How PlayHouses Can Aid Your Child’s Development
Spending time outdoors offers a wide range of benefits for children and is an integral part of their development. When you were a child, you probably spent hours each day outside and having fun with your friends. Some of your favourite childhood memories are likely to involve time spent having fun playing in your back garden. But encouraging kids to spend more time outside nowadays when there are so many distractions to deal with is not always easy.
One helpful way to get children outside and into the fresh air is to make your garden as appealing as possible to them. Children’s playhouses are an excellent way to make your garden a place where your child loves to spend their time. In fact, when you introduce a playhouse into your garden, you may find that it is the only place the kids want to spend their time from now on!
Here are some of the many ways that a playhouse can help to aid your child’s development:
Encourage Imaginative Play
As a parent, you are probably constantly on the lookout for ideas and inspiration to help you nurture your child’s development. There are many ways you can help to support your child’s development so that they can reach their full potential, but one aspect of child development that is often overlooked is the need for imaginative play.
Imaginative play helps your child to think creatively and encourages their intellectual development as they make sense of the world around them.
As imaginative play is a crucial area of childhood development, it is important to provide opportunities for your child that encourage them to use imaginative play on a regular basis. Some children naturally use imaginative play, but others need a little extra encouragement to inspire them to engage their imaginations. Whether your child naturally uses their imagination when playing or they need a little extra help to encourage them, providing equipment that helps them to nurture their imaginations is highly beneficial.
Garden playhouses are an ideal way to encourage imaginative play, as they open your child’s imagination to so many different opportunities. The playhouse can be used for so many different make-believe ideas, and the possibilities are endless. One day the playhouse could be a shop, the next, it could be a teddy bear hospital, and the following day it could be a café. There are limitless opportunities for imaginative play and role play scenarios that can be created with the help of a garden playhouse.
Connect With Nature
Spending time outside and being surrounded by nature each day is beneficial for people of all ages, but especially so for children. The good news is that to enjoy the benefits of being around nature, you need to look no further than your own back garden.
Encouraging children to get outside and into the back garden to play will help their development in so many ways. Using a garden playhouse as their base in the garden will ensure kids spend plenty of time outside and have even more opportunities to enjoy the benefits of being around nature.
Being around nature encourages children to develop a greater understanding of the natural world. Spending time in the garden furthers children’s knowledge of plants and insects. It is also a valuable way to encourage children to explore their environment and develop an inquisitive, questioning mind. Having the opportunity to play in the garden and pop in and out of the playhouse will allow children to spend more time outside and help them to learn in an unstructured environment where they can enjoy free play time.
To further encourage your child’s understanding of the natural world, you could encourage them to plant seeds and take care of the area of the garden outside of their playhouse. Kids will love that their playhouse has its own garden, and they will have the chance to develop some valuable gardening skills and knowledge in the process. Providing these extra opportunities to engage with nature as an extension of their playhouse will help them to increase their understanding of nature even further.
Gets Kids Outside in the Fresh Air
One issue that many parents experience is trying to get their kids to spend less time watching television and playing computer games. Spending too much time using devices can be the cause of many arguments in families, as parents try to limit the amount of time their kids spend using them. The impact of lots of screen time on children’s development and wellbeing has been well-documented in recent years. Excessive screen time is believed to contribute to a range of issues, including problems with concentration levels and sleep. Too much screen time can also lead to a sedentary lifestyle, which is associated with obesity and a range of physical health conditions.
Playing outside provides kids with so many benefits and ensures that they are getting plenty of fresh air while reducing their screen time, so it is a win-win situation. But, encouraging them to go outside and play is not easy. Introducing exciting new play features into your garden, such as playhouses, is a guaranteed way to get the kids to spend more time outside and less time sitting indoors watching the television.
Spending time in the garden and in their playhouse takes your child away from the distraction of screens. It enables them to focus their attention without the disruption of the television or devices being present. Without these distractions, your child should be able to play freely and concentrate on what they are doing.
Develop Their Individuality
A playhouse can provide your child with their own space to truly be themselves. As the playhouse is somewhere for your child to call their own, they are able to use this space to play games in privacy and truly be themselves without feeling like they are being watched. For your child, their playhouse will likely feel like their own little home, a space that belongs to them away from the rules of the main house. This enables them to relax and embrace the playhouse as somewhere of their own, where they can use their imagination, play games and have fun without feeling self-conscious.
Having a safe space to play can help children to feel comfortable expressing themselves and gives them the opportunity to think independently. Feeling truly confident and able to be themselves is an excellent way to prepare for the future. Growing feelings of self-confidence and developing a strong sense of self now will stay with your child throughout life and provide them with a positive foundation for the future.
Develops Social Skills
While a playhouse provides children with lots of opportunities to develop their understanding of the world around them, and the chance to be themselves and develop their individuality, a playhouse can also help kids develop further essential life skills. Having a playhouse is excellent for solo play and imaginative games for kids to play alone. But, a playhouse also lends itself perfectly to playtimes with siblings and friends.
Sharing the playhouse space with other children is something that some children can struggle with at first. This is entirely understandable, but this struggle does provide the perfect opportunity to develop your child’s social skills. Learning to interact with other children is not always easy, and many children find that sharing toys and playing alongside other kids takes some getting used to. Sharing toys is especially difficult for younger children and is a skill that is learned over time.
As well as encouraging children to learn to share, playing imaginative games in the playhouse with other children also helps kids to develop a whole range of further social skills. Playing with others helps your child to develop their communication skills, the ability to work collaboratively with other children, and the importance of helping other people. These valuable skills will benefit your child throughout their life but it is especially helpful for children to develop these skills in their early years. All of the emerging social skills your child learns from playing in their playhouse will undoubtedly come in very useful once they have started school.
The more opportunities your child has to interact with other children and play with them, the more they will be able to develop the social skills needed for positive interactions with others both now and in the future.
If you would like a beautiful, high-quality garden playhouse for your child to provide years of outdoor play and enhance their development, we can help. We have a wide selection of beautifully-designed and made playhouses available that will provide a perfect addition to your garden.
TimClad (York Timber) Ltd – Wooden Buildings & Garden Buildings
Here at TimClad (York Timber) Ltd, we also have wooden buildings and timber garden room options available to enhance your outdoor space even further. Why not browse our wide selection of garden buildings and playhouses to find your perfect option, and enjoy the benefits of a beautiful playhouse in your back garden. Get in touch today.