When done right, playtime can be both fun and beneficial. While young children play, they’re also developing skills that they’ll use for the rest of their lives. While they may not be seen straight away, there are plenty of emotional benefits to playing at a young age. 

Today, we’ll explore these benefits and how you can encourage your little ones to keep playing. 

Playtime helps children process the world around them

Children encounter big feelings long before they have the language or the understanding to manage them. They may feel fear, frustration, sadness, excitement or jealousy - all in full force without any context to help manage them. 

Playtime gives children a place to put those feelings. They can act out scary scenarios, like going to the doctor’s or starting school, in a safe environment where they’re in control. This can ease anxiety and stress, helping their big feelings become smaller and easier to manage. 

Play can build emotional regulation

Emotional regulation is the ability to manage your own feelings in response to what happens around you. It is one of the strongest predictors of well-being, and it is built, in large part, through play.

When children play, they practise waiting, negotiating, losing, and trying again. They experience frustration when something doesn't work and satisfaction when it does. They learn to tolerate uncertainty and sit with not-knowing-yet.

As this is repeatedly experienced in the context of play, their emotional capacity grows, helping them better manage their feelings in the future. 

The importance of companion play for young children

When a child plays with a companion toy, they’re often experiencing a special kind of emotional development. They can talk to their companion in a way they don’t with adults, explaining things, acting out what happened to make them feel a certain way. 

A companion toy is safe because it doesn’t judge, correct or have needs of its own. Psychologists describe this as one of the healthiest forms of emotional expression available to young children. 

Which toy should you choose for a young child?

The best toys are those that invite emotional connection, such as dolls, animals, or creatures with names and stories. This gives the child something to imagine, build on, and perhaps even relate to. 

Many professionals agree that children benefit from having at least one companion toy, so help them find one that they genuinely love and can build a caring relationship with. 

Foster creativity with Dinkum World

Every character from the Dinkum World arrives with a name, a personality, and a backstory. We include these details as an invitation for owners to build upon: your own story that no one else can replicate. 

Touch the rainbow over a Dinkum's heart. Close your eyes. You're already there.

Explore the Dinkum family at dinkumdolls.com