Many mothers spend a lot of money buying toys for their children, starting from the very first days after birth. They choose soft, colorful, and attractive toys, and as the child grows, they continue buying more toys as a way to express love and happiness. Adults often associate toys with childhood joy, but many mothers notice something surprising: children often throw, break, or damage their toys.
What many parents do not realize is that the child does not only need the toy itself—they need something much more important: someone to play with them.
If buying toys is one way of expressing love, then playing with your child is another—and perhaps the most powerful—love language your child truly understands.
Educational counselor Aref Abdullah explains that playing with your child, from birth and throughout childhood, offers far more than entertainment. It strengthens emotional connection, supports development, and builds memories that last for life.
The Benefits of Early Play with a Newborn
The first months of a baby’s life are often called the “stimulation months,” because the parent’s role during this time is to stimulate the baby’s senses and skills to prepare them for interacting with the outside world.
Playing with a newborn helps strengthen growth by stimulating their senses. It should begin early, even if the mother feels tired, because play during this stage is not just about joy—it serves important developmental goals.
Surrounding a newborn with suitable toys is not a waste of time. It helps build the first foundations of interaction and supports both physical and mental development.
Suitable Toys for the First Three Months
Until the baby reaches three months old, parents can provide:
Lightweight hanging toys above the crib to encourage visual tracking
A soft rattle that the baby can hold and gradually bring to the mouth
A sensory ball that helps develop touch and finger movement
Black-and-white visual cards shown slowly in front of the baby’s eyes
Teething rings starting from the third month, especially for babies showing early teething signs
These simple tools help support early sensory and motor development.
Benefits of Playing During Early Childhood
As the child grows, play becomes more than just a sign of love—it becomes a powerful tool for learning and development.
1. Supporting Brain Development
Playing with a child stimulates neurological growth and strengthens brain cell development.
Research shows that shared play helps create new neural connections and important brain pathways. It also increases the production of neurotrophic factors—proteins that support the growth and development of nerve cells.
This positively affects the child’s intelligence, understanding, learning ability, and future problem-solving skills.
2. Improving Language Skills
Choosing games that involve naming objects, short conversations, or imaginative dialogue helps expose the child to a wide range of words, sounds, and vocabulary.
This improves sentence understanding and helps the child express basic needs more clearly. Play becomes an early language classroom built on warmth and connection.
3. Building Social Communication Skills
Playing with parents gives children real-life opportunities to practice social interaction.
They learn how to listen, respond, understand body language, and communicate with others. These early communication skills become the foundation for healthy relationships later in both personal and professional life.
4. Developing Motor Skills
Play also strengthens physical movement and body control.
When parents actively participate, children improve important skills such as balance, spatial awareness, and muscle coordination. Activities like crawling, running, climbing, and reaching for toys help strengthen large muscles and improve overall physical fitness.
Benefits for the Mother
Playing with your child is a special love language that no one else can offer in the same way.
It creates joy and warmth inside the home and helps the child grow up feeling important, loved, and emotionally secure. If the father also participates, it strengthens family bonds even more.
1. Becoming Your Child’s Closest Friend
When you play with your child from an early age, you become their safe person.
Play becomes a way for them to express feelings and share thoughts. This makes communication easier later, especially during adolescence, because your child will trust you and feel safe talking to you instead of hiding problems.
2. Reducing the Risk of Postpartum Depression
Studies have shown that playing with a baby, especially after birth, can help reduce the chances of postpartum depression for mothers.
As the child grows, continuing to dedicate time for play creates real emotional closeness—not the false closeness of simply leaving the child alone with toys, tablets, or television for hours.
3. Creating Beautiful Lifelong Memories
Children remember emotional experiences more than material gifts.
The moments spent playing with parents create beautiful memories that stay for life. These memories shape personality, emotional security, and future relationships.
Just as painful experiences leave deep marks, joyful childhood memories create emotional strength and lifelong happiness.
Final Thought
Toys are wonderful, but they are not enough.
Your child may forget the toy, break it, or stop caring about it—but they will never forget the feeling of being loved through your time, attention, and presence.
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