Big topic inquiry question: how does play affect a child’s mental health?
The 3 steps for my research will be:
1.Why is mental health important?
I would like to engage the audience on the importance of mental health first to make them more interested in this topic. I need to figure out what a healthy child’s mental health means to figure out how it will be affected by a child’s form of play. In this subtopic, I will explain how being upset does not mean we have an unhealthy mental health. Furthermore, I will talk about healthy amount of stress and unhealthy amount of stress. Finally, I will talk about how we can prevent mental health problems. This is to show the audience how vital mental health is in our daily lives.
2.Why is childhood development important?
I will research about this topic because the audience may not realize the importance of child development. Child development is one of the most crucial development in our life that shapes our personalities, values and opinions. Child development is where we learn our cognition skills, social interaction, emotional regulation, speech and language, physical skills and sensory awareness. Child development is the guideline of future milestones like adolescence, adulthood and senior years. Therefore, our community needs to be more aware on how to create a beneficial childhood environment.
3. What are the positive and negative effects of play on a child’s mental health? I will explain both the negative and positive sides of child play affecting a mental health. This will help tackle the bias answer by giving both effects of play. This will help me answer my topic question because it will help me figure out what forms of play should be implemented in early childhood. For example, if hands-on activities are therapeutic for kids, we will learn to provide more hands-on activites in school to help them relax. This will help reduce the anxiety in schools.
5 sources:
- About mental health. (2023, April 28). https://www.cdc.gov/mentalhealth/learn/index.htm
- Girolimon, M. (2022, August 24). Why is mental health important? https://www.snhu.edu/about-us/newsroom/education/why-is-mental-health-important
- The importance of mental health. (n.d.). Verywell Mind. Retrieved November 2, 2023, from https://www.verywellmind.com/the-importance-of-mental-health-for-wellbeing-5207938
- What is mental health? (2023, February 2). https://www.samhsa.gov/mental-health
- 8 things to remember about child development. (n.d.). Center on the Developing Child at Harvard University. Retrieved November 2, 2023, from https://developingchild.harvard.edu/resources/8-things-remember-child-development/
Impact on a global level:
This big topic question will have implications in on a global level because we need to focus on the future generation for the future well-being of our world by focusing on children. Furthermore, by informing the community on mental health, we will be able to decrease the global percentage of depression, anxiety, and suicide. Mental health affects all ages, so everyone will be able to profit from this project. Finally, a stable mental health helps us with adversities like death of a loved one, school environment and physical health. I hope to positively affect our community by researching about this inquiry project.
Hello Sarah,
What an interestingly complex inquiry topic! The effect of child’s play is something that is often overlooked, but crucially important in the grand scheme of developing positive physical, and mental health. I specifically enjoyed your piece on how mental health directly correlates to the type of play a child participates in. I would love to know how the influence of others affects a young child’s’ perception of them self within a scenario where play is involved. What are some of the consequences involved with lack of social development through hands on exploration with toys, playgrounds, peers etc? Nevertheless, fantastic job so far. Keep informing!
Below I have listed a few helpful resources
https://childandfamilyblog.com/play-deprivation-early-child-development/
https://www.sagepub.com/sites/default/files/upm-binaries/53567_ch_10.pdf
https://opentextbc.ca/introductiontosociology/chapter/chapter5-socialization/
-Ava
Hey Sarah,
Fantastic blog post! Your inquiry question is very unique. I also believe that metal health is important because it affects how we think, feel and cope with life. Moreover, a question I have for you is do you think children who are involved in sports growing up become more successful than others? Maybe you can talk about that in your next blog post. Below I have provided a few links that talk about how exercise positively impact children’s mental health. Hopefully those links can help you with your research!
https://childmind.org/article/what-role-do-sports-play-in-the-mental-health-of-children/
https://www.verywellmind.com/engaging-in-physical-activity-could-help-kids-gain-life-skills-5207522
Nevertheless, I can’t wait to read your next blog post!
Mahdiya A.
Hi Sarah! Thank you for taking on such an important and sensitive topic for your inquiry. I like how you are researching mental health through the eyes of child development and how the very early years our life greatly impact our well being in the future. I recognize that it is as if you are digging into the roots of mental health which is great! Consequently, a lot of people think that mental health only affects teenagers or adults because of contributing life factors such as school, work and stress. But your angle of mental health being amongst young toddlers and children while spreading more awareness about mental health is very eye opening.
Having that said, I will admit I was a bit confused on what you meant by play, but now I understand as I read towards to end. To help, you could also include examples on the kinds of play that children throughout generations have done growing up. Trying to include possible statistics or a timeline of mental health in children can also provide more information to help show people what has changed and why the effects mental health amongst adolescent children (like you said in your blog – suicide, anxiety, depression, etc) have either declined or increased. For example, if mental health has gotten worse over the years and continues in the present today, try incorporating how or if play influenced that (vice versa).
Here are some links that hopefully help in your research!
The positive affect of play: https://righttoplay.com/en/news/childrens-mental-health-matters/#:~:text=PLAY%20CAN%20CHANGE%20A%20LIFE&text=Play%20protects%20children%20from%20the,even%20under%20the%20toughest%20conditions.
The negative decline of mental health due to play: https://www.psychologytoday.com/ca/blog/the-baby-scientist/202310/has-a-decline-in-playtime-affected-childrens-mental-health
the relationship between playtime and children’s mental health: https://link.springer.com/article/10.1007/s10578-022-01363-2
Good luck on your future posts!
Hey Sarah! Your blog post is thoughtful and explores the vital connection many people dont think much about. I particularly appreciate how you emphasize the importance of understanding mental health as a fundamental aspect of a child’s well-being. Your breakdown of the subtopics, from the significance of mental health to childhood development and the positive and negative effects of play, is engaging and im looking forward to following up on your research.
One intriguing question you might consider for your research is “How can we strike a balance between structured, educational play and unstructured, imaginative play to maximize the positive impact on a child’s mental health?” Finding that balance might help parents and educators make more informed decisions about the types of play experiences they provide for children.
Keep up the excellent work, and I’m excited to see how your research unfolds!
https://www.aap.org/
https://www.nichd.nih.gov/
Hi, Sarah
I love how in depth your post is and how much work and effort you have put into it to make it as informative as possible. It is very unique and I love to see the different branches that you are exploring. The fact that you are exploring the region of children’s mental health, and just mental health in general is amazing and can help lots of people.
I would love to see some examples of what kind of things are good for a child’s mental health, and how it will help them adapt to life as they grow older.
Something else i would love to see is how to help a child when they are struggling with their mental health, and reasons why it could be deteriorating.
I have found a link to help with the research of the questions
https://www.psychologytoday.com/intl/blog/optimized/202104/the-impact-play-deprivation
https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S0149763418305116
Good luck with the research!
Hey Sarah,
Your inquiry project is exciting. I am really anticipating for your research I know that I am going to learn a lot from your inquiry. its a wide strech you did . People think that it a topic not to be concerned about but I know the people who will read your post will be able to learn much. Here is a link you can use.
.https://www.ncdhhs.gov/about/department-initiatives/early-childhood/why-early-childhood-matters#:~:text=Early%20childhood%20experiences%20from%20birth,to%20become%20well%2Dfunctioning%20adults.