Why the Early Years Matter
Our early years of life are an unparalleled period of growth and discovery, where brain development accelerates at a remarkable rate. During early childhood, every interaction, experience, and playful moment contributes to lifelong learning and parents are their children’s first and most important educators. Supporting early learning and development is crucial; it shapes the foundation for emotional, social, and cognitive skills that carry us forward into adulthood.
The Early Years team at Save the Children UK have been working hard to develop an Early Years Knowledge Bank. This is a set of free resources, designed to inform and inspire early years practice, research and advocacy. So far, the bank has offered key insights across three core themes: Young Children's Voices, the Importance of Early Years, and the Impact of COVID-19 on Young Children.
The team are excited to announce that they are launching their fourth and final theme on Play. But why is play important? And how can we support all children in having the time, space and permission to play?
Play is every child's right
Play helps children and babies make sense of the world, explore new possibilities and challenge themselves and others. It provides the foundations for their well-being, social and emotional, cognitive and physical development. As children grow and develop, they build on their play skills in ways that align with their increasing abilities. This includes cooperating with others, understanding their own emotions, and enhancing their perspective-taking. These experiences contribute to the development of empathy, tolerance for others, and essential social and emotional skills that are foundational to early childhood development.
The right to play is enshrined in Article 31 of the UNCRC which formally recognises the innate benefits play brings children. Although play is the primary way children learn in their first eight years of life, it is often overlooked in favour of more ‘formal’ learning. Adults have a critical role in supporting the right to play for all children and ensuring play is enabled and supported at home, in the community and in schools and early years settings like nurseries and children’s centres. This includes introducing and inspiring playful experiences and helping different systems to work together to prioritise play.
Poverty can restrict children's play
The stress that poverty can cause may leave families with little time or space for play. The rising cost of living, insecure work and low wages mean caregivers spend more time trying to make ends meet and dealing with the anxiety of an uncertain financial future. This not only impacts the time and energy families have to play but can exclude them from being able to provide enriching new experiences including hobbies, holidays and local visits.
But it doesn’t have to be this way
Child poverty is not inevitable, and we can support all children to access quality play opportunities. Governments must prioritise ending child poverty as the root cause of the inequalities around play opportunities as they intersect with broader health, educational and housing inequality experienced by children and their families.
We believe that with money, services and power, parents can be supported to embed play into the everyday and reclaim the time and energy needed to sustain playful experiences on an ongoing basis. Financial relief can be crucial in alleviating stress and in turn, give families more time and energy for play. The government must abolish the two-child limit, scrap the benefit cap and introduce a “child lock” on child-related benefits.
Interventions seeking to support play need to be developed in collaboration with children and their families to ensure they work for them. Parents need to be consulted on how and where information should be shared to reach more families. This might involve working with trusted volunteers or parent champions who have experience in the community and can communicate in community languages to bridge any cultural or linguistic barriers.
Families deserve to have access to holistic support and services that meet their specific needs and ensure the best start for their child, including support with play. High quality early education and childcare can be instrumental to developing parental understanding of how play supports early learning and embedding play into everyday routines.
We are pleased to see the UK government intends to increase access to high quality childcare places, so 75% of all 5-year-old children are “school ready” by 2028. Significant and sustained investment and reform in early childhood education and childcare is essential and must address the multiple disadvantages children and families experiencing poverty face to meet this target.
