Let us engage you for a moment to try and take you back a few years with the following questions:
- As a child, did you like to play?
- As a child, did you have any toys to play with?
- As a child, were you allowed to play?
Play is something we’ve perhaps not had the change to discover much as a child, and now that weare grown adults our main activity during the day is verbalization and work. Though for children a huge part of their day involves play and activity, and this is very valuable for your little one. Many studies have shown that children’s play is not just a way to pass time, but it is their own way of studying. And don’t we love our kids to study and become better and smarter versions ofthemselves, trying to give them a better education than we had?
Through play children learn reasoning (cognitive domain in the brain), emotions (affective domain in the brain) and fine physical skills (psychomotor domain in the brain). They will encounter and learn how to solve conflicts, they will learn how to express feelings and they can overcome trauma’s (by e.g. re-enacting a situation). This basically prepares them for the ‘grown-up’ world, and lets them handle any obstacle they will encounter in a better way.
Even though Ghana is a rapidly developing country, play for your child in Ghana is not as self-evident as it may be in other parts of the world. There might not be funds to get toys, or time to play with toys together with your child, or knowledge of exactly how to play with the toys. You might also encounter your child having problems or difficulties during play.
To not let these obstacles get in the way of your child’s playing and learning, we now have Toy Library Ghana. We can help you and your child make play as fun and as educational as it can be!
For only 20 cedi a month your child and you can borrow and take home a different toy every week. We will explain and demonstrate the toy and how it works and we observe the play of your child during demonstrations. We will also be available for questions or concerns about your child’s play. Puppet show Storytime is also possible.
You are very welcome at the CHILDaccra clinic at Dzorowulu, or we come to your child’s school.