Play is the best way for children to learn. Play helps children figure out how to interact with one another. Play helps children figure out how to problem solve, make decisions, collaborate and work together as a team. Play is crucial for children to develop socially and cognitively. Play is a part of nature - even animals learn through play. Play should be a part of everyday life. Adults and children should take some time to play every day. It's the best way to learn plus it's fun.

I'm so passionate about this topic that I decided to do a blog hop with several of my favorite blogger friends all about the topic of PLAY! On some blogs you'll find information and research about the importance of play. On others you'll read about how their children like to play and/or how they like to play. It's all important. Play matters!

Stay tuned for the month of September as we feature different bloggers and their thoughts on play. Come back here to see new posts throughout the month of September. If you want to share pictures of play or participate too, use the hashtag #playmatters. We’d love to see and read how you play, too!

How do we play at my house? Read on!

How my children play

My son is a big body play kind of guy. He loves to run, jump, climb and explore. He even communicates this way. If he wants to tell you something it's a full body experience. Sometimes he even talks in comic book (pow! bam! crash!). He needs to move every day, and I make sure he can. Whether we are scootering, or bouncing on the Bosu ball, or just taking a trip to IKEA to let him go play in the ball pit, he loves every minute.

My daughter loves to draw and make up stories. She loves to play with her dolls and tell them stories and get them all set up in bed. She’s recently also gotten interested in making and creating. She’s made a giraffe and a cat, and is in the middle of a pillow project. We also started to try to make doll’s clothes. The first one was sort of a fail, but we want to go back and make more later.

Sometimes the kids work together and sometimes they don’t ;-) They both love to create projects - we have arts and crafts supplies out all the time, and they just go over to the recycling bin, get some tape and make different things. They also play with blocks and LEGOs. They both love to be in nature, watching animals, looking for cool rocks and checking on our garden.

My Early Memories

My play memories from childhood almost always include my younger sister. I remember when we were little, we loved to lay in the backyard and look at the clouds and make up stories about what we saw. I feel like we did it for hours, although I have no idea how long we were actually playing.

We also loved playing shop. We set up a store with pretend boxes of food at our market. We even made grocery bags with our store name on them and we would go shopping. Since there were only two of us we took turns being the customer.

One of my favorite memories is playing Monopoly with my sister and brother and my brother’s friends. Our brother is about a decade older, so it wasn’t often that the three of us got a chance to play together. I think that’s part of the reason why it’s so memorable. One friend teamed up with me, one friend teamed up with my sister and my brother played alone. We played for HOURS. I don’t remember who won, but I remember laughing and having an awesome time.

My Playtime Now

I think it's important that as adults we still continue to have playtime. We need time where we get to relax and do things that we’re interested in and that we enjoy. I love to create things. I learned to crochet when I was a kid, and I’ve learned how to make more and more complicated patterns as time has gone on. I also taught myself to knit and quilt. I make things for my kids to play with. I particularly love pretend play items, like capes, wands and anything pirate related.

My husband and I love to cook together. We recently started watching cooking shows again, and now we have the urge to make all sorts of different things. We aren’t fancy, but we like to try new recipes and new foods. We also love to play with wine and food pairings. It’s fun and yummy!

I loved video games as a child, and I still love to play today. I love to play Animal Crossing and Mario Kart. I love to play Wii with my own children too. My kids and I love the Nick Fit game; that’s how we survived this past winter!

Another way I play is through dancing. I go to Zumba all the time and I absolutely love it. Even on the days when I don't feel like going, as soon as I hear the music I can't help but get excited and happy.