A girl in preschool is building a tower of blocks. It leans, wobbles and falls. She looks at the pile, picks up a wider block and starts again. Her parent, watching from the sofa, types a question: why is play important for children?
The short answer is that play gives your child a place to practise planning and starting again. In a block tower, your child makes a plan, sees it fall, then tries a new way. Because a fallen tower costs nothing, that loop can repeat many times in one sitting.
Play for children is one of many places where this kind of practice happens. However, the research is more careful than the popular claims. It does not show that any single kind of play is essential on its own.
What does play do for children?
Look again at the tower. Before the first block goes down, your child picks a spot and a block to start with. That choice is a small plan, even if no one says it out loud. Then the tower falls, and something has to come next.
What comes next is the part that play makes room for. Your child might pick up the same blocks and stack them the same way. She might also switch to a wider base, place pieces more slowly, or walk off and come back later. Each of these is an action you can see, and each one leads to a new try.
That is why people often describe play for children as a rehearsal space. A child can plan, see the plan fall, and start over many times in a single afternoon. Nobody keeps track, and nothing depends on getting it right the first time. So the loop of build, fall and retry can run as often as your child chooses.
Still, a rehearsal space is not the same as proof of a lasting effect. Researchers have looked at what play links to later on, and the answers are less certain than many books suggest. The studies below set out what they saw, and how sure anyone can be.
What can I watch for when children play at home?
You do not need special toys to see this loop. Blocks, sand, cushions or a pile of boxes all make room for this kind of play for children. Then sit nearby, stay quiet, and watch what your child does just after something falls.
At first, try not to fix the tower or suggest a next step. When you hold back for a moment, you get to see the whole loop from start to finish. Also, look at what changes from one try to the next, rather than how tall the tower ends up.
- Watch how long it takes before your child picks up the next block after a fall.
- Notice whether your child uses the same blocks again or switches to different ones.
- See if your child rebuilds in the same spot or moves somewhere new.
- Notice how many times your child starts over in one sitting.
- Watch whether your child walks away and comes back to the build later.
What do studies say about play for children?
A major review by Lillard 2013 gathered research on pretend play in young children. It drew on many separate studies, so it gives no single count of children. The authors found no clear proof that pretend play is uniquely essential for language, reasoning or getting along with others. For problem solving, in fact, they found no clear sign that pretend play helps. So they called for much more, and more careful, research.
A newer review, Vega-Fernandez 2026, looked at movement and arts programmes for young children. It included 125 studies, and the authors pooled 15 of those studies for the main analysis. For each skill, the pooled data covered between 642 and 697 children. On average, children in the programmes did more of what each task asked. The tasks had them hold back a response, keep things in mind, or switch between rules.
However, the authors rated their confidence in these results as low, and results varied widely from study to study. Most programmes were structured lessons, a few used guided play, and none were free play. So this review cannot speak to open play for children who build on their own, like the girl with the tower.
A third review, Bal 2024, pulled together 14 studies on screen time in early childhood. It measured screen time, not play, so it cannot show what play itself does. Still, the authors called for a balance between screens and real-world play for children.
What this does not tell you
This research does not tell you that any one kind of play will change how your child grows. It also does not tell you what a single fallen tower, or a single afternoon, means. The reviews looked at groups and averages, so they speak about many children at once, not about yours.
Play for children comes in many forms, and the studies here cover only a few of them. Watching the build, fall and retry loop at home is a way to see what your child does, not a check of any kind. Your child might rebuild at once one day and walk away the next.
If you have questions about it, ask your child’s doctor. A teacher or early years worker can also tell you what they see your child do in other settings.
Where Mores Health fits
Mores is a game where children build in a quiet open world, a little like the tower in this story. When a build falls, Mores records the time from that collapse to the next piece placed. That gives you a plain record of the same gap you can watch at home. It does not tell you why the gap was long or short, or what went on during it. Mores does not test or diagnose.
Questions parents also ask
Do children need to play every day?
No study here tested how much play children need each day. Instead, the Lillard 2013 review suggests pretend play may be one of many routes to the same skills, not the only one.
Is free play or structured play more useful for children?
These studies cannot answer that. The Vega-Fernandez 2026 review included no free-play programmes in its main analysis, and its authors rated their confidence as low.
Do I step in when my child’s tower falls?
You can wait a moment first, so you see what your child does next. If your child asks for help or hands you a block, you can join in then.
How does screen time fit with play?
The Bal 2024 review of 14 studies measured screen time, not play. Its authors called for a balance between screens and real-world play.
Sources
- Lillard 2013. The impact of pretend play on children’s development: a review of the evidence.. Psychological bulletin. doi:10.1037/a0029321
- Vega-Fernandez 2026. Early Childhood Movement- and Arts-Based Experiences and Executive Functions: A Systematic Review and Meta-Analysis.. Children (Basel, Switzerland). doi:10.3390/children13091134
- Bal 2024. Examining the relationship between language development, executive function, and screen time: A systematic review.. PloS one. doi:10.1371/journal.pone.0314540
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This article describes research and everyday behaviour; it is not medical advice. If you have questions about your child, ask their doctor.
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Written with AI assistance from the studies listed above, and reviewed by a person before publishing.