’s Development.  Department of Education and Centre for Research in Human Development, Concordia University, Canada, 2nd edition. https://expertisecentrumkinderopvang.nl/images/sibling-relations-and-their-impact-childrens-development.pdf 

Queensland Brain Institute, The University of Queensland. (n.d.). Thriving Kids Brain Builders Initiative elements. https://qbi.uq.edu.au/research/research-groups/thorpe-group/thorpe-projects/brain-builders/tkbbi-elements

Raising Children Network. (2025). Why is play important? https://raisingchildren.net.au/newborns/play-learning/play-ideas/why-play-is-important

Ross, E. M. (2023) Why Do Children Play? Harvard Graduate School of Education. https://www.gse.harvard.edu/ideas/usable-knowledge/23/09/why-do-children-play

 [SS1]While playing with food is important for sensory development and healthy eating practices, it feels clunky to me to have this in like this…