Play Types - Part 2
Submitted by Rebecca Smith, Family Ties Association
Here we are at part two of exploring the Play Types by Hughes (2002). As noted in the previous post (Play Types - Part 1), there are 16 different types of play that can typically be seen when observing children’s play. The first 8 types of play were explored in the last post and we will finish off this post with the remaining 8 types. Let’s dig in!
Mastery Play. When children engage in mastery play, they are figuring out new ways to control the environment around them. Children often seek control in all they do, especially as they don’t typically to get much control in their daily lives (hopefully we can start to change this by offering and respecting their choices a bit more). Mastery play allows children to enhance their sense of competence, confidence, and sense of control, not only in play but in their daily activities too. Examples of this play type you might see are: children doing a certain activity over and over again, riding a bike, digging holes, painting or drawing a certain image, or building a building out of blocks.
Object Play. Object play allows children to use their hand-eye coordination to explore objects around them and use them as they see fit. Objects should not be seen just as ‘items’, but rather representing children’s thoughts, feeling, ways of communicating, and their perception of the outside world. Children may: play with cardboard boxes, paint, blocks, sticks, and other toys to express themselves.
Recapitulative Play. Recapitulative play can be seen as another form of deeper play as it often involves aspects of survival and is said to ‘recap the human evolutionary history’. That is, you may see children: making fires, hunting, growing food, house/shelter making, using weapons, and creating battles similar to what their ancestors did.
Role Play. When children engaged in role play, they are imitating those around them and the behaviours, feelings, and situations they see from others. Engaging in this play allows children to try out different roles and gain a better understanding of what is involved in each role and/or an understanding of what’s going on during certain roles. Children begin to develop a new perspective while being in these roles and begin to look from an ‘outside’ perspective on life events; this can help their understanding of how they can be separate but similar to those around them. Examples of role play may be: a child pretending to be a teacher, mother, father, grandparent, or enacting certain careers/job expectations. It should be noted that when engaging in role play, the roles played may be heavily exaggerated or minimized and/or bring in other play types.
Rough and Tumble Play. As the name suggests, rough and tumble play involves a child engaging their bodies in play through touching and moving; they are learning about their physical strength and flexibility in this play. Children are also learning about their own limits and other’s limits or boundaries when engaging in rough and tumble play. Examples of this play are: playful fighting, wrestling, and chasing one another; it is also more seen in males vs. females throughout many cultures.
Social Play. Social play is all about rules and expectations that are part of our daily social interactions with others; it is also one of the most commonly observed play types. Examples of this in play can include: following certain rules when playing games, turn-taking in conversations, or making something together in which each child has their own part to do.
Social-Dramatic Play. Social-Dramatic play allows children to play out real or potentially real experiences they have lived, seen, or heard about. When a child is ‘playing house’, ‘cooking a pretend meal for everyone’, ‘going shopping’, or ‘playing doctors and nurses’, they are all engaging in socio-dramatic play. During this play, children may also act out emotions they may find too intense to talk about or experience in daily life; doing this allows them to learn about it in a way that is safe and developmentally appropriate for them.
Symbolic Play. Symbolic play allows a child to have a gradual exploration and understanding of things they experience in their day-to-day life without becoming overwhelmed by it all. When engaging in this play, you will see children using objects to represent people, ideas, and experiences. That is, a child may be using a square block as a cell phone, a stick as a wand, or long strands of playdough as snakes. With this play, the focus is more on the meaning a child give an object versus the actual object chosen.
That wraps up our second part of the 16 play types blog entries. Go have fun seeing what types of play you see in the children around you and see if you can create play environments to help foster the play types.
Sources and References:
Hughes, B. (2002) A Playworker's Taxonomy of Play Types. 2nd Edition, Play Education
Image:https://www.pexels.com/photo/little-boy-standing-between-curtains-wearing-a-pirate-costume-8612901/