Hooray! Let’s Play
Carolyn Lotawa
Occupational Therapist
BHSc(OT), Ass Dip Child Studies, NZROT
What is Play?
Why is it important?
! Play allows children to use their creativity
while developing their imagination,
dexterity, and physical, cognitive, and
emotional strength.
! Play is important to healthy brain
development. It is through play that
children at a very early age engage and
interact in the world around them.
Ginsberg (2007)
Let’s Play
! One vital ingredient in supporting healthy
intellectual, emotional and social
development in young children is the
provision of opportunities and the
support for play. Whitebread, 2012
Play starts early
! Play with objects begins as soon as
infants can grasp and hold on to them;
early investigative behaviours include:
!  Mouthing/biting
!  Rotating while looking
!  Rubbing/stroking
!  Hitting and dropping
! This might be described as ‘sensorimotor’ play when the child is exploring
how objects and materials feel and
behave. Whitebread, 2012
Influences on play
! There are a number of factors which
influence the extent to which children
are playful.
! Environmental and Social factors
! These support or inhibit children’s natural
playfulness
! Provision of opportunities
Types of Play
! Five fundamental types of play
! Physical play
! Play with objects
! Symbolic play
! Pretence or socio-dramatic play
! Games with rules
What can play look like?
! Supports cognitive, social emotional
development, gross and fine motor skills
!  Good balance of play experience is
regarded as a healthy play diet for
children.
Benefits of free unstructured
play
!  Encourages child led discovery
!  Promotes success in activity
!  Supports mastery in physical activity
!  Doesn’t conform to adult constraints
!  Children can establish own rules
!  Triggers imaginative play
!  Has a natural flow
Play and the link to eating
!  Eating skills rely on:
!  Refinement in the ability to control the
forearm and use a variety of grasp patterns
and tools
!  In hand manipulation is important
!  Bilateral and asymmetric integration of
hands
!  Stable seating position
!  “Grasp is an area that directly impacts
eating for a child”. Case smith, 2010
Play and the link to eating
! The execution of increasing complex
action sequences
! The development of automatic skills
! Opportunities and exposure to multi
sensory play
! Practice and mastery
Grasps
Friends, play and eating
! Eating behaviours evolve during the first
years of life
! Children learn what, when, and how
much to eat through direct experiences
with food and by observing the eating
behaviours of others
Messy Play
! Mixing and experimenting with different
materials in messy play (also known as
tactile or sensory play) gives children a
chance to create meaning with their
senses – to smell, touch, taste, hear and
feel within their play. Smoldon and
Howell, 2014
! Experiences in play that are fun and
joyful can support experiences with food
Self feeding
! Self-feeding provides a fun and easy
way for a child to:
! Explore different sensory experiences
and feels
! Play with and feel crumbly, rough, wet,
squishy, spongy, and slippery textures
! Foods also provide different sounds,
smells, and tastes
Skills to support self feeding
! Good head stability
! Reaching and grasping
! Exploration and toleration of various
textures
! Oral exploration
! In hand manipulation
! Understanding of size and orientation
! Shoulder and wrist stability
Mastery, mess and play
! Being allowed to be messy
! Gain confidence, become comfortable
with different textures
! Develop strength and coordination in
the hands and fingers
Mastery, mess and play
! A child who is practicing and learning
self-feeding skills is also improving:
! Strength in his/her back, arms, and
hands
! Using both arms and hands together
! Coordination in his/her arms and hands
! Eye-hand coordination
Multi sensory
experiences
Write your own here.
Play hard…..
! The kind of freely
directed, intrinsically motivated
play where children practise and
develop the full range of skills –
physical, cognitive, social,
emotional… ! “Play expands competence.
The child may not need this
competence until later in life,
but he won’t develop much
competence unless he plays
effectively as a child.” Ayres,
2000.
The Everyday OT Team
Carolyn Lotawa
021 023 26398
[email protected]
www.everydayot.com
www.facebook.com/Everydayot
References
!  Ayers.J.(2000). As quoted in Balanced and Barefoot
(Hanscom, A.J) (2016).New Harbinger Publications:USA.
!  Birch, L., Savage, J. & Veutre, A. (2007). Influences on the
Development of Children's Eating Behaviours: From Infancy to
Adolescence. Can J Diet Pract Res; 68(1): s1–s56.
!  Case-Smith, J. & Clifford O’Brien, J.(Ed.)(2010). Occupational
Therapy for children. 6th ed. Mosby Elsevier:USA.
!  Ginsberg, K.R (2007). The Importance of Play in Promoting
Healthy Child Development and Maintaining Strong ParentChild Bonds. Pediatrics, Volume 119 / Issue 1
References
!  Goldstein, J. (2012). Play in chidlren’s development, health
and wellbeing. National Toy Council; Netherlands
!  Satter, E. (Ed.)(1992).The feeding Relationship. Zero to Three
Journal
!  Smoldon, E. & Howell, M. (2014). Ideas for Play: Literacy. Ako
Books:New Zealand.
!  Whitebread, D. (2012). A report on the value of children’s play
with a series of policy recommendations. University of
Cambridge; England.