Types of Play and How to Incorporate Them into Your Routine

Play - It’s something we’ve all done before and are familiar with. Heck, we probably all still play in various ways now. But, have you ever wondered if your kids are experiencing enough variety in the way they play? The short answer is, all kinds of play have benefits - from keeping your little one entertained long enough so you can go to the bathroom in peace, to helping them learn about the world around them. Each type of play helps your child learn and grow. So, what are some of the various types of play? We will highlight a few, explain what your kid learns by playing in that way, and even give you some ideas for how to inspire more playful interactions to support that kind of play.

Physical Play (1)

Physical play is when your child is actively

moving their body while they play. It could be as simple as clapping their hands or as complex as chasing after a ball that is rolling across the floor. No matter what, physical play gets the blood moving. Some obvious benefits of this type of playful activity are to help children develop motor skills and body awareness(2). These skills are incredibly useful as children get older and become more reliant on their ability to grab, walk, twist, etc.

Physical play can be incorporated into many different activities. One of our favorite ways to encourage physical play is to add movement to music. Maybe you turn on a song your child enjoys and bounce with them, or if they are older, you can help them make up new dance moves.

Object Play (1)

Object play involves your child interacting with something around them. Maybe they have started to learn about different textures via a sensory board, or perhaps they are starting to stack items to see how high they can go. This type of play is another way to help develop motor skills, and it can help with their cognitive and reasoning ability, spatial awareness, and focus(2). What happens when you put a little block on a big block? It stays there.

Any object can provide a learning experience. Maybe it is a special toy like a red truck or it can be an everyday item like a paper towel roll; no matter what, it helps your child focus, learn about size and shape, and reason about what might happen if they do something specific. If you are looking for new play items, consider including your child in one of your household tasks by letting them play with a wooden spoon next time you are making lunch. Trust us, they will find all sorts of ways to play with the spoon.

Pretend Play (1)

Like it sounds, pretend play asks your child to think of something in a playful or imaginative way. Perhaps they are acting like an airplane by using their arms like wings, spinning in circles as if they caught a breeze, and towering over objects to see what they look like from above. Pretend play helps children with their social and emotional skills(2). They can pretend to do something and see how those around them respond. It also allows them to show their creativity and practice responding in a variety of ways to different stimuli.

A good example of this type of play is talking with your child about an adventure to a new place. They can imagine they are in that location and respond to all sorts of questions about what that place may look like, smell like, or sound like. It stretches their brain without any resources required.

Remember, no matter how your child is playing, they are gaining a variety of skills as they go. They are building muscles and body awareness through physical play, they are developing both gross and fine motor skills through object play, and they are testing their curiosity and creativity during pretend play(3).

One of our favorite games to combine all three types of play into one activity is pretending to be an animal and imagining what the world looks like if you were that animal. In this case, your children are stretching their brains to think about situations from a different perspective, they can move around in their physical environment in unusual ways, and they can interact with objects as they go. And bonus, they might be distracted by the activity long enough that you can finish your coffee while it’s still warm.

References:

1. Smith, P. K. (2005). Play: Types and Functions in Human Development. In B. J. Ellis & D. F. Bjorklund (Eds.), Origins of the social mind: Evolutionary psychology and child development (pp. 271–291). Guilford Press.

2. https://thegeniusofplay.org/tgop/benefits/genius/benefits-of-play/benefits-of-play-home.aspx?hkey=75c664db-cb16-4004-8756-03ba00ba381

3. https://www.legofoundation.com/media/2410/learningthroughplay_areview.pdf