After a particularly spectacular collapse, Kate sighs and glances around in exasperation. From the look on Kate's face, you and her mom might expect to see a flying giraffe emerge at warp speed from under the table. But instead, Kate props the unsteady creature against a chair leg and slides the cake pan in front of it. The horse, zebra, and camel are trotted over one by one to take up their former positions. They sip water from the cake pan.
Nobody falls in.
A good time is had by all. It's only taken a minute or two, hardly enough time for your tea to cool. Yet, in that time Kate accomplished a great deal simply by playing. It's the foundation for planning, flexible thinking, strengthening memory skills, problem solving, self-control, persistence, the ability to use symbols, and much more. When you support and encourage play, you're helping development occur.