The importance of play

I read message boards with parents complaining about how their children don't play. Or that they don't like their toys. I truly believe play is the most important part of a child's life after a safe environment to live in. Maybe parents don't know what to do or how to organize play time. And our schools aren't much help anymore as we teach to tests, instead of playing to learn. We have to allow children toys to play with, teach them how to use them and enhance the play by playing with them.

Here's a good article that explains the importance of play in a child's life. http://www.aap.org/pressroom/playFINAL.pdf (the long version)
http://www.aap.org/pressroom/play-public.htm (the summary)