Eyes on Early Years Volume 17 | Page 8

Amazing Mazes By Eri Akbar Child experts all over the world cannot emphasise enough the importance of physical play for today's children. It is recommended for children to stretch and get active for one to three hours daily, which also means switching off from tablets and going offline more often. Physical play is not only beneficial for growth and development of bones, heart and overall health, it also contributes towards brain development, making children alert and more focussed. In the UAE, it is not always possible to just open the door and let the little ones skip along outside, often because of the hot weather and lack of suitable space. So get creative and bring physical play indoors! Floor tape games are so easy to set up and are bound to keep children engaged for some time. Cheer children on as they tiptoe, hop, leap or skip their way through the mazes. Create scenarios like crossing the troll's bridge or escaping from the spider's web to make it more fun!