Games and Sports are essential for physical and mental development of children. Children start playing as their inherent tendency to tone up the body muscles and to make it active very early in their childhood. We have seen a small calf running aimlessly at its highest speed. Children as they grow up they start running and playing on their own. Plays go along with their learning process and help them grow and develop properly. However, this tendency goes on with the growth of body and forms of games change in adulthood.
Games in schools and outside
In schools children play many different games- foot ball, volley Ball, Hockey, Badminton, Kho-Kho, Kabaddi, run and jump, cricket etc. These are the games children have to play outside. However, there are certain games that can be played inside rooms without running and jumping .Chess, Ludo, snake and ladder etc. are some games that children play inside.
Many of the games that are played today in schools were not known in the past. During that period children used to play many different games that differed from area to area and region to region. However, with the global development and with the development of communication, children of the world play more or less the same games inside and outside their schools and most of the traditionally known games have become unknown to them. With changes in science and technology children have started playing video games that do not demand any physical activity and that have nothing to do with physical development of children.
Importance of Games and Sports
Games and Sports are essential for healthy development
Play activities are essential to healthy development for children and adolescents. Research shows that 75% of brain development occurs after birth. The activities, in which children remain engaged, stimulate and influence the pattern of the connections made between the nerve cells. This process influences the development of fine and gross motor skills, language, socialization, personal awareness, emotional well-being, creativity, problem solving and learning ability. However, the computer games often have nothing to do with these processes of development. Now, the children at their age of physical activities remain engaged in computer games that I fear may have something to do with their nervous loss and no physical development at all.
They develop Boys and girls to have mastery
The most important role that play can have is to help children to be active, make choices and practice actions to mastery. They should have experience with a wide variety of content like art, music, language, science, and maths. ; Social relations etc. because each one is important for the development of a complex and integrated brain.
Games and Sports are essential for Brain Development
Play that links sensory-motor, cognitive, and social-emotional experiences provides an ideal setting from brain development. But, I don’t know if computer games too are like these.
Games and sports keep a man healthy and fit. They give strength and energy as they are useful means of physical activities and entertainment. They are considered as means of physical and mental growth. It is during games and sports through which boys and girls come to learn many things and maintain balance of body and mind. They make our boys and girls learn ways to tackle the difficult situations. Besides these, it is through games and sports that our boys and girls develop a sense of friendliness and team spirit.
Games and sports improve efficiency
Games and Sports remove our mental exhaustion and facilitate our study. They are integral part of education in modern times. The importance of sports and games is being increasingly recognized in India, from both the educational and social points of view. More and more funds are being allocated for encouraging sports in schools, colleges and universities; in fact, sports have become an essential part of the curricula.
Games and Sports in the interest of Society
That was a time when only a few students, who were fond of games like hockey, football, cricket or tennis, were allowed special facilities. But, now regular programmes are drawn up in all educational institutions to persuade as many students as possible, regardless of special aptitudes, to participate in games, and not merely watch matches occasionally to cheer up their favourite teams or attend the prize distribution functions at the end of a sports session.
Educationists report that it is in the interest of society as a whole that adequate facilities should be provided for games and sports for the country’s youth- both males and females.
Sports foster friendship and amity
Sports foster friendship and amity. Nor does the belief hold well any more that those who take part in sports or games would be no good at studies, and that each year their absence from the class or shortage of lectures would be condoned because they can either attend to their studies or be on the playing field for some game or the other.
Past and Present Scenarios of Games and sports for students
Play content should come from the child’s own imagination and experiences. Unfortunately, the play experience for today’s child is often quite different from that of their parents. With the ever expanding influence of electronic media including TV, videos, video games and the internet, children are spending much of their time being passively entertained by or minimally interacting by way of a keyboard or control pad with an electronic device.
Even today’s toys are more often structured by onboard computers that dictate the play experience. This robs children of unstructured play with other kids as well as individual playtime spent in creative play. Parents need to understand the play needs of their children and at the same time need to provide an environment to meet those needs.
Key Words: Games and sports, brain development, friendship and amity, social needs, video games, electronic device
