5 Different Types of Play

There are so many different play options. I wanted to write this list to inspire you to try a different kind of play for a change. Different play = different types of vocabulary you can use with your child.

1. Role Playing

You and your child can act out a variety of situations with or without props. Try using different voices and being silly and creative. Here are some situations you could act out: shops, a spaceship, looking for dinosaurs, going to the beach, a tea party, a school, camping, a hospital, the rainforest, police work, an aeroplane, performing in a band etc. Your child will learn about the world, communication and social skills.

2. Arts and Crafts Creative Play

This can be as messy as you like! You can paint, draw, colour, sculpt, design, cut, stick, fold paper, invent, copy existing art, follow how-to craft instructions etc. Your child will learn to express themselves, get messy and be creative.

3. Physical Play

This can include dancing, competitive games with points, rough play, running to find things, performing a poem or a song etc. They will learn coordination, stamina, gross motor skills etc.

4. Water Play

This can be in the bath, the sink, a pool, the sea, outside in the garden, in a bucket, using measuring jugs etc. They will learn about capacity, floating, sinking, pouring, spilling etc.

5. Construction Play

Your child can build, design and create something. They could use bricks, lego, blocks, boxes etc. They will practise problem-solving, hand-eye coordination, fine motor skills etc.

It’s normal for your child to want to do repetitive play but if you see that your child is doing exactly the same thing every day, you can encourage them to try something else. You can set up a simple activity for them as an ‘invitation to play’.

If your child always wants gives you a dinosaur and says, “Let’s play Mummy!” and you feel like you’ve done it so many times before, think about how you can use some of the ideas above to add something new to the dinosaur play.

For example, you could get a tray and squirt different coloured paint in it. You can dip the dinosaurs’ feet in it and create dinosaur footprint artwork.

Examples of sentences:

“Pour paint onto the tray.”

“Dip your dinosaur’s feet in the paint.”

“Print footprints on the paper.”

“Mix the colours together.”

You could fill your bathroom sink with water and put props around it such as trees, stones, plastic fish, boats etc. and create imaginary water play for the dinosaurs.

Examples of sentences:

“Can your dinosaurs swim?”

“Do they sink or float?”

“You are spilling water.”

“Can they dive in?”

You could build something for the dinosaurs with bricks, blocks or old boxes. Communicate and problem-solve together to design and build the structure.

Examples of sentences:

“Let’s make it wider.”

“Fix these together.”

“It’s not tall enough.”

“Let’s make a door that opens and shuts.”

There are so many options! I hope this has inspired you to try something different next time your child brings you their toys that you always play with.

Enjoy playing!

Before you go…

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