The Importance Of Playing With Dolls for Your Child

For the first time, a team of Cardiff University researchers used neuroscience to investigate the positive impact doll play has on children, uncovering new evidence that doll play activates brain regions that allow children to develop empathy and social information processing skills even when playing alone.

Over the last 18 months, senior lecturer Dr. Sarah Gerson and colleagues at Cardiff University's Centre for Human Developmental Science have used an emerging neuroimaging technology, functional near-infrared spectroscopy (fNIRS), which allows brain activity to be scanned while the subject is freely moving around, to provide the first indications of the Emotions Peg Dolls at a brain level.

While traditional gender stereotypes imply that dolls are primarily a toy for females, playing with dolls can provide vital developmental opportunities for children of both genders.

Children encounter new and distinct conditions for their games while playing with dolls and their pals. Communicating with one another can help to expand their vocabulary by filling it with useful language. Children acquire insight into family routines that may differ from their own by talking in this manner with their friends. They learn about the world around them in this way.

One of the more well-known and explored types of play is "pretend play" (also known as symbolic play or fantasy play), in which children distort reality to behave in a nonliteral, "as if" way (Fein, 1981). The inclusion of toys and dolls, which enhance children's pretend play, is a prevalent feature of their play (Singer and Singer, 1990). Pretend play was initially thought to emerge around the age of two and then wane between the ages of four and seven (Piaget, 1962). However, it is becoming increasingly clear that play, and particularly pretend-play, persists beyond this age (e.g., Singer and Singer, 2005; Lillard, 2014).

While the children were working on the exercise, parents were asked to fill out a brief questionnaire on their child's experience with tablets and dolls. Parents indicated whether or not their children used tablet devices and dolls at home, school, or daycare. They were asked open-ended questions on how frequently their child played with the toys, whether they played independently or socially, and what types of toys (tablet games and dolls) their child played with at home. They were asked to score their child's enjoyment of each style of play on a Likert scale ranging from 1 (not at all) to 5. (very much).

This is the first study to look at the brain correlates of play in young children. We discovered that when children play with a social partner, the pSTS, a brain region linked with social processing and empathy, is active, regardless of whether the play is with dolls or a tablet. Surprisingly, when playing alone, this region is more engaged during doll play than during tablet activity. This reinforces behavioural evidence showing pretend play promotes social processing and empathic thinking (Dunn and Cutting, 1999; Brown et al., 2017) and raises fresh questions about the advantages of solo vs. communal play.

To ensure consistency of experience, the benefits of doll play utilised included a varied selection of Barbie dolls and play sets, with all Barbie dolls and sets returned to beginning positions before each child began their test. To create a similar play experience to doll play, tablet play was carried out utilising apps that allow children to engage in open and creative play (rather than rule or goal-based activities).

A doll is a miniature version of a child that helps children better comprehend the lives of babies and prepare for being in the presence of newborns. This is a type of rehearsal that prepares a youngster for the arrival of a sibling. Doll play also allows children to act out their own interactions with family and friends, which helps them better grasp events. A youngster can also try to be on the opposing side of a conflict or incident when playing with dolls, which is a good experience for both females and boys.

Emotional and Social Development in Early Childhood

Young children learn social and emotional skills in their first few years of life, such as controlling emotions, sharing with others, and following directions. These talents create the groundwork for the development of literacy, numeracy, and other cognitive abilities that are necessary for success in school and in life.

Nurturing and responsive connections with family members and other caregivers, particularly those who provide care in early learning settings, are essential for healthy social and emotional development. Early care and education specialists in child care and preschool classrooms play a crucial role in promoting social and emotional development and ensuring that the youngest learners are ready for school and on the path to success.

Early childhood is a time when a child's social and emotional development is at its peak. As children get older and encounter temper tantrums, mood swings, and a growing social world, they must learn more about their own emotions as well as those of others.

Temper tantrums are extremely prevalent during the toddler years. There's a reason why this stage is often referred regarded as the "terrible twos"!

Toddlers exhibit erratic emotional swings. While their emotions can be incredibly intense, they also tend to be rather fleeting. You may be astounded at how your youngster may shift from crying uncontrollably for a toy one moment to sitting calmly in front of the television watching a favourite show the next.

At this age, children might be highly possessive and have difficulties sharing. Learning to get along with other kids, on the other hand, is a necessary ability. In just a few years, your child will transition from spending the most of their time with family and close friends to spending the majority of their day engaging, learning, and playing with other children at school.

According to brain studies, emotion and cognition are inextricably linked activities. "Recent cognitive neuroscience results show that the brain mechanisms behind emotion control may be the same as those underlying cognitive activities," according to the study (Bell and Wolfe 2004, 366). Emotion and cognition interact, impacting the child's perceptions of situations and shaping action. The majority of learning in the early years takes place in the setting of emotional support (National Research Council and Institute of Medicine 2000). "The dynamic interplay of emotions and cognitions establishes the major psychic scripts for each child's existence" (Panksepp 2001). Emotion and cognition work together to influence attentional processes, decision making, and learning (Cacioppo and Berntson 1999). Emotion also influences cognitive functions such as decision making (Barrett and others 2007). Emotion is influenced by brain areas engaged in cognition neural circuits and vice versa.

The social-emotional development of infants includes a growing awareness of oneself and others. This foundation is demonstrated by infants in a variety of ways. They can, for example, answer to their names, point to bodily parts when asked, and name members of their families. Children obtain a grasp of their duties within their families and communities as they develop an understanding of other individuals in their social surroundings. They also grow aware of their own preferences and qualities, as well as the preferences and characteristics of others.

While learning about their role in various interactions, the youngster is also gaining a knowledge of emotion. A two-year-old does not comprehend their emotions well, but by the age of six, a youngster understands them better. They also learn how to manage their emotions, even to the extent of putting on a different emotion than they are feeling. Furthermore, at the age of six, a child understands that other people have emotions and that all of the emotions involved in a scenario (theirs and others') should be considered. However, while the six-year-old understands these concepts, they are not necessarily adept at putting them into practise. In this part, we'll look at some of these concerns.

Consider a point in your life when you were more self-conscious. When we are young, we experience the process of the looking-glass self. Later in life, we may go through this process when starting a new school, career, or taking on a new role in our personal lives and attempting to assess our own performance. When we are more certain of who we are, we are less concerned with how we appear to others.

Should You Buy Peg Dolls for Your Child?

 Toys, on the other hand, are more than just playthings, and while they should be enjoyable, they should also be age-appropriate, stimulating, and safe. "Play is critical in children's social, mental, physical, and emotional development," says Vicki Panaccione, PhD, a child psychologist and founder of the Better Parenting Institute. "Toys should be regarded as developmental learning aids."

We live in an electronic world, and any parent who believes they can keep their child, even a toddler, away from computers and other electronic devices for the rest of their lives is delusory. However, setting limits is especially important for young children. According to research, electronic toys may offer a number of risks to children's health and development, including hearing loss (due to loud toys), weight gain (due to inactivity while playing), and linguistic and developmental impairments. According to a new Temple University study, toys that require a youngster to do nothing but watch foster a passive learning style, which can impede with learning to think independently.

These wooden peg dolls are officially part of a season play set (ours features the winter colours). They can be used as a kind of Waldorf calendar, following the seasonal cycle. We don't use it that way, but the cups, coins, and rings that come with the dolls are fun to discover and can be used to stack and nest the dolls.

In our home, the dolls are also used in other types of play. They frequently play the role of 'people' when Ava and Casper make up stories, and they build miniature houses for them to reside in and beds for them to sleep on.

In Montessori and Waldorf education, children typically utilise handmade toys like these rainbow-colored wooden peg dolls for pretend or imaginative dramatic play and colour matching games.

Although it is critical to offer children with opportunities for free play, numerous research in educational and developmental psychology have demonstrated that children benefit from some degree of facilitation, or invitations to play, on occasion. Invitations to play can help youngsters perceive new possibilities for play, grasp new ways to use resources, and relate new experiences to previous ones. I try to strike a balance between planning activities for my son and allowing him to explore and play with things in his own unique way. I've also seen how our "organised" play has inspired his free play, which is a great thing to see. He enjoys acting out social scenes with his toys, arranging particular items on his table for a play session, and matching objects to photographs.

Peg dolls are fantastic toys because they may be painted, dressed in simple felt costumes, or have paper accessories glued to them, depending on the crafter's imagination and the resources available. The options are limitless! They're cheap to create and a lot of fun to design.

Every couple of months, a pair of new peg guests emerge in my son's nursery, acting as a prompt to talk about the changing of seasons and bringing new games with them. There were flower fairies in the spring, and a well-meaning witch visited us in the fall. We are expecting new guests as Christmas approaches! Try out this kids activity and enjoy the imaginative play that it entails!

I experimented with a few various ways for mixing and painting skin tones (acrylic paint, staining, liquid watercolours, and so on), but I really wanted to find a low-mess process that kids of all ages could easily explore with. I was overjoyed to discover that basic watercolour cakes with a brush performed better than any other material I tested! They're incredibly simple to combine, allowing for an infinite variety of skin tones, and they provide gorgeous rich hues. They were also the simplest to paint on, absorbing quickly and leaving consistent tones no matter how they were applied.