Benefits Of Playing With Dolls In Early Childhood

Playing with dolls is one of the most educational activities you can expose your children to. Watching a child play with a doll can seem fun and entertaining. But playing with dolls is so much more than that.

When you realize all the benefits of this activity, you may want to have a basket of dolls at home to encourage the full development of your kids in their early childhood years.

Types of dolls for small children

The great thing about dolls is that they don’t have to be expensive models to enjoy them. A sock can be a very nice doll for children.

In this sense, little ones love to play hide and seek, and a doll can be the perfect companion for this activity. So make one out of a paper bag or try making one out of twine with cardboard boxes or toilet paper rolls.

The doll’s purpose is to create interaction, fun dialogue and even an element of surprise in play and learning activities. Playing with them is beneficial for the development of your child in the first grades. So below we are going to list some benefits of playing with dolls for kids.

Benefits of playing with dolls

First, you should know that this portable toy has the potential to improve language skills, creativity, social awareness, and more. Don’t miss the following examples of how dolls can provide great benefits to children’s development.

Language development

Children love to have “conversations” with dolls. Any verbal interaction with these dolls will stimulate language development. Little ones, who are generally shy, really take advantage of the opportunity to let the doll be their voice.

It is also possible to have a conversation between two dolls. Using one in each hand allows you to have a dialogue between two characters.

Social development

A shy child or someone who is still learning social skills has the opportunity to be more social through a doll. He is the spokesperson for the group. Therefore, a doll can be the voice used to correct table manners or other social skills.

It can also become the instructor and children often enjoy listening to the doll teaching them to be social. In that sense, it’s not their mother’s or father’s voice that re-sets the rules, but a fun doll character.

Emotional development, one of the benefits of playing with dolls

Dolls can also teach children about their emotions. Little ones can interact with these dolls while sharing their ability to be happy, sad, angry, funny or jealous…

In this sense, children can also express these emotions without feeling that they will upset anyone because their character is the one who feels these emotions. Playing with the dolls helps to develop the characteristics of sympathy and empathy. Children also experience this kind of expression when they participate in symbolic games.

Listening skills

The doll in your hand can encourage little ones to listen as you give them instructions or tell a story. They can help them learn rhymes and songs while also imitating the doll.

Motor skills

There are a number of motor skills that children can improve by playing with dolls. For example, the fine movement required to use a doll aids in dexterity and use of fingers to manipulate it, and it improves fine motor coordination.

In addition, dolls help with hand-eye coordination when the doll needs to walk and move in different directions. All these skills improve balance and focus, while the child has a lot of fun playing with them.

Developing self-confidence

Puppet shows often happen spontaneously when children have access to puppets. It’s really encouraging to watch little ones develop their confidence by interacting with a doll. As their confidence grows, they enjoy teaching their skills to friends or family members.

Creativity, another great advantage of playing with dolls

As if that weren’t enough, dolls stimulate creativity on different levels. Making your own dolls from recycled socks or paper bags is just the starting point. There are many interesting ways to create your own characters.

Creativity keeps flowing as kids create their own puppet show. The show requires a simple puppet show. For example, decorating an old cardboard box for this purpose adds to the creativity factor.

Telling stories and putting them in order

Storytelling comes alive with dolls. Retelling favorite fairy tales is a great way to stage a puppet show. Learning to repeat the rhyming part of a story helps with memory. It allows children to become the characters in their stories and even very small children can get in on the action.

In short, do you realize all the benefits of playing with dolls? You should not miss this opportunity for your kids to have a beautiful basket of dolls at home to play with whenever they want.