The first time a child goes to school can be a scary new experience, especially if they haven’t spent any time in daycare or away from the comforts of home. If your little one is on their way to the first year of school, help alleviate some of their anxiety by letting them…play! Allowing children to act out their inner thoughts and feelings through play is a great way to help introduce them to what they will experience at school and answer all their questions. The PlaymobilⓇ School Bus and Take Along School House is a wonderful way to quell any fears kids might have about attending school.
Play Encourages Critical Thinking
Children have been playing since the dawn of time as a way to entertain themselves. Using their imaginations, children act out everything from fantasy to pretending to be an adult. It helps them open their minds by thinking abstractly. When kids play, they think-out-of-the-box and create ideas beyond the one-dimensional interaction that they get from things like tv and video games. The article from Smithsonian Magazine, “Let the Children Play, It’s Good for Them!” reviews an experiment where instructors describe to children a funny object that aids another toy in playing music. After detailing what the funny object (referred to as a “zando”) can and can’t do, another instructor asks the children questions about the object.
The researchers found that the children better able to pretend could answer the counterfactuals and had an easier time understanding how the made up toy worked. This study concludes that “children at play are like pint-sized scientists testing theories.” Playing is a crucial part of developing critical thinking and using toys like PlaymobilⓇ helps facilitate a child’s imagination.
Play to Relieve Fears
With the PlaymobilⓇ School House and Bus, children are given the chance to explore what school will be like before they go. It also gives them the chance to ask questions they might be too scared to outright ask. Engage with your child and play alongside with them using the take along classroom. Using the PlaymobilⓇ figures, act out what happens in school and how to interact with new kids. You can also tell them what it will be like to ride the big yellow school bus. The school bus has flashing lights, a stop sign, a functional door, and a driver. The great detail the classroom has is perfect to give kids a mental picture of where they will be learning. From the clip on backpacks to the books and pencils, (even a bike!) kids will feel at ease once they have an idea about what school will be like when they arrive.
Play to Help Social Skills
By offering them a safe environment to explore school also gives them a place to work out potential conflicts. As parents we fear it, but school conflicts are inevitable. When kids have a space to discuss and act out problems at school, it provides an outlet for stress and a chance for you to see what is happening when it might be difficult for children to verbally express the situation. By playing in the PlaymobilⓇ classroom with your child, you can help teach them about classroom manners, bullying, making friends, and all of the other important aspects of this new journey.
PlaymobilⓇ has created the perfect toy to get kids excited about school. Before they head off to their first day in a classroom, create a positive association to give them confidence they will have throughout their entire school career. These toys will grow with them, and you can even fold up the classroom so they can bring it wherever they go. Don’t let them carry those jitters into their first year. Let them have fun. Let them play!
This post was sponsored by Playmobil. I received the Playmobil Take Along School House and School Bust to facilitate my review. All opinions remain my own.