Get Purposeful Ongoing Play

There are four basic types of play: Exploratory, Functional, Constructive, and Pretend.

In the preoperational stage, children use symbols to represent words, images, and ideas, which is why children in this stage engage in pretend play. A child's arms might become airplane wings as she zooms around the room, or a child with a stick might become a brave knight with a sword.

There are four types of symbolic actions that are based on number of objects and actions that can be involved in a symbolic act: (1) single-object play, (2) single-object sequences, (3) multi-object play, and (4) multi-object sequences.

Why are Play Skills Important for Speech and Language? Play allows children to learn to navigate and react to their environment. Play skills are also foundational for the development of higher-level speech and language functions, such as conversational turn-taking and problem-solving.

In play therapy the symbolic function of play is what is so important, providing children with a means of expressing their inner world. Emotionally significant experiences can be expressed more comfortably and safely through the symbolic representation the toys provide.

There are six stages of play development in the early years and each of these is an important milestone for a child's language and social development. Unoccupied Play (Birth to 3 months) ... Solitary Play (Birth to 2 years) ... Spectator Play (2 to 2.5 years) ... Parallel play (2.5 to 3 years) ... Associative play (3 to 4 years)

At around 18 months of age, children use one object to represent another object and engage in one or two simple actions of pretend play. For example, the child may: Cause toys to make noise by shaking, banging, and squeezing them.