Children’s play in the COVID-19 pandemic

In the current COVID-19 pandemic, children are spending more time at home as some schools have to close for a day, a week, or several months. What does this mean for young children’s play activities?

Why do children need play now more than ever, and how can parents engage their children in high-quality play activities?

“While I am preparing dinner, I see my oldest daughter (Sefae, age 7) playing outside. She is wearing one of our face masks and pretends to be a shop owner. All the supplies are neatly placed on a picnic table. One of her friends, also wearing a face mask, joins her and helps with pricing the items. After a while, some other kids from the neighborhood join them in the role of guard or customer.”

“During dinner, I ask my daughter what they were playing. Sefae: ‘We opened a new shop and we had a lot of customers. Yasmine and Max were the guards and made sure nobody was stealing and that all the customers kept some distance from one another. We had to wear face masks because of corona.’”

So speaks one of the authors of this piece.

Read more….

(Blog first published on www.cildandfamilyblog.com, November 2020)