Play has been identified to be vital in helping children to learn how to interact with the world around them. Play provides young children with a framework that enables them to learn motor, cognitive, physical and social skills – it is a key part of their development. Children’s brains need to be immersed in real life, hands-on and meaningful learning experiences.
Play between children and their parents is particularly useful for a number of reasons, including supporting parent-child bonding, fostering communication and connectedness, and promoting learning and emotional development.

Play is deemed so critical to child development and their physical and mental health, that it is included in Article 31of the United Nations Convention on the Rights of the Child.

One of the ways that parents can make play time as engaging as possible is through interactive and child led play. This is where parents follow the lead set by the child, while commenting or narrating what they are doing. For example, when your child is playing with buildable animal toys, you can describe what the characters are doing, such as “the big Lion is running over to the baby Lion”. Be curious about what might happen next and allow your child to set the story line, with you joining in with the scenario and following what the main character is doing.
When your children are playing digitally, try and engage in games that you can do together, particularly games that are interactive and allow you to talk about what you are doing and share in the themes of game. For example, on the new app developed by Kinder, your children can take part in their own adventure which you both can then revisit at Storytime to bond over the playing experience they have just had.

It is important to include games that all members of the family can engage with and this may mean choosing activities that cater to the skills of younger members. Games of chance and ones that don’t rely on specific skills can be good because it gives everyone an equal chance.
Also, shorter games that are more manageable for younger children will likely be more successful. The app developed by Kinder is a great example of activities which adapt to the age of children so they are being challenged appropriately.

Play can be an important outlet for children to express their feelings and emotions. It can provide a way for children to play out scenarios to help them make sense of them and to understand what has happened and what might happen. Children can also externalise their feelings by playing them out through the play characters and this can help them to make sense of them.
Play, particularly make-believe or imaginary play, enables children to work on regulation in a safe environment, promoting the development of both cognitive and social abilities. The key mechanism of play is that it enables children to practice, and take on, “for real” scenarios in an imaginary way.
This allows children to explore complex themes within the safe confines of play and in a way that lets them step out of these ‘play’ scenarios as needed.

The current generation of children are growing up as digital natives. Play is no longer experienced as a strictly real, or virtual, activity. Research points to an ‘increasing blurring of the boundaries between the digital and the non-digital.’ Studies focused on children’s digital play at home have shown positive learning outcomes for children.
It is important for children to engage in activities that support the full range of their physical, language, cognitive and social development. Digital play is one way of developing these skills, but it is important that children are engaging in a wide and varied range of activities to ensure that they are promoting their development in a holistic way.

In the UK, government guidance does not specify any specific ages or time limits and highlights that the evidence base to support recommendations on ages and amounts is weak.
For preschool aged children, my professional view would be for parents to ensure that their young children engage in a range of different activities which can include digital play, but that they always remain a key part of their digital play experience.

There are no firm guidelines in the UK for how long children should spend on digital devices. The current guidance in the UK recommends that parents focus on the impact of digital play and screen time on aspects of family life. It is important that parents are able to manage and regulate how long children spend on digital play and that time spent playing online is done predominantly with parents and children together.
The new app developed by Kinder allows parents to follow their children’s progress on the parental dashboard. They can see the stories that they have developed together and see what skills have been learnt through the digital play.

Apps that encourage parents and children to play and communicate together will be most beneficial in supporting children’s development. Games that allow children to share ideas and play creatively with parents provide the optimum environment for children. 
Applaydu, the new app launched by Kinder, provides a playing experience created for the whole family that aims to encourage bonding time where parents and their children can play and discover together. It aims to help develop cognitive skills including mathematics, motor skills, reading & writing and memory in children. The app was recently awarded the highest rating (5*) by the Educational App Store.

Studies focused on children’s digital play at home have shown positive learning outcomes. Digital play can help children’s cognitive development, promote creativity, help communication and social interaction skills if they are playing with others. 
Recent research in the field of digital play has made suggestions that digital technology allows for increased learning and creativity; technology can incorporate immediate feedback and the allowance to correct mistakes and try out new ideas which can have a positive effect on the learning outcomes of children.

The term digital play often refers to a model of play that derives from screen-based activities. 
This includes play activities related to video and computer games, electronic toys, mobile technologies, smart phones, iPads and tablets.

For young children, it is important that they are able to play digital games in interaction with others to optimise their learning opportunities. The role of digital play in the 21st century is continually changing, and parents should try to understand the app developers’ intended learning outcomes of the games being played by their children.
For example, Oxford University's Department of Education provided Kinder with a set of guidelines to help with the development of the new app. The app is aimed at helping children's progression by creating and developing a game that utilises and develops cognitive skills including mathematics, reading & writing, motor skills and memory.

It’s very normal for children to have ups and downs in their friendships, so it’s important not to worry too much about this. Learning to manage disagreements with others is a vital life skill and it makes sense that this is something they will need to practice. 
To make this learning easier, I encourage parents to talk with their children about understanding other people’s point of view. This can be so hard at first, but it’s such a good skill to practice and will really help them when they find themselves in a disagreement with others.

Some children can be more tentative when it comes to meeting new people and sparking up friendships with others, and that’s ok. Not everyone will be the same and that’s what makes the world interesting.
If your child would like to make more social connections, building their communication and play skills will really help. Practicing playing imaginative games with toys or characters is a great way to start and gives them some ideas of things they could play with new friends.

New places can feel overwhelming or unfamiliar for all of us and can make us feel worried or want to avoid them altogether. One of the reasons for this is because we don’t know what to expect or what might happen there. This is particularly true for children because they might be less able to guess or predict what will happen in places they haven’t been before. 
You can make this easier and less daunting by helping your child think through what could happen in a new place and your adult powers of predicting (or guessing) are likely to be much better than theirs.

Childhood fears or phobias are very common for children. They can have worries about all kinds of things, spiders, the dark, going to sleep on their own. Often these worries are a normal part of children’s development, and they will move through these phases. But if worries are having a negative impact on day-to-day life, it would be good to think about accessing some support by talking with your GP.
You can also help you child by supporting them to talk through their worries and finding a way to face them together. One way of doing this could be through playing scenarios with characters who tackle their fears and overcome them.

It’s very common for children to want to follow their own agenda and to be less keen on following the rules of adults. They need to have a sense of control and autonomy in their world and It’s important to find ways of giving them controls in ways that are right for their age. Children thrive on challenge and can grow from being given responsibility. 
Giving them these opportunities can help them feel more in control in their life and you may find that they are then happier to cooperate with the request that you need to make of them.