Development through play

Children experience different types of development through play, including:

• physical development
• intellectual development
• language and literacy development
• social development
• emotional development

Physical development

During play, children learn to move, balance and lift things.

This activity helps children to develop the basic movement skills they need to stay active in later life.

As children get older, physical play helps them to stay healthy and active. It also strengthens their bones and muscles.

Play helps children develop:

• gross motor skills - using large muscles for activities such as walking, jumping, running and climbing
• fine motor skills - using small muscles for tasks such as writing, drawing, cutting with scissors, and handling objects
• physical growth - including growth in height, weight, muscle tone and body proportions

Intellectual development

Play helps children develop their memory, thinking and reasoning skills.

During play, children age 2 to 3 years learn how to:

• use their imagination
• count
• tell the difference between different shapes and sizes

Language, reading and writing

Language development begins in the womb. When your child is born, they recognise your voice. Your child turns their head towards your voice when they hear you speak.

The more words your child hears, the more words they can remember, understand or use.

To help language development, continue to speak to your child. You can use the following tips.

Chat with your child

Talk to your child about everyday things. If you are not sure what to talk about, you can describe your thoughts or actions. For example, "I'm getting ready to go for a walk".

Notice and build on your child’s interests

Name what your child is doing. For example, "oh, you are kicking your legs".

For an older child you might say, "you are playing with your toys".

Use new words when you talk with your child

Use new words where you can. For example, instead of saying "that's a big tower", you could say "a tall tower" or "an enormous tower".

Read to your child

It's never too early to read to your baby. Reading is also a good way to add routine into your day.

Sharing books with babies and young children

Supporting your child's language and literacy - zerotothree.org

Social and emotional development

Strong positive relationships are important for your child's social and emotional development.

Play helps your child:

• express their feelings
• develop their own identity
• deal with stress and anxiety
• cope with emotions such as fear, anger or sadness
• learn how to make friends and care for people
• develop social skills and interact with other people in a healthy way

To support social and emotional development through play, you can:

• stay face-to-face with your child while you play so they can imitate or copy you
• use board games for older children - games such as Snakes and Ladders or Guess Who can help children practise taking turns and following rules
• show good examples of behaviour with role-playing games, such as pretending to be a doctor or a teacher
• show caring behaviour - for example, playing with dolls can help your child to understand and care about other people’s needs

Stimulate your child's senses

Stimulating your child’s senses during play can encourage learning and development.

Children learn through play, using:

• sight - seeing colours, movement, sizes and textures
• smell - familiar smells can comfort your baby
• sound - for example, new noises, music, or you singing or reading to your child
• taste - trying foods with different textures
• touch - for example, finger painting, using play dough or playing hide and seek with toys

Outdoor play

Playing outdoors or in nature helps your child use all their senses. Your child can look at trees and clouds, enjoy the smell of flowers and feel the texture of grass.

Children of all ages enjoy playing outdoors.

Help your child develop through play

To help your child develop during play, you can:

• show interest in your child’s interests - this lets them know that they are important to you
• copy how they play - for example, if they shake a rattle, you shake a rattle too
• talk about what they’re doing - for example, “you’re pushing the car”
• do things slowly and repeat things - your child’s brain needs time to learn new skills
• listen - so they know that you are interested in their ideas, thoughts and feelings

The most important thing is to have fun together.

Children with disabilities

Free or unstructured play is when your child decides what to play without adult direction. Free play helps children with diabilities to develop social skills and learn about the world.

The importance of play for children with disabilities