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Including play into a child’s curriculum is very important for developing various domains of a child’s life. Those domains include social, emotional, physical, cognitive and language development. Along with the domains, the senses are an important factor of their learning and play experience. Touch, sight and smell are all factors of play and even daily life. The social domain is how students interact with one another.

Emotional domain refers to how the child regulates his/her emotions and behaviors.

The physical domain is about how the child moves, controls their body and coordination.

The cognitive domain is how well the child is able to recall facts and how well their intellectual abilities or skills are developing.

Language development is important because it is how well they are able to communicate and express their thoughts.

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This article goes into detail about how play can be beneficial for the children and can help with their development across different domains.

Promoting imaginative thinking (Cognitive)

Lead their own learning (Emotional/ Cognitive)

Collaborative Learning (Social)

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While learning through play may seem appropriate in early childhood, the idea that it could be part of the fabric of daily life in K-12 classrooms and schools may sound like a radical idea. After all, school kids typically enjoy playing during recess - not while there is serious academic work to be done.

The authors of a new book say the traditional view of play and learning is a "false dichotomy" and that relegating play to the sidelines in schools is a mistake. Learning is helped by "experiences that are playful - that are joyful, meaningful, actively engaging, iterative, and socially interactive," and school really can be enjoyable they explain in A Pedagogy of Play - Supporting Playful Learning in Classrooms and Schools. The user-friendly book is the result of eight years of research led by a team at the Harvard Graduate School of Education's Project Zero (PZ), in collaboration with the LEGO Foundation and educators at schools in Denmark, South Africa, Colombia, and the United States.

What does playful learning look like?

Playful learning is influenced by different cultures but A Pedagogy of Play co-author Jen Ryan, senior project manager at PZ, says certain patterns emerged across the countries they researched.

When playful learning is embraced in schools, students are given opportunities to:

Explore the unknown and "to find wonder - to be curious and to find meaning in their learning," explains Ryan.

Lead their own learning, make choices, and have ownership and empowerment.

Find joy in their learning, and experience feelings of enjoyment and delight.

The researchers offer five ways educators can support playful learning in their classrooms:
1. Empower students to guide their own learning.

Get to know kids' interests, strengths, and what they can contribute to the class. The more you understand your students, the more you can make meaningful connections between their lives and the curriculum.

Share decision-making responsibilities with students such as arranging the morning meeting, schedule, or classroom space to help them feel a sense of ownership of their learning.

Allow time for students to reflect on the new things they have learned or discovered. Play should be used with a purpose and help with learning goals.

2. Create a culture of collaborative learning together.

Build up relationships through play and look for ways for learners to connect to each other.

Build knowledge together through purposeful conversations. Check out Project Zero's Thinking Routine Toolbox for help.

Encourage a culture of feedback in the classroom where students can hear different perspectives about their schoolwork, including from peers. You can also ask students to lead feedback sessions and the Ladder of Feedback tool can help with the process. The authors suggest creating group norms for any comments such as "Be kind, be specific, and be helpful."

3. Encourage risk-taking and experimentation.

Lead kids in open-ended investigations with no "correct answers" to help them get more comfortable with the unknown. Explore the Selecting and Facilitating a Design Challenge and more resources via PZ's "For Educators" tab on the Pedagogy of Play website.

Model the learning that you want to see and be open to exploring something new with your students where you don't already know the answers. "The more we as adults can model for students what [experimenting] looks like and are transparent in our own vulnerabilities as educators, the easier it is for students to see that it's okay to do that," says Ryan. "There's a lot of learning that comes out of trying things, making mistakes, learning from those mistakes and moving forward."

4. Promote imaginative thinking.

Invite children to share stories and listen to other people's stories. For high school students, look at the Storytelling and Story Acting for Older Learners tool. Role-playing can be helpful too. Consider dressing up as a story book character yourself.

Pose questions that encourage curiosity and wonder. You might ask, "What have you noticed about the moon?" versus "What are the phases of the moon?"

Engage the senses and the body. Get creative - you don't need a ton of resources to promote playful learning. Ryan explains how, during a science lesson on plants in one of the schools in South Africa the researchers partnered with, a teacher encouraged her students to go outside to explore, search, and discover their own plants to bring back into the classroom to study.

5. Accept the different emotions that play can create.

Design joyful learning experiences. The PZ team suggests introducing an element of surprise - for example, you could begin a lesson without words, put a riddle up on the wall for students to solve, or turn your classroom into a "courtroom" or "café."

Use play to investigate complex issues. If kids are hesitant to talk about a challenging topic, use a playful strategy to introduce it. One of the ideas the authors suggest is to ask students to jot down their ideas or questions on slips of paper, crumble them up, and toss them around the classroom. Afterwards, the learners can discuss the comments in pairs or groups.

Help students work through any frustrations. Playful learning isn't the same as free play and can involve challenging moments, including having to negotiate or compromise with classmates. Be sure to celebrate when students successfully meet challenges or overcome frustrations.

The researchers invite educators to explore what playful learning might look like in their own communities, with the help of a Playful Learning Indicator Guide, and to document their experiences and processes in order to make them visible to others and enhance future student learning. A Pedagogy of Play also includes a chapter on what administrators, school leaders, and teachers can do to build a schoolwide culture of playful learning.

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A new book encourages playful learning in classrooms - for all ages

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This article from Only About Children, details the benefits of sensory play for different age groups. It also lists the senses, what the play is like, and even gives an example.

Helps build nerve connections in the brain and develops motor skills

Helps with focus and blocking out distractions

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Toddlers absolutely delight in exploring their world through their senses. Sensory play - play that stimulates any of a child's senses - builds cognitive skills and influences how your child learns about their world.

Squish, squelch, spin, splash, squeeze, bang, run, scoop, shake, drop, smear, toss, spray, and ooze - toddlers absolutely delight in exploring their world through their senses. It sounds (and can be!) messy, so you may often be inclined to cut this type of play short. But in fact, sensory play - play that stimulates any of a child's senses - has an important role in a child's health and development. Through it, your child builds cognitive skills and learns about their world.

What is Sensory Play?

In essence, sensory play includes play that engages any of your child's senses. This includes touch, smell, sight, sound and taste. But it also covers movement, balance, and spatial awareness. When a child is born, their senses aren't fully developed. They only mature over time as babies, toddlers, and preschoolers explore the sensory world around them. Each new experience they have with a different sense builds nerve connections that grow the architecture of their brain.

Benefits of Sensory Play for Babies

Babies learn and develop new connections in their brain through play. Sensory play also helps babies to learn more about the world around them and supports language development as they learn to respond to different stimuli. Babies can enjoy simple sensory play such as touching different objects and surfaces and hearing how different materials create varied sounds.

Benefits of Sensory Play for Toddlers

Toddlers are usually developing their thinking abilities and will start trying to do things for themselves. They are learning about concepts, like time and opposites, so activities that compare light and dark, and sorting colours, will encourage toddlers in their exploration.

Benefits of Sensory Play for Preschoolers

Preschoolers will often be exploring more independently and further developing language. Playing with musical instruments, and creating and building different shapes with various objects and materials, will further encourage these developments.

Overall Benefits of Sensory Play

Sensory play encourages learning through exploration, curiosity, problem solving and creativity. It helps to build nerve connections in the brain and encourages the development of language and motor skills. There are many benefits that may go unnoticed, such as the development of abilities to focus and block out distractions.
Sensory play is an important part of childhood and, within reason, there are really no limits to what you can use in sensory activities. Nature can often be your best friend when it comes to sensory play!

What are the Characteristics of Sensory Play?

The different characteristics of sensory play align to the five common senses, along with two additional senses related to balance and proprioception (the perception or awareness of the position and movement of the body).

1. Tactile Play

This is probably the type of play you're most likely to think of when we talk about sensory play. Any time you see children exploring an object with their hands, they're using tactile play. From tactile play, children can learn about pressure, temperature, vibrations, and so much more.

2. Vestibular Sensory Play

Rolling around, hanging, swinging, and jumping can all contribute to your child's development of balance. This is because the sense of balance and movement comes from the vestibular system, which is located in the inner ear. Getting a child's head into as many different positions as possible helps strengthen the vestibular system by activating various receptors in the ear.

3. Proprioception Sensory Play

Think of how you're able to move your arms and legs freely without needing to look at them. That's thanks to proprioception. Pushing, pulling, and jumping all help your child develop spatial awareness of their body. Through proprioception, children learn where they are physically in space and how their limbs relate to the rest of their body.

4. Auditory Sensory Play

Bang, boom, clash! It might not be your favourite type of play, but auditory play helps your child differentiate sounds and develop their hearing. Give your child a wooden spoon and a saucepan and you'll see how they explore sound through play. Disclaimer: this might not be so kind on your nerves.

5. Visual Sensory Play

The Visual Sensory system is closely connected to the Auditory and Vestibular systems. Visual play helps to develop your child's vision and sight. Think of how your child watches the "airplane spoon" as you fly it into their mouth. Playing with, and identifying, colours and patterns is a fun and engaging way to encourage Visual sensory play.

6. Olfactory and Taste Sensory Play

Olfactory relates to the sense of smell. It is also directly related to taste. It's harder to gauge when a child is using their sense of smell and taste, but obvious examples include when they smell flowers or test the taste of their brand new building blocks. Children can develop these senses through games that encourage the exploration of smell and taste.

Theorists

Jean Piaget is somewhat of a celebrity when it comes to developmental psychology. He was perhaps the first theorist of sensory play, suggesting that there was more to "play" than we understood. His theory of play (also known as developmental stage theory) states that play involves a systematic process of learning that can even be identified by stages. Piaget proposed that children need environmental stimuli and experiences to guide their cognitive development. Through sensory play, he suggested that children digest new knowledge and store it for later reference. In essence, he argued that this type of play was key to a child's brain development.

Play at Only About Children

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Exploring the Benefits of Sensory Play for Children

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Sensory play has an important role in a child's health and development and influences how they learn about their world. Learn more here.

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Here you can find more information about how play can be beneficial for those with special needs. This website also talks about how friendship is crucial for those with special needs and how you can intertwine the two. After reading this parents will understand the ways that play will be incorporated into the classroom and how it relates to their child’s IEPs.

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Why friendship and play are good for children with disability

Play is central to learning and development for all children. Play and friendship help children with disability learn skills and abilities, including social-emotional, communication and physical skills.

Playing with others can help children with disability have fun and feel included, supported and cared for. This can be great for their self-esteem.

How children with disability learn and develop through play with others

Social-emotional skills
Play and friendships help your child learn about sharing, being patient, cooperating, solving problems, working out what other children are feeling and making friends with other children.

If your child finds it hard to understand and manage emotions and this affects their ability to play with others, a psychologist can help.

Communication skills
Some children with disability might use speech, signing, gestures or communication devices. By being with other children, children with disability can learn new ways of talking, listening and communicating. For example, your child can hear and see how other children use words and gestures to say what they want. And your child can practise using words and gestures too. And other children can learn how your child communicates, which can help your child communicate with them.

Stronger communication skills will help your child express themselves, regulate their emotions and behaviour, and feel confident. This can help them make friends more easily.

If your child's disability makes it hard for them to communicate, a speech pathologist might be able to help.

Physical skills
Friendships can encourage your child to join in with fun social physical activities like running, jumping, throwing balls, dancing, climbing or building things. Getting involved in physical play can improve your child's physical fitness and skills, as well as their confidence, self-esteem and sense of belonging.

If your child has a physical disability that makes it hard to be active, a physiotherapist or occupational therapist can help your child find ways to get involved in movement, games and sports with peers.

Practising play with children with disability

You can help your child practise skills for playing well with others through your everyday play and communication together. This includes skills like sharing, taking turns, listening and being sensitive to other children's feelings.

You can do this by being a role model. By listening, sharing, compromising, seeing things from other people's points of view and showing empathy, you show your child positive ways to interact with others. For example, you can say things like, 'Yes, let's do it that way', 'I would like a turn, please' or 'I don't understand what you mean'.

Playing board games or interactive games is a great way to help your child learn to cooperate, share and take turns. For example, if waiting for a turn is something your child needs to practise, you can remind your child to wait by using a wait card or by just holding up your hand. As your child gets better at waiting for turns, you can cut down on the prompts by using a raised finger instead of a raised hand.

And you can read books with your child on play situations or make social stories or drawings of what might happen in the playground or at child care or preschool. It can also help to talk with your child about how to deal with these situations.

Whenever you see your child sharing, taking turns or playing well in any way, you can give your child praise and encouragement. When you tell your child exactly what you liked, your child is more likely to behave that way again. For example, 'It was nice that you gave the ball to Evan when it was his turn'.

Playing with others: making it easier for children with disability

All children have to learn how to play and get along with others. There are a few things you can do to make playing with others easier for children with disability.

Choosing toys and activities
If you're having a playdate for your child, you can help things along by choosing toys and activities that children of diverse abilities will enjoy. It's also a good idea to have some activities that you know your child can do confidently. Children are much more likely to join in when they feel confident.

For younger children, try activities that give them the choice of playing alone, alongside others or together. Some ideas include:

materials for painting and drawing

books, blocks and construction materials like Duplo or Lego

musical instruments

props for imaginative or dramatic play

outside play.

Setting up a play area
If you're inviting children to your house to play, setting up a play area for them can help things go well. A spacious area that's not too crowded works well, as do different spaces and activities so that children can either play together or alone.

Helping out if needed
Sometimes you might need to step in and help your child handle tricky situations. If you can give your child some words that help with understanding feelings, it might help. For example, 'Sally has taken your toy. It looks like you're feeling angry. It's OK to feel angry. Let's see how we can help'.

You can also teach your child some basic questions and sentences to help with play. For example, 'I would like to play with that too', 'Can we try doing this together?' or 'I don't like it when you do that'.

Mixing and matching
It's great for all children, including children with disability, to be with older and younger children, children the same age, and children with and without disability. This can give your child the chance to have a variety of play experiences and develop patience, acceptance and an understanding of diversity.

If play doesn't go to plan

Things probably won't always go according to plan. We don't make friends with everyone we meet or get along with everyone we know. It's normal to worry if your child is ignored or left out or finds it hard to play with others.

Try to make playing with other children as fun, calm and enjoyable as possible.

Note that playing with other children takes physical and emotional energy, so your child might need to spend time alone after a big play session. As your child gets better at playing with other children over time, they'll naturally gain confidence and independence.

If you're worried that your child might be being bullied, read our tips on how to spot the signs of bullying and what you can do about it.

Understanding play

The way your child plays and makes friends will change through early childhood. Children learn different things from play at different ages and stages, including creativity, flexibility and problem-solving. And the more chances your child has to play, the more your child can learn about how to play.

Solitary play is when children play by themselves and don't pay attention to what others are doing. This stage typically goes up to 15-17 months. It can last longer for children with disability.

Parallel play is when children play alongside each other and might use the same or similar toys as those around them. This stage typically starts at 18-24 months, but it can be later for children with disability.

Associative play is when children make and share things, give each other things, or join in with what other children are doing. This typically starts around 3 years, but it might be later for children with disability.

Cooperative play is when children join together to do activities and work together to finish something. It might also be making up rules or playing games with rules. This typically starts happening at 3-4 years, but it might be later for children with disability.

Children with disability might move through these stages more slowly than typically developing children. This can be because their development is delayed or because they haven't had the same play opportunities as typically developing children. For example, a child with a significant motor disability might find it physically difficult to play alongside other children, give things to other children and join in with activities.

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Play and friendship for children with disability

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Play and friendship are good for children with disability. Here's how to help your child with disability play, make friends and build social skills.