Play does more than occupy a child, it helps them build the skills they need for language development. The silly game of hide and seek that your baby likes so much - Not so silly. At around 8 months of age your baby develops a very important skill referred to as object permanence which is a prerequisite to language. This means that when your baby watches you hide something under the blanket or behind a chair and goes to find it, s/he hasn't forgotten about it just because it can't be seen. The good news is this means s/he is getting ready for language development, the bad news is up until then if you didn't want your child to play with something you could hide it and s/he would forget all about it.
As your baby gets a bit older and begins to develop more advanced play skills, these too signify s/he is ready for more advance language skills. When a child starts connecting blocks to make a train, for example, it indicates they are ready to start connecting words. Play skills do more than just precede language skills, they help your child develop cognitive and social skills as well.
So go on and play! You'll not only feel like a kid again, you'll be fostering your child's developmental skills too.
