different types of play in early childhood

As we discussed in the previous post, young children develop at a rapid pace. The best way to support this rapid pace of development is through play, as it is the medium through which children best learn about the world. Thoughts of play might evoke different imagery for adults, depending on their own childhood and experience with play. Many researchers, philosophers, educators, and thought leaders have sought to define play, while others have advocated that defining it detracts from the magic that being open to play can bring. One theory that we enjoy at Rayz Kidz is a definition that researchers have defined as the Spectrum of Play (Zosh, et al., 2018). This terminology defines play as existing along a continuum, with free play at one end of the spectrum, where play is initiated and directed by the child, and direct instruction at the far end of the spectrum.  
 

What are the different types of play?

As you move away from independent play and towards direct instruction, you find types of play that are more adult led. How can caregivers know when a little adult involvement in play is okay? When does heavy adult involvement infringe on the autonomy and natural learning of children? Well, the type of learning that we aim to avoid is the most adult led, what on the spectrum of play is identified as direct instruction. This might be an adult sitting a child down and drilling them with flashcards, or having a child sort shape cut outs, or inviting them to trace letters on paper, or fill out other types of worksheets. This learning might be easier to measure, but it does not lead to the type of true knowledge that we believe children can develop through a world full of play. Indeed, this type of learning is not only stressful for children, but it is also a lot of work for adults, as they may spend many hours preparing materials for children, only to find that children scribble on the page and go off to play with their dolls, or demonstrate boredom and fidgety behaviors and beg to go play outside. We invite caregivers to listen to the needs of children, and reflect on the type of learning that is happening when we follow children’s lead to leave the worksheets and go play with dolls, or indeed agree to go play outside. 

 
At Rayz Kidz we believe in finding balance in the day and working with children and their innate desire for play, exploration, and movement. We hope to help caregivers to become experts on identifying the learning that is happening in the play that happens across the continuum of playful learning, so that you can feel confident in structuring your day around play and listening to children. Thus, we look to the parts of the continuum that include independent play, guided play, and games to ensure that children have a nice balance of opportunities to learn the different skills and learning opportunities that are embedded in the different types of play. 

To dive a little deeper, let’s take a look at some concrete examples of the different types of play, and the value they hold for children.  

Independent play, or free play, is a type of play where children initiate their own exploration and learning. In this scenario, we might find two siblings who initiate a game of searching for insects in their backyard, three friends of the same age who play kitchen with props and costumes, or a single child who takes out his blocks and decides to build a zoo for his animals. Independent play is wonderful for children’s development, as it gives them space to think of their own playful scenarios, solve their own problems, learn from peers, and make their own discoveries about the world that can often surprise and delight an adult. For example, a 5-year-old child might explain to a 3-year- old about why we should not step on bugs, as we can respect their space and treat them with kindness. During pretend play, the kitchen game might result in a game of tug-of-war over a favorite apron costume, but children might come up with their own system for taking turns. With his blocks, a child may discover on his own that it’s best to build on a solid flat surface, as he explores playing on tile, carpet, or outside in the grass. It is incredibly valuable for children to be able to come to these conclusions on their own, as they learn these lessons through their own exploration of the world.

Guided play is a type of play that can still be child-led, but an adult is present to scaffold children’s learning, ask open-ended questions, and model rich language or provide access to new materials. Guided play can be work toward a particular learning goal, or adults can spontaneously scaffold children’s understanding in a moment that is ripe for learning. At Rayz Kidz, we believe that children’s learning is interconnected, so in fact, we believe that with practice using the Rayz Kidz activity methodology, caregivers can become experts at guiding play along many different learning objectives. 

Games can also be considered playful! Games tend to be more adult-led, as an adult might initiate the playing of a game, will teach the rules, or stand present to make sure everyone gets a turn to be the leader. Games can be active games like tag, hide-and-seek, or scavenger hunts, or they can be quieter games like board games or memory games. We love making variations of favorite games to enhance children’s learning of a special topic, in order for them to make cognitive connections of the world, work on social-emotional skills, use math and literacy skills in a natural way, and get a chance to move their bodies. 

And where do independent play and guided play blend together? For example, let’s imagine that we as caregivers notice that children really love the book Corduroy, and they love finding buttons in different places. To build off of the children’s interest, we can provide them with a Corduroy Button Sensory Bin, with buttons of different shapes and sizes and pipe cleaners. First we will see if the children enjoy the material, and we observe that they do—they seem to love the clinking sound of the buttons moving around the bin, the beautiful colors and shapes of the buttons, and the freedom to design their own accessories, as they string buttons onto the pipe cleaners. This activity might start as independent play, and children can return to this sensory bin for days on end. It requires little prep from the caregiver, but is rich in learning opportunities. When the children are just playing by themselves, we might step back and notice that the children are using fine motor skills to string the buttons on to the pipe cleaners. Further, they seem to be exhibiting self-regulation, as they calmly focus on the sensory aspects of these buttons. The caregiver might reflect that this activity is perfect to do around 3:00, when children have played outside a lot and need something quiet and entertaining indoors. Already, there is wonderful learning happening across physical and emotional development, as children self-regulate and use a pincher grasp to string buttons. The caregiver can approach and play with the children, stringing her own buttons. She might ask children about their designs, and be surprised to find that one child has independently strung only buttons with two holes instead of four, as she independently used her ability to subitize, which is the ability to recognize a quantity of items without actually counting them. 

Independent Play

Guided Play

Let’s look at some examples. For example, let’s start with ways that caregivers can play some opportunities for guided play to target specific learning objectives. We’ve been told we need to work on the alphabet with our 4-year-old, but where do we start? How can we learn about the alphabet while also playing? Let’s imagine we are reading a favorite story with children, The Princess and the Pea. To get ideas we pop into the Rayz Kidz app, and see the Princess and the Pea Play Kit. In this activity, we invite children to make little mattresses by covering sponges with fabric squares. Then they can re-enact the story by adding small dolls, frozen peas, and aim to stack the mattresses on top of the peas. We see in the app that the children are learning resourcefulness as they create their own props for pretend play, as well as developing fine motor skills, and we decide to check out the School Readiness drop down menu to see how we can naturally embed beginning letter sounds into this activity. Though it might seem spontaneous to the children, the caregiver can approach their play and say: “Oh, I noticed you are playing with peas–p-p-peas. I wonder if there are other things that have a “p” sound that we could hide under the mattress?”. The caregiver can elicit answers from the children, or bring potatoes, peppers, popcorn as other P-sound prompts. Instead of sitting down and forcing children to learn the letter “P”, they can explore the sound and letter while stacking their mini mattresses on top of these interesting new items. 

As caregivers practice guiding children’s play, they will grow more confident to be able to do so spontaneously. For example, say that a caregiver has been using the Rayz Kidz app for many months, and feels more confident in being able to identify the learning that is happening in play. They might notice a child making flower potions outside, as the child collects wild flowers and adds them to a big bucket of water. In this moment, the caregiver might reflect on the Natural Perfume activity that she did with children during a study of the 5 senses. She might remember that in this activity she invited children to label their perfumes by scribbling on to little pieces of paper, and that this spontaneous mixture of potions is also a great opportunity to introduce scribble writing. In this moment, she feels equipped to scaffold children’s learning by engaging in play that they are already enjoying! 

Games

When play turns into more!

For example, if we are learning about cars, traffic patterns, and the benefits of inventions like stop lights, we can play a game of “Red light, Green light”. We might spend a morning making our traffic lights with sensory art materials, and then use our traffic light to play outside. In this game, children are practicing patterns and memory skills as they remember which color corresponds to which movement, they are building their sense of balance while they start and stop quickly, and they are exhibiting self-regulation skills as they listen carefully for their friend’s traffic light prompts. 

Or, we might have occasions where a guided play or game activity turns into independent play. For example, we may start a morning by inviting children to make Itsy Bitsy spiders with playdough and the stems of flowers at a picnic table outside, to practice reciting one of our favorite nursery rhyme songs. If this just so happens to turn into a game of tag, where one child is a spider and the other are flies, that is great! The guided play activity sparked their creativity, but the children are demonstrating that what they really want is to move their bodies and act out what they understand about the animal kingdom, and that is okay! We want to always check in with ourselves as caregivers to make sure that we are really listening to the needs of children.