Table of Contents
What are the 16 play types?
Communication play can happen alongside any of the other types of play – Creative play, deep play, dramatic play, exploratory play, fantasy play, locomotor play, imaginative play, mastery play, object play, recapitulative play, role play, rough and tumble play, social play, symbolic play and socio-dramatic play. The types of play include physical, dramatic, sensory, nature, music and art, and age-appropriate play. Children need the various types of play in order to support and facilitate meaningful learning opportunities as they develop language, motor, social, emotional, and cognitive abilities. Jean Piaget’s theory of cognitive development has four stages of play: functional play, constructive play, symbolic/fantasy play, and games with rules. Sensory play includes any activity that stimulates a young child’s senses of touch, smell, taste, sight and hearing, as well as anything which engages movement and balance. Fantasy Play An example of fantasy/pretend play would be dressing up and pretending to be firemen or playing shop. Symbolic play, where objects are used to represent things, is also a type of fantasy play. Therapists observe the game play to provide a structure to sessions, help build an effective patient–therapist relationship, and improve patient engagement in the therapeutic process (Coyle, Doherty, & Sharry, 2009).
What are the 7 types of play?
The types of play include physical, dramatic, sensory, nature, music and art, and age-appropriate play. Children need the various types of play in order to support and facilitate meaningful learning opportunities as they develop language, motor, social, emotional, and cognitive abilities. The definition of creative play is children’s play, such as modelling or painting, that tends to satisfy a need for self-expression and to develop manual skills. These creative activities are incredibly important, especially in the early years when the focus is on the development of students. Communication play can happen alongside any of the other types of play – Creative play, deep play, dramatic play, exploratory play, fantasy play, locomotor play, imaginative play, mastery play, object play, recapitulative play, role play, rough and tumble play, social play, symbolic play and socio-dramatic play. Free play is when children have full freedom to play in whatever way they want. “They can choose everything – they have the freedom to select their play materials, interest area and even the plot,” explains Zaman.