Building Play Skills for Healthy Children & Families
Play is one of children’s major occupations— how they occupy their free time and learn. It is an important activity for your child because play helps to facilitate positive growth and development. Physical health, social and emotional well-being, and positive mental health are promoted through play. When a child plays, he or she experiences new ways to solve problems and learn skills needed to become a healthy adult. Research has shown that children who participate in play frequently grow quickly, experience higher achievement in school, and develop healthy habits for adulthood. A comparative study of 11,000 third graders found that those who participated in more than 15 minutes of recess per day behaved better in the classroom and were more likely to learn than their peers who had little to no recess opportunities. ( Barros, Silver, & Stein, 2009).
Using daily routines and activities throughout the day, encouraging the happiness and joy that can be experienced through play, and simply allowing children to be playful can enhance their health and well-being.
How can families develop play skills to promote health and well-being?
Early childhood play teaches infants, toddlers, and preschoolers about their bodies and about the effects of their actions on the world around them. Play promotes growth and development through movement and exploration. Family members are the child’s first playmates.
During their first few months, babies enjoy colorful mobiles, rattles, vocal play such as talking and singing, and games involving moving their arms and legs.
Encourage your baby to participate while lying on his or her back, belly, or side, or while supported on your lap.
As babies learn to reach, grasp, and sit on their own, they enjoy mirror play, balls, and toys that involve squeezing, stacking, and pulling apart.
Babies also enjoy interactive games like peek-a-boo, music, and books.
Water play with toys that float and plastic letters to stick on tile walls provides bath time fun. Because babies enjoy and learn through putting toys in their mouths, make sure they play with toys that are age specific and are made without small parts.
As children learn to walk and run, they enjoy chasing and hide-’n-seek, climbing, and pull toys.
Toddlers develop hand skills by dropping shape toys into slots and scribbling with crayons.
They also enjoy books and toys that make sounds. They begin to imitate by using, for example, a toy telephone or hammer.
Imitation and pretend play increases during the preschool years, through use of dress-up, puppets, and toy cars and trains.
Preschoolers enjoy construction games such as building toys and puzzles, which further develop their coordination skills.
They enjoy playground time and riding toys.
They play with materials with different textures such as finger paints and sand.
Games during the preschool years teach turn-taking and getting along with others. These activities also help children develop language skills.
Elementary school
The elementary school years are an important time for learning to play by rules and participating in cooperative activities such as sports teams. Motor skills are being fine tuned, and there is an increased interest in developing hobbies. Play often serves as a way of developing friendships and expressing one’s unique personality. Finding a balance between formal play (e.g., participating on a sports team) and informal play (e.g., participating on the playground) allows for play time to be both active and creative. continued on page 2 www.aota.org
Try these ideas to build skills and expression:
Participate in board games and sports activities with your child; this helps your child to learn to follow rules.
Have various craft materials readily available to spark creativity and interest.
Offer options for extracurricular activities that include both physical and creative exploration (e.g., sports teams or performing arts experiences). Provide play opportunities that include both structured and less structured choices (e.g., being on a school team or playing soccer in the backyard with neighborhood friends).
Encourage your school to support recess as a necessary part of every child’s day. This is a good time for physical movement that can promote learning and positive behavior. Like recess, active play before homework time can prepare your child for learning.
Don’t forget to keep play activities fun! If you lose that element, it is no longer play.
References Barros, R. M., Silver, E. J., & Stein, R. E. K. (2009). School recess and group classroom behavior. Pediatrics, 123, 431–436. Retrieved March 22, 2011, from http://pediatrics. aappublications.org/cgi/content/abstract/123/2/431 Parham, L. D., & Fazio, L. (2008). Play in occupational therapy for children (2nd ed.) St. Louis, MO: Elsevier.
Play is one of children’s major occupations— how they occupy their free time and learn. It is an important activity for your child because play helps to facilitate positive growth and development. Physical health, social and emotional well-being, and positive mental health are promoted through play. When a child plays, he or she experiences new ways to solve problems and learn skills needed to become a healthy adult. Research has shown that children who participate in play frequently grow quickly, experience higher achievement in school, and develop healthy habits for adulthood. A comparative study of 11,000 third graders found that those who participated in more than 15 minutes of recess per day behaved better in the classroom and were more likely to learn than their peers who had little to no recess opportunities. ( Barros, Silver, & Stein, 2009).
Using daily routines and activities throughout the day, encouraging the happiness and joy that can be experienced through play, and simply allowing children to be playful can enhance their health and well-being.
How can families develop play skills to promote health and well-being?
Early childhood play teaches infants, toddlers, and preschoolers about their bodies and about the effects of their actions on the world around them. Play promotes growth and development through movement and exploration. Family members are the child’s first playmates.
During their first few months, babies enjoy colorful mobiles, rattles, vocal play such as talking and singing, and games involving moving their arms and legs.
Encourage your baby to participate while lying on his or her back, belly, or side, or while supported on your lap.
As babies learn to reach, grasp, and sit on their own, they enjoy mirror play, balls, and toys that involve squeezing, stacking, and pulling apart.
Babies also enjoy interactive games like peek-a-boo, music, and books.
Water play with toys that float and plastic letters to stick on tile walls provides bath time fun. Because babies enjoy and learn through putting toys in their mouths, make sure they play with toys that are age specific and are made without small parts.
As children learn to walk and run, they enjoy chasing and hide-’n-seek, climbing, and pull toys.
Toddlers develop hand skills by dropping shape toys into slots and scribbling with crayons.
They also enjoy books and toys that make sounds. They begin to imitate by using, for example, a toy telephone or hammer.
Imitation and pretend play increases during the preschool years, through use of dress-up, puppets, and toy cars and trains.
Preschoolers enjoy construction games such as building toys and puzzles, which further develop their coordination skills.
They enjoy playground time and riding toys.
They play with materials with different textures such as finger paints and sand.
Games during the preschool years teach turn-taking and getting along with others. These activities also help children develop language skills.
Elementary school
The elementary school years are an important time for learning to play by rules and participating in cooperative activities such as sports teams. Motor skills are being fine tuned, and there is an increased interest in developing hobbies. Play often serves as a way of developing friendships and expressing one’s unique personality. Finding a balance between formal play (e.g., participating on a sports team) and informal play (e.g., participating on the playground) allows for play time to be both active and creative. continued on page 2 www.aota.org
Try these ideas to build skills and expression:
Participate in board games and sports activities with your child; this helps your child to learn to follow rules.
Have various craft materials readily available to spark creativity and interest.
Offer options for extracurricular activities that include both physical and creative exploration (e.g., sports teams or performing arts experiences). Provide play opportunities that include both structured and less structured choices (e.g., being on a school team or playing soccer in the backyard with neighborhood friends).
Encourage your school to support recess as a necessary part of every child’s day. This is a good time for physical movement that can promote learning and positive behavior. Like recess, active play before homework time can prepare your child for learning.
Don’t forget to keep play activities fun! If you lose that element, it is no longer play.
References Barros, R. M., Silver, E. J., & Stein, R. E. K. (2009). School recess and group classroom behavior. Pediatrics, 123, 431–436. Retrieved March 22, 2011, from http://pediatrics. aappublications.org/cgi/content/abstract/123/2/431 Parham, L. D., & Fazio, L. (2008). Play in occupational therapy for children (2nd ed.) St. Louis, MO: Elsevier.