By: Jillian Courville      

Each day as children climb into their parent’s car after a fun-filled day at school, parents are compelled to ask “What did you do at school today?” If you have a child in an early childhood classroom, you are likely to hear the answer, “I played!”. Hearing this answer each day may leave parents frustrated and confused. “Why is my child only playing at school? Why aren’t they learning more academics, rather than just playing all day?” Parents, do not fret! Play is a major part of academic focus in the early childhood classroom. 

10 Types of Play

There are many different varieties of play children can partake in. In the article 10 Types of Play Important to Your Child’s Development, Amanda Rock, explains the following types of play:

  1. Unoccupied Play
  2. Solitary (Independent) Play
  3. Onlooker Play
  4. Parallel Play
  5. Associative Play
  6. Cooperative Play
  7. Dramatic/Fantasy Play
  8. Competitive Play
  9. Physical Play
  10. Constructive Play

Benefits of Play

Research shows that in a developmentally appropriate classroom, children must spend a substantial amount of time in free play. In Gaye Gronlund’s book, Developmentally Appropriate Play, she explains that children develop abilities such as vocabulary, language, abstract thinking, and self-regulation during complex play. Social, emotional, cognitive, and physical growth also take place through play. It allows children to learn cooperation, problem solving, language and math skills. Lastly, children are able to develop curiosity, self-esteem, self-direction, values, and strength and coordination through play. 

Recently in my classroom, I placed fire trucks in the block center. I noticed that my students began to build a “firehouse” for the fire trucks. In this 15 minutes of “play”, students engaged in cooperative play to work together to build a structure. They also explored the concepts of stability, weight, and balance, identified basic shapes, and used their imagination by using one object to represent another.  

The following bullets are free choice centers that I have in my classroom and they detail different ways my students benefit while playing in those centers:

  • Blocks: They are learning about balance and shapes. They may be an architect some day.
  • Dramatic Play: They are pretending to cook, clean, and tend to children. They may be a mother or father someday.
  • Puzzles: They are learning problem solving skills as well as visual discrimination. They may be in business someday.
  • Library: They are learning tell a story. They may be an author someday.
  • Science: They are learning learning cause and effect. They may be a scientist someday.
  • Math: They are learning classification, patterning, sorting, and numeracy skills. They may be an engineer someday.
  • Art: They are learning to express their feelings through creative activities. They may be an artist someday. 
  • Sensory Table: They are learning to discover. They may be a paleontologist someday. 

Play is a vital part of the Early Childhood Program. Fred Rodgers once stated, “Play is often talked about as if it were a relief from serious learning. But for children play is serious learning. Play is really the work of childhood.” Therefore, when you ask your child what they have done at school and they tell you, “I played.” Please do not misunderstand them. For you see, they are learning as they play.

Citations

Gronlund, G. (2010). Developmentally appropriate play: Guiding young children to a 

                  higher level. St. Paul, MN: Red Leaf Press.

Rock, Amanda. “10 Types of Play Important to Your Child’s Development.” Very Well. N.p., 23 

                  Aug. 2016. Web. 11 Sept. 2016.