As the beloved Mr. Rogers once said, “Play is often talked about as if it were a relief from serious learning. But for children, play is serious learning. Play is really the work of childhood.” Play is the foundation of learning for young children. It is not simply an activity children do during downtime. It is a vital way children develop cognitive, physical, social, and emotional skills. Through play, children explore their surroundings, practice new skills, and learn to navigate the world around them.

 

In Applied Behavior Analysis (ABA), play is often a central focus of therapy sessions, especially for young children. Behavior analysts strategically integrate play as a key component in acquiring skills and modifying behaviors. Let’s explore why play is so important in learning and how it can help unlock a child’s fullest potential.

 

Benefits of Play

Play can be both an enjoyable experience and a learning opportunity, offering benefits that extend far beyond simple entertainment. Whether structured or freeform, it can be a powerful tool to foster growth across multiple domains.

 

There are countless benefits of play, including:

 

  • Communication Skills: Through play, children can develop a vast range of language and verbal behavior skills.
  • Social Skills: Through interactive play, children learn critical social engagement, such as how to take turns, collaborate, resolve conflicts, and self-advocate.
  • Motor Skills: Play is a wonderful way for children to develop fine and gross motor skills, coordination, and spatial awareness.
  • Cognitive Development: Engaging in play promotes critical thinking, problem-solving, and other cognitive skills while encouraging creativity and imagination.
  • Encouraging Autonomy: Independent play encourages children to explore their interests, develop perseverance, and work through problems on their own, fostering decision-making and a sense of control over their actions.
  • Social-Emotional Development: Play enables opportunities to work on self-control, patience, resilience, and other important factors related to social-emotional well-being.
  • Mental & Physical Wellbeing–Play can decrease stress, depression, and fatigue and improve physical health (Yogman et al., 2018).

Among the many well-rounded benefits of play, one of the greatest is the simple enjoyment children experience while engaged in preferred play activities.

 

Types of Play

There are many types of play. Each of these serves unique purposes in meeting children’s cognitive, physical, social, and emotional needs.

 

  • Object play–Exploring objects to learn about their sensory aspects. This involves touching, smelling, and mouthing/tasting objects.
  • Physical/locomotor play–Physical play, like running, jumping, and climbing is important for children to develop foundational motor skills. Rough-and-tumble play also helps children learn to take risks in a safe environment, building coordination, balance, and body awareness.
  • Constructive play–Building things, such as stacking blocks, putting together legos, completing puzzles, or other forms of creating with materials, helps children develop problem-solving and fine motor skills.
  • Pretend play–Playing through pretend scenarios is a wonderful way for children to learn about social rules, work with others toward shared goals, and practice real-life situations.
  • Language play–Using language in fun and creative ways, like rhyming games, storytelling, singing, and wordplay. Language play supports cognitive development while helping children experiment with the rules of language.
  • Competitive play–Organized games and activities with structured rules, such as board games and team sports.
  • Social play–Play interactions with two or more people engaging in cooperative activities such as playing a game, taking turns with an activity, or collaborating on a shared task.

 

Children need a variety of play structures, including free play, guided play, and adult-led play. Free play occurs when the child can choose their own activities without structured rules or guidance from adults. This type of play helps children develop independence while using their imagination to navigate their own play experiences.

 

Guided play is more structured, where a parent, therapist, or teacher provides the play activity or materials but allows the child to lead. Children are given the ability to explore with guidance from the adult, which is an important component for learning new skills. Much of the play we do within ABA falls under the guided play category.

 

Adult-led play involves the adult taking a more active role in directing the play. This is done as an intentional way to teach new skills. While the adult takes a more active role in adult-led play, this type of play should still be enjoyable for the child.

 

The Importance of Incorporating Play Into ABA Therapy Sessions

Understanding the benefits of play, it’s easy to see how it would be beneficial to incorporate play into therapy sessions. Play is especially important for learning during early childhood. Because of this, many ABA providers utilize natural environment teaching (NET) to teach skills under naturally occurring situations. Incorporating play into ABA therapy is helpful in many ways, including the following.

 

  • Play promotes a warm, positive, and motivating environment for the child. Play makes therapy enjoyable. When children are happy, relaxed, and engaged (HRE), they are more likely to actively participate, attend to therapists, and learn new skills, driving positive outcomes.
  • Children often don’t recognize the learning that is embedded in play. Because of this, they may be more willing to engage with learning tasks and experience greater progress toward their goals than when teaching sessions are highly structured and solely adult-led.
  • Play promotes skill generalization. Through play, behavior analysts and technicians can teach skills in natural, everyday environments, increasing the likelihood that skills will generalize with new people, settings, and stimuli.
  • Teaching through play enables children to contact natural reinforcement. During play, children can contact natural forms of reinforcement rather than contrived ones. Naturally motivating activities encourage engagement and cooperation throughout the therapy session.
  • Play strengthens the child-therapist relationship. Building rapport is an essential part of ABA therapy. Active engagement in play promotes a more collaborative and positive experience.

 

How Parents Can Help

Children benefit from a diverse range of play experiences outside of therapy sessions. This is where parents come in. Parents and caregivers play an essential role in helping their children generalize therapy goals and support overall learning through play.

 

We encourage parents to promote learning through play with these tips.

 

  1. Dedicate daily 1:1 or group play time with your child(ren).

 

While busy schedules can make it hard to find time for play, even short, dedicated periods of child-led or parent-guided play can be beneficial. The key is quality, not necessarily quantity. Focus on engaging with your child without distractions to maximize the time spent playing. You know your child best, but don’t be afraid to be silly–make sound effects, sing, dance, and contrive other fun situations.

 

  1. Focus on age and developmental appropriateness.Select play activities and toys that are appropriate for your child’s age and developmental level. It’s also important to recognize the behaviors and skills that are age-appropriate to focus on during play. For example, parallel play, where children play alongside but not directly with each other, is typical in toddlers. As children grow and develop play skills, their ability to engage in cooperative play increases.
  2. Deliver lots of praise.Use behavior-specific praise during play to reinforce behaviors and skills that you want to encourage. Here are a few examples of behavior-specific praise.

 

  • You’re so kind to share your cars with me!
  • Awesome job putting the puzzle together!
  • You built that tower all by yourself, you must be so proud!
  • I love how you’re using your imagination with ______!

 

Unlocking Potential Through Play

At CompleatKidz, we recognize the power of play in learning. Integrating play into therapy sessions makes learning more enjoyable while fostering the child’s communication, social, emotional, and cognitive development. Our multidisciplinary services–including ABA, speech, occupational, and physical therapies–support children through individualized care across North Carolina. Contact us today to learn more!

 

 

References

Ginsburg, K. (2007). The importance of play in promoting healthy child development and maintaining strong parent-child bonds. Pediatrics, 119(1), 182–191. https://doi.org/10.1542/peds.2006-2697

 

Gray, P. (2017). What exactly is play, and why is it such a powerful vehicle for learning? Topics in Language Disorders, 37(3), 217-228. Retrieved from:  https://oce.ovid.com/article/00011363-201707000-00003/HTML

 

Skene, K., O’Farrelly, C. M., Byrne, E. M., Kirby, N., Stevens, E. C., & Ramchandani, P. G. (2022). Can guidance during play enhance children’s learning and development in educational contexts? A systematic review and meta-analysis. Child Development, 93, 1162–1180. https://doi.org/10.1111/cdev.13730

 

Yogman, M., Garner, A., Hutchinson, J., Hirsh-Pasek, K., Golinkoff, R. M., Committee on Psychosocial Aspects of Child and Family Health, & Council on Communications and Media. (2018). The power of play: A pediatric role in enhancing development in young children. Pediatrics, 142(3), e20182058. https://doi.org/10.1542/peds.2018-2058