6.5 The Importance of Play
There are many reasons to support play across the lifespan, but play in the early years of childhood is especially important. Young children learn through both social interactions and solitary play. Infants “play” when they use social smiles to elicit responses from their caregivers or when they make sounds that cause their caregivers to react. Once a child is more mobile, play can involve experimenting with various objects or banging toys around the house. This type of play is exploratory and sensory based. Piaget would call it sensorimotor play.
So what is play exactly? In the publication “The Importance of Play For Young Children,” the National Association for the Education of Young Children features the work of Psychologist Peter Gray, in which he describes four important characteristics of play (NAEYC, n.d.).
- Play is something chosen by the child. A child engages in an activity just for its own sake.
- Play is self directed and not adult directed. The child determines the content, structure, and rules of play.
- To play is to express freedom. A child can stop their play at any time without worry or stress.
- Play helps a child process by using their imaginations. Play has no boundaries, which means that it can follow different rules than those found in real life.
Gray also notes that true play has declined in children over the decades due to changes in society (The Genius of Play, n.d.). Play, he proposes, is evolution’s way of helping children educate themselves. They are in charge of their lives and can practice important skills. In today’s world, children are being deprived of opportunities to engage in real play due to school regimens or limitations at home. Gray states that this deprivation has led to increases in depression, anxiety, and other stress-related issues, along with declines in social skills and creativity (The Genius of Play, n.d.).
Play can support cognitive, physical, social, and language skill development. For example, a toddler is working toward mastering physical abilities when running, jumping, and climbing on a playground or outside in free play. Current research shows that play, stress, and resilience are closely connected. Play facilitates coping mechanisms, decreases stress, and even improves brain plasticity (Nijhof et al., 2018; Yogman et al., 2018).
There are many aspects to play still being researched, including how children learn through play, how the environment (indoor/outdoor) and materials influence play, and the importance of recess and quality play spaces (Zosh et al., 2017; Sandseter et al., 2020). The mounting evidence speaks to the importance of play during early childhood enough that the National Association for the Education of Young Children (NAEYC) has embedded play in its position statement on developmentally appropriate practices.
Play is an important vehicle for developing self-regulation as well as for promoting language, cognition, and social competence. [Play] gives [children] opportunities to develop physical competence and enjoyment of the outdoors, understand and make sense of their world, interact with others, express and control emotions, develop their symbolic and problem-solving abilities, and practice emerging skills (NAEYC, 2009).
Parten’s Classification of Play
Mildred Parten believed that young children engaged in play that was less social, while older children engaged in play that was more complex. Although Parten’s stages of play, which are described in Figure 6.9, have been influential in understanding how children progress, there are those who believe that children can engage in any of the stages of play at any time, depending on their environments and contexts. Parten stressed that the type of play changes as children develop more complex social skills.
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Category |
Description |
|---|---|
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Unoccupied play |
This refers to a type of play in which infants are not interacting with others or appear not to have a clear goal in their behavior. A child may be exploring the world using their senses. For example, a baby who is laying on the floor looking toward the ceiling or objects in the room. |
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Solitary play |
Children continue to play alone without interacting with others. The goal of this play is to explore objects and the environment. For example, a child may explore a basket of blocks or books. |
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Onlooker play |
Children progress from solitary play to watching others play. They may observe, or they may briefly engage with the other children playing, but they do not directly join the play or game. This type of play helps them learn from others. |
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Parallel play |
Children progress from playing alone to playing alongside others. The children will be in the same activity area or use the same toys, but they do not directly play with each other. They may mimic each other’s actions or words. This type of play allows children to practice and learn skills. |
|
Associative play |
Children begin interacting with others but are still focused on their own interests and goals. They may share materials and converse with others. For example, two children play in the sandbox and share sand toys. They talk to each other about what they are doing, but they build their own sand structures. |
|
Cooperative play |
This type of play is the most complex and collaborative. Children will work together toward a common goal. This type of play requires many social and communication skills. For example, a group of children may work together to build a structure with blocks. Some children stack the blocks, while others collect and organize the blocks. |
Piaget’s Stages of Play
Play is also organized into types that coincide with Piaget’s theory of cognitive development (Figure 6.10). As children progress through increasingly complex cognitive skills, they also progress through various types of play. Piaget is quoted as saying “play is the work of childhood,” and he recognized the importance of play in a child’s development. He originally proposed “three levels of play: functional play, symbolic play, and games with rules. Smilansky expanded on Piaget’s model to add a fourth level: constructive play” (Lumen Learning, n.d.).
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Type of Play |
Description |
|---|---|
|
Functional play |
In this type of play, children use their bodies and senses and focus on motor movements. They may play with objects or games without rules. Examples include crawling, running, or exploring markers by putting them in mouth. |
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Constructive play |
This type of play involves children using objects purposefully and with a goal. They may build a house with LEGOs or use markers to draw figures. |
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Symbolic or fantasy play |
This type of play involves symbolic thought, imagination, and pretending. Children will use objects to represent other things. Play can include role-playing or fantasy scenarios. Examples include using a stick as a sword or pretending to be a flying dragon. |
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Games with rules play |
This level of play involves children playing games with rules that guide the activity. The rules can be part of an established game, or children can make the rules up. This type of play requires children to use logic and memory. Examples include tag, board games, or the floor is lava. |
Licenses and Attributions for the Importance of Play
“The Importance of Play” by Christina Belli and Kelly Hoke is licensed under CC BY 4.0.
“Parten’s Classification of Play” and “Piaget’s Stages of Play” by Christina Belli is licensed under CC BY 4.0.
Figure 6.9. Parten’s Classification of Play by Christina Belli is licensed under CC BY 4.0.
Figure 6.10. Piaget’s Stages of Play by Christina Belli is licensed under CC BY 4.0.
a process by which children acquire and process information and then learn how to use it in their environment.
