The importance of children's play

All children participate in creative play, and seven year-old Adam is no different. He darts across the lounge, crashes to his knees, and then rolls over the sofa cushions that litter the floor. As he positions himself between the turned-up legs of the coffee table to get a good view of the enemy advancing, it is clear that he’s engaged in some serious play.

At that point mum, Sharon, enters the room and almost throws a fit. “Adam!” she snaps. “Put those cushions back on the sofa! Can’t you see I’m trying to tidy up.”

To Adam’s mother he’s created a mess; to Lieutenant General Adam World it’s up to him to save the world and little else could be more important.

This is a fine example of the ‘Peter Pan syndrome’. In Steven Spielberg's 1991 sequel, Hook, a stern and grown-up Peter Pan is forced to return to Neverland to fight Captain Hook but has no power because his imagination has completely shut down. If Peter is to save his children from the evil Hook he must rediscover that special place inside where wonder and imagination lives.

Similarly, as parents, we sometimes need little reminders from our children to stop, kick off our shoes and get into the mindset of being a child.

But child development experts all agree that play is a child’s ‘work’ – it’s the job they do to each day. And they take it very seriously.

Play develops children’s physical, emotional, social, mental and creative abilities. It helps them practise hand eye coordination, to develop the physical agility to run, jump, walk and balance.

Through play a child learns the social etiquette of taking turns, developing awareness of other people’s views and feelings. Plus they learn how to problem solve and develop curiosity and intellect.

Not sure that you actually remember how to play yourself? Ash Perrin, founder of The Flying Seagull Project (entertainers and musicians who have travelled to 23 countries touching the lives of 115K children in orphanages, refugee camps and hospitals), believes Real Play is the answer. "Real Play needs no expertise or qualifications. It just needs you, the kids and a big bag full of glowing, loving, positive ENERGY. The opportunity to share good times and be happy together really does lie in our own hands."

If you want to set up a family joke-telling club, an Intergenerational, Three-legged Monster Race, splatter paint to thrash metal, ramp up the energy by shaking like a rubber chicken or zap bad moods with the Turkey Hat Grump Destroyer, Ash's book The Real Play Revolution: Why We Need to Be Silly with Our Kids - and How to Do It offers plenty of inspiration.