Play is flexible, fun, intrinsically motivated, spontaneous, and has no set of specific rules.
Why Do Children Play?
- To release excess energy
- To support child development of skills and develop cognition
- Promote emotional and physical well being
- To gain mastery of a game or skill
- To connect with other children
Why is Play Important?
- Builds critical thinking skills
- Problem solving skills
- Allows for creativity
- Gives the child the ability to suggest alternative uses for an object
- A way to express oneself nonverbally
Communicating Through Play:
- Use a playful tone
- Sing songs
- Repeat sounds
- Vary the pitch and loudness of one’s voice
- Imitate sounds and motions that are used by the child
- Use humor
Stages of Play:
- Unoccupied Play (birth-3 months): the baby is discovering how their body moves and are making a lot of movements with their hands, feet, legs and arms
- Solitary Play (birth-2 years): the child plays alone and are not interested in playing with others
- Onlooker Behavior (2 years): a child begins to watch other children play, but does not engage with them quite yet
- Parallel Play (2-3 years): a child plays alongside or near other children, but does not play with other children
- Associative Play (3-4 years): the child starts to interact with other children during play but there is not a large amount of communication or physical interaction
- Cooperative Play (4+ years): children play together and all have an interest in the same activity, this is where turn taking and games with rule start to evolve
Development of Play Skills
- 2-4 months: hands often clasped together
- 4-8 months: transfers objects from one hand to the other, puts toys in mouth
- 8-12 months: uses both hands to hold toys and pick up toys with pincer grasp
- 1-2 years: stacks 3-5 1” blocks, scribbles, tosses a small ball, turns the pages of a book, and enjoys banging and throwing objects
- 2-3 years: uses winds wind-up toys, strings large beads, snips with scissors, colors large forms
- 3-4 years: builds with construction toys, dresses dolls, cuts out large shapes with scissors
- 4-6 years: completes puzzles up to 20 pieces, enjoys building with construction toys (legos), manages a computer mouse to play games
- 7-10 years: engages in competitive sports, video games, more mature arts and crafts, and more
