Kids & Company Blog

Ages and Stages of Play!

To follow up on my previous blog post about the importance of play, I thought I would share how children play at different ages. As every stage of development is drastically different, their ability to play will be too. Of course younger babies can’t toddle over to a toy and explore, but as a parent or caregiver you can present them with things that may intrigue them that they can look at and try to reach out to.

Mobiles are great for the younger ones especially as their vision gets clear and they can focus on the bright colours above them. Tummy time with toys spread around them is also a great way to introduce play and strengthen their little bodies all at the same time. As babies get older and start moving more, they will be able to start playing and exploring on their own. As they become older,  they’ll begin to play make believe and other games involving less toys and less people, though they may still love playing with you. I know my children really benefited from being close enough in age that they were always able to find a play mate close by.

 

Check out this great outline below of the various Ages & Stages of Play from our our friends at Whole Play!

 

AGES & STAGES OF PLAY:

Newborn to 4 months - Play is primarily directed by parents, as infants are limited in their skills. Play involves a lot of face-to-face games, such as “PEEK-A-BOO.” Infants develop the ability to track and eventually grasp objects.

4 months to 8 months - Babies begin to engage in sensory-motor play, which involves exploring objects through different senses, particularly their mouths! “Joint attention” emerges, meaning the ability for a child to understand the parent is looking at what he is looking at.

9 months to 12 months - Babies start to move and engage in exploratory play. Symbolic play also emerges around 12 months, meaning children begin to understand that one object symbolizes another. (For example - a toy car represents an actual car).

12 months to 36 months - As language develops so does symbolic play. Children are able to use one object to symbolize another unrelated object. (For example – they can pretend that a block is flying spaceship). Children engage in parallel play with other children, meaning they play alongside each other rather than with each other.

3 years to 5 years - Children engage in cooperative play, which primarily involves lots of pretend play whereby children make up and play out imaginary scenarios together. Turn-taking occurs.

5 years and up - Children are capable of playing games together that involve an agreed upon set of rules.

Posted on: Monday September 29th, 2014

Posted by: Victoria Sopik