Play theory — this is key to making play a more successful, enjoyable experience for everyone.
Who should play? The United Nations Declaration on the Rights of the Child, Article 31, reads: “Every child has the right to rest and leisure, to engage in play and recreational activities appropriate to the age of the child.” So what is play? The noun play is defined as “activity engaged in for enjoyment and recreation.” Play is also a verb: to “engage or take part in an activity for enjoyment and recreation.” Both definitions use the word “activity.” Play is not passive; one participates in play and is rewarded with “enjoyment.”
Why do we play? Jean Piaget, a famous child psychologist, viewed play as integral to the development of children’s intelligence. Psychologist Lev Vygotsky wrote, “In play, a child is always above his average age, above his daily behavior; as though he were a head taller than himself.” Essentially, play helps build our communication and language skills, grow our relationships, and manage emotions. It encourages our critical thinking and problem solving, teamwork, and cognitive development.
How long should we play? While society would have us believe that we should spend hours playing with our children, play can be achieved in a few minutes.
How to play? There are many ways. Each type described below serves a specific purpose, but every child is different. A little observation of your child in their natural habitat, playing without adult direction, helps in understanding their preferred style.
Role-play: “Let’s pretend” games are fantastic for unpicking and exploring emotions, boundaries, and societal roles. Children most often will take on the more authoritative position’s role and subject parents to playing the part of ‘baby’ or ‘dog.’ You will see plenty of role-playing when circumstances or routines have been changed, such as when your children start school. This is their way of making sense of all the rules, routines, and rituals they have learned. Role play is a fantastic tool for teaching empathy, to explore how others may be feeling and how to respond accordingly.
Rough-and-tumble play[1]: I have three young boys, so I’m no stranger to this! However, I only recently learned the full extent of the benefits of this style of play. By allowing physical play, your children are building strength and muscle stamina, essential for learning to write. The bigger (gross motor) muscles need to be strong to allow the smaller (fine motor) muscles to develop finesse and precision. Rough-and-tumble also helps your child to hone their motor planning and coordination.
If you have a child who struggles to stay at the table during meal times, or to settle for bed, then they might be seeking sensory feedback. Ten minutes of rough-and-tumble before bed, or a meal, will help to get “it out of their system,” and they’ll be able to focus more easily on the next task. Similarly, if your child finds sitting still at school tricky, then (where possible) walk, run, cycle or scoot to school. These activities provide the sensory feedback they’re seeking at school.
Sensory play: These activities, which stimulate the senses, are a wonderfully rich way to play.
You could set up a blind taste test to stimulate the sense of taste, or play a guessing game for the sense of sound. You could play the Learning Colors Bingo to stimulate the sense of sight, or use sand or homemade modeling clay to develop the sense of touch and make the activity time a really fun and novel experience. You can be really creative with this.
STEM play: Problem-solving, experimenting, construction, observing, hypothesizing, and learning through trial and error are all important life skills.
Examples of STEM (Science, Technology, Engineering and Math) play in action: junk modeling, den building, cooking, mixing colors, building bridges with dry spaghetti or straws, making zip wires, and the old classic volcano experiment using vinegar and baking soda.
Children are never too young to engage in STEM activities, nor to exhibit signs of ability. If you spot your child making predictions, “I think that blue and red paint will make green when mixed together,” praise them! Don’t worry if they’re wrong, but do encourage them to test their hypothesis. Curiosity is wonderful!
As Plato wrote in Laws: “The young of all creatures cannot keep their bodies still or their tongues quiet. They always want to move and cry out — some are leaping and skipping and overflowing with playfulness and pleasure.”
I’m sure that we can all relate to this!
Susannah Robbins
(New City, London)
[1] Physical, high energy play that can involve chasing, tagging, pushing, pulling, shouting, throwing, smiling, and laughing.
