ABSTRACT
Play, for the youngest children, is an important activity in which they make sense of the world around them, express themselves, and form relationships with others. When children are playing, they are building the foundations of all learning. Young children develop at a phenomenal rate in the years from birth to 3. This growth is interconnected and holistic – physical, social, emotional, cognitive and linguistic development advances at an individual rate, determined by a combination of nature (heredity) and nurture (environmental experiences). Play experiences provide gains in knowledge, skills and dispositions, and enhance growth in all these areas. The driving force for all development is the brain. Genes and the environment interact at all phases of brain development, and as increasing scientific discoveries have been made in this biological area the more evident it becomes that the experiences have in infancy impact on neuronal development.
