The Development of Play

The Development of Play

Piaget’s Theory of Play

Play is an intrinsically motivated, imaginative, self-chosen activity constructed to meet a person’s desires and needs (Gray, 2013). Play is often seen as something children do for leisure, but it is a crucial part of their development across the cognitive, social, and physical domains. Play is how children explore their world, learning new information, developing social skills, and practicing motor movements (Ginsburg et al., 2007). Through play, children learn effective communication, self-regulation, conflict resolution, problem-solving, and cooperation with others (Ginsburg et al., 2007). Furthermore, they learn about themselves by exploring roles, interests, and relationships. Maria Montessori and Jean Piaget are credited with the idea that play is children’s work.

Smilansky’s Theory of Play

According to constructivist psychologists like Piaget and Smilanksy children engage in types of play that reflect their level of cognitive development (Smilansky & Shefatya, 1990). There are four distinct types: functional play, constructive play, symbolic play, and games with rules (Günal & Tufan, 2019). Each type of play emerges at different ages and stages of cognitive development. Children can use multiple types of play at once after they have reached a new stage.

Functional Play

Beginning in infancy, children learn that they have control of their bodies and objects. Functional play, also called practice play, starts at birth and continues throughout childhood (Smilansky & Shefatya, 1990). Through this type of play, children practice motor movements and interact with their environment through repeated actions (Günal & Tufan, 2019; Smilansky & Shefatya, 1990). It might look like an infant shaking a rattle, splashing in the bath, or repeatedly dropping toys from their high chair. As children get older and more active, functional play includes gross motor movements, like climbing and jumping, and fine motor movements, such as grasping small objects.

Constructive Play

Around two years old, children progress from simple, repetitive functional play to goal-directed, creative activities (Günal & Tufan, 2019). When children manipulate objects to create or learn something, they are engaging in constructive play (Smilansky & Shefatya, 1990). Adults can encourage constructive play by providing materials for the child to interact with, such as blocks, paint, clay, legos, sand, and water.

Constructive play facilitates the development of imagination, curiosity, problem-solving skills, and fine motor skills (Günal & Tufan, 2019). This type of play prepares children for later academic success and flexible thinking (Lockman & Tamis-LeMonda, 2021; Suleiman & Abdulkareem, 2023). For example, building with blocks helps children learn spatial relationships (Suh et al., 2019). Creative activities also encourage the development of positive self-esteem in children (Mak & Fancourt, 2019). Children can use constructive play to support symbolic play by creating props for their stories or building sets (Park, 2019).

Dramatic Play

At around two years of age, children also begin to use dramatic play, or pretend play. This is when children use objects, actions, or ideas to represent other objects, actions, or ideas (Günal & Tufan, 2019; Park, 2019). These activities may include role-playing, such as pretending to be a firefighter or monster, and make-believe actions, like using a banana as a phone (Smilansky & Shefatya, 1990). Symbolic play allows children to explore various roles and participate in activities that they may not otherwise do in the real world (Günal & Tufan, 2019; Park, 2019).

It encourages the development of social skills, academic abilities, early literacy concepts, and behavioral self-regulation (Bodrova & Leong, 2015). Children who do not engage in this kind of play display cognitive and emotional delays, especially if they are underprivileged (Smilansky & Shefatya, 1990). Adults should encourage symbolic play by initiating role-play, make-believe scenarios, and verbal communication of pretend actions (Frost, 1998; Smilansky & Shefatya, 1990).

With experience and time, role-plays become more sophisticated, and socialization becomes an important aspect of play activities (Günal & Tufan, 2019; Smilansky & Shefatya, 1990). Children will assign roles to themselves and others, and their interactions generally involve sequenced steps to carry out a specific fantasy (Smilansky & Shefatya, 1990). Through symbolic play, children learn skills in negotiation, listening, sharing, taking turns, and respecting others.

Children’s symbolic play progresses through different stages as they develop their cognitive skills (Frost, 1998). They usually begin by using realistic objects with themselves, like pretending to eat toy food. They then adopt roles related to those objects, such as becoming a chef who makes the toy food. Over time, they create elaborate plots surrounding different roles and realistic and unrealistic objects. The child may think they are a chef making food (glued together pipe cleaners and stickers) in space for alien customers (their friends or stuffed animals).

Games with Rules

The final type of play is games with rules. At this level, the play activity has imposed, unchanging rules that must be followed by the players (Lillard, 2015; Smilansky & Shefatya, 1990). To successfully participate at this level of play, children must have the cognitive ability to understand and remember the rules. Common games with rules that children first learn are hide and seek, tag, and rhythm games. These help prepare children for games with more complicated rules that might require strategy and critical thinking, such as sports, board games, and video games .

Games with rules require children to self-regulate, curbing their own desires and needs to adhere to the rules of the game (Lillard, 2015). They also help school-age children develop an understanding of cooperation and competition (Smilansky & Shefatya, 1990). Children learn how to negotiate with each other so that games are fair, enjoyable, and winnable (Günal & Tufan, 2019; Lillard, 2015).

Parten’s Stages of Play

Parten's stages of play is a theory that categorizes the ways children socialize while playing (Günal & Tufan, 2019). There are three types of non-social play and three types of social play. Age influences the types of play that children participate in; younger children (0-2 years old) frequently engage in non-social play and older preschool aged children (3-6 years old) participate in social play (Parten, 1932). Once children have reached a particular stage of social play, they will use combinations of the new and prior stages while they play (Parten, 1932). Parten developed this theory in 1932, but it still remains relevant today to developmental research on play.

Types of Non-social Play

Unoccupied

Unoccupied playtime simply means that the child is not playing. This is a non-social stage that starts in infancy and may appear as random behavior without a specific goal (Parten, 1932). This can look like sitting, standing still, and random movements without purpose. Infants and toddlers may spend significant parts of their day disengaged from any play, but the amount of time spent unoccupied should decrease as children age (Smith, 1978).

Solitary Play

Another non-social stage is solitary play where children play alone and maintain focus on their activity (Parten, 1932). They do not interact with others, nor are they interested in what others are doing. Their activity may be different from others around them (Parten, 1932). No matter the play activity, whether functional, constructive, symbolic, or game play, if the child is playing alone then it is solitary play.

Onlooker Play

Onlooker play is the final type of non-social play in which children are observing others. The child socializes with the other children, commenting on the activities and making suggestions, but not directly joining the play (Parten, 1932). Onlooker play is different from unoccupied play because children interact socially and actively observe each other even while they are not participating in the play activity (Parten, 1932).

Types of Social Play

Parallel Play

From ages 2-4, children do parallel play by playing near other children, but not playing with them (Günal & Tufan, 2019; Parten, 1932). There is very limited social interaction, with the most communication often being to ask for a toy near the other child (Günal & Tufan, 2019).

Associative Play

Children engage in associative play from ages 3-6 (Günal & Tufan, 2019). Children may play together and share toys, but they are usually playing in their own ways and not working towards a shared goal (Günal & Tufan, 2019; Parten, 1932). There is a substantial amount of interaction involved, but the activities are not in sync (Parten, 1932). This differs from onlooker play because the child is actively engaging in some type of play activity. It also differs from parallel play since the children have increased social interactions and will communicate about what they are doing.

Cooperative Play

Once children are 3+ years old, they start having cooperative play, meaning that they play with others and coordinate their behaviors to achieve a common goal (Günal & Tufan, 2019; Parten, 1932). They assign roles among themselves and accomplish different tasks (Günal & Tufan, 2019). A group identity may emerge between the children playing together (Parten, 1932). Cooperative play happens in symbolic play, like when playing school, or in a game with rules, such as freeze tag (Parten, 1932).

 

Video 12.3 The 6 Types of Play provides an overview of Parten’s stages of play.