Types of play

The following includes excerpted information from the SECD Child Development Primer, p. 8 Understanding play.

There are a number of developmental and environmental conditions that contribute to the progression of the play process. For example, a child’s age and phase of development, combined with the materials and experiences provided, influence the play process and the level of engagement within the play experience.

(Dietze & Kashin, 2019, p. 56)

In order to better understand play, it is useful to consider different categories based on the stage of play and the social context in which the play happens. In both cases, the groundwork was done decades ago but the information is still valuable today.

Sara Smilansky (1968) explained that theorists consider the development of play as happening in stages, through which children advance naturally, as they develop. She outlined four stages of play and pointed out that, “the stages overlap to a great extent, and some play behaviors continue parallel to others and in interaction with them even into adulthood. At any given time, however, one stage of play appears as most prominent” (Smilansky, 1968, p. 5). Furthermore, “as each new stage develops, it incorporates the possibilities for play of all the previous stages” (Van Hoorn et al (2015, p. 39).

Stages of play:

  • Functional play – Picture an infant shaking a rattle or a toddler banging a toy hammer on a shelf. These are examples of functional play – simple movements that involve the senses. The repetition helps the child to learn about the physical world and the properties of objects. Much of the play of infants and toddlers is functional play.
  • Constructive play – Picture a preschool child rolling clay into little balls or stacking flat stones. These are examples of constructive play, which is a style of play in which the child uses play materials to create something. The child may or may not have a plan/intended outcome. Children usually start to engage in constructive play around age two.
  • Symbolic (or dramatic) play – Picture a child using a rectangular block as a telephone or sitting in a large cardboard box and pretending it is a house. These examples of symbolic play show the child using one object to represent another. This type of play can start off as simple imitation and pretend. It progresses to dramatic and sociodramatic play, in which children act out stories with others and may include props and costumes. Typically, this type of play is seen through the preschool years.
  • Games with rules play – Picture school age children playing a game of soccer or with a deck of cards. Games with rules play can include games with set rules or rules that the children develop together. The games may or may not be competitive, but they require children to agree on the rules and to follow them in order to play together. While preschoolers can play games with simple rules, cognitive advances in the school age period allow children to manage and enjoy more complicated games with rules.

Mildren Parten (1932) observed preschool children at play in a nursery setting to consider their social participation. She outlined categories of social play that consider the nature and extent of a child’s involvement with others. Note: it can be argued that the first two categories (unoccupied and onlooker) are not actually types of play since the children are not actively playing.

Parten’s categories of social play:

  • Unoccupied – When a child is not playing but stands around or fleetingly watches anything that is of interest.
  • Onlooker – When a child watches other children play without participating. Children at all ages engage in this.
  • Solitary play – When a child plays alone, focused on him/herself, whether others are present or not. When others are present or nearby, there is no interaction. Children engage in solitary play at any age.
  • Parallel play – When two or more children play near each other, engaged in their own activities, without interacting. This type of play is particularly common among toddlers and young preschoolers.
  • Associative play – When children play with similar materials, in close proximity. They might talk and/or share ideas or materials but they are not working together or playing in a coordinated way. Young preschoolers (ages three and four) tend to play in this way.
  • Cooperative play – When two or more individuals or groups work together with a plan or desired outcome. This usually requires children to take on roles or tasks and to negotiate in order to sustain the play. By about age four, children can usually manage cooperative play.

References

Dietze, B. & Kashin, D. (2019). Playing and learning in early childhood education (2nd ed.). Pearson

Parten, M. B. (1932). Social participation among pre-school children. The Journal of Abnormal and Social Psychology, 27(3), 243-269. http://www.mcidenver.edu/childdev/SocialParticipationamongpreschoolchildren.pdf

Smilansky, S. (1968). The effects of sociodramatic play on disadvantaged preschool children. Wiley.

Van Hoorn, J., Monighan Nourot, P., Scales, B., & Rodriguez Alward, K. (2015). Play at the Center of the Curriculum, 6th Edition (6th ed.). Pearson.