SOCIAL PLAY SHRINKING AMONG CHILDREN AS OBSERVED BY FUN CITY CHILDREN’S PLAY INDEX 2014 ~The index for 2014 covers the geographies of Qatar, Bahrain,Oman & UAE Social Play and Physical play are key drivers to increase learning opportunities and happiness levels among children – says UAE experts “Fun City Play Index Calculator” – an online calculator will help parents to compute their child’s play index on funcity.ae for an accurate understanding of their play behaviour ~ Fun City, your neighbourhood family entertainment centre announced the third edition of Fun City Children’s Play Index at a press event in Dubai. The combined Index score for four countries for the three age groups are 48 for 2-3 years old, 32 for 4-6 years old and 23 for 7-12 years old depicting a decreasing duration of playtime among the older age group while a healthy trend is witnessed in children from 2-6 years. The play index for 2014 has evolved and is refined into an even more robust and scientific study of children’s playtime habits. The index is grouped into three stages inspired from Erikson’s stages of psychosocial development into the age groups of 2-3 years, 4-6 years and 7-12 years for a more accurate understanding and evaluation of playtime activities. An enriched addition to the study is the inclusion of qualitative inputs from nine experts that include child psychologists and school counselors in addition to the quantitative data of play time activities that were analyzed for 1000 children between 2-12 years of age. The index exhibits varied playing patterns of children in these groups and how playing among children reduces as they grow older. The qualitative inputs from experts provided an understanding of the current attitudes and behaviors inherent to children and the region’s culture identifies the archetype of play time activities essential for a child’s development. It also provides a granular view of playtime calculated by the influencing power of different playtime activities which focuses on distinct needs by age of a child. This falls in line with Knowledge and Human Development Authority’s mandate to identify learning opportunities and reform the education sector at all levels based on over thirty years of research that has identified the early childhood period as the foundation stage for health, well-being, personal and social skills. It is believed that the learning opportunities that young children experience at a very early age form the basis of their social and emotional development, their capacity to understand, use language, and acquire knowledge throughout life. Fun City Children’s Play Index is also an endeavor to contribute to children’s learning through playtime habits that lead to development of skills and proficiencies while playing. Announcing the results, Mr. Silvio Liedtke, Chief Operating Officer of Landmark Leisure stated, “Fun City Children’s Play Index is refined and enriched in 2014 to lend a scientific understanding of children’s playtime activities. The addition of the qualitative study has aided us with a near to ideal scenario of playtime habits for children by adding age appropriate and healthy play activities for a well-balanced and well-rounded development of children. Adequate play also leads to making children happy which in turn will make them happy citizens of tomorrow. As responsible corporate citizens of the region, we align with His Highness Sheikh Mohammed bin Rashid Al Maktoum’s vision to make UAE a happy place by contributing towards happiness of kids via productive play. Our continued investment in understanding children’s playing habits for the third year in a row is our earnest and humble effort to bring widespread awareness among parents for well-balanced and healthy development of children in the region through a fair split of time spent in play activities that augment growth and development,” he added. Commenting on the research findings, Aamnah Husain, Qualified Psychologist and Parenting Expert to Fun City stated, It has been very exciting being part of Fun City Children’s Play Index study. Every year we’ve been peeling back more layers and looking at children’s play habits in greater detail. The Index research design in 2014 and its scope gives us some very rich information that can help parents really analyze and compare their children’s playing behaviors. Not only are we able to see how much children play but also get closer look at the quality of play and variety of play. Underpinning the research is expert opinion on how different kinds of play support different facets of a child’s development. Even though every child and family is different, the trends show certain areas where parents can intervene to enhance their children’s development, whether he/she is getting enough sleep, or decreasing passive play, or increasing use of conventional toys, facilitating more social interaction or supporting play as opposed to only academics. Fun City Play Index Calculator is a tool available on funcity.ae to empower parents to compute their child’s play behaviour. Parents have to fill in details of their child’s activities on a regular day from the time they wake up till they go off to bed. The tool will then show results along with interpretations and suggestions from Fun City’s Parenting Expert, Aamnah Husain. Fun City Children’s Play Index 2014 is based on a survey conducted in October 2014 among 1000 family respondents from different nationalities with children in the age group of 2-12 years residing in UAE, Oman, Bahrain and Qatar. The Index assesses fundamental play activities in a child’s regular day such as the total amount of their days’ free time spent in playtime activities, the split of playtime among different recreational activities among physical play habits, active play habits, passive play habits, popular playing activities, and technology based mediums of play. Fun City Children’s Play Index was instituted in 2012 in line with Universal Children’s Day celebrated by United Nations on 20th November and the index is announced annually around this event.
Posted on: Sun, 14 Dec 2014 10:07:48 +0000
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