Physical Development – active play with large and small muscles such as climbing, running, ball games, digging, jumping and dancing. It supports children’s overall health and well-being, physical growth, understanding of the benefits of an active lifestyle and independence skills in activities such as dressing and feeding themselves.  Social and Emotional Development – Dramatic and imaginative play involving dress-up and role play can develop positive social and emotional skills and values. It gives children the opportunity to:  Practice working with other children, negotiate ideas and make choices and decisions  Develop self-confidence through the experience of success and challenges  Learn to control their emotions, reduce impulsive behavior or  stress to express feelings and events that can. Worry them  Develop empathy and fairness as they learn to play and play with other children.  Cognitive Development – when your child plays alone and with others, his cognitive skills such as thinking, remembering, learning and paying attention develop. Through play, children develop the following cognitive skills:  Problem-solving  Imagination and creativity  Concepts such as shapes, colours, measurement, counting and letter recognition  Strengths such as concentration, persistence and flexibility.  Developing literacy and numeracy  - Play requires thinking, language, communication, curiosity and exploration. Through play, children develop skills and understanding, including:  A better understanding of words and how they are used  Listening and speaking skills  Writing skills through scratching, painting and drawing  How stories work (plot, characters, structure, purpose and form) from words on the page)  Learning that objects can mean something else (a block can be a symbol for a telephone) is fundamental to learning  formal reading, spelling and counting because letters, words or numbers are part of symbolic systems  Learning that letters, words, symbols, numbers and signs have a purpose and are meaningful to others.