Did you know that there are 16 different Play 'types'?
•Symbolic play—when a stick becomes a horse
•Rough and tumble play—play fighting
•Socio-dramatic play—social drama
•Social play—playing with rules and societal structures
•Creative play—construction and creation
•Communications play—e.g., words, jokes, acting, body and sign languages, facial expressions
•Dramatic play—performing or playing with situations that are not personal or domestic, e.g., playing “Harry Potter” or doing a “Harry Potter play”
•Deep play—risky experiences that confront fear
•Exploratory play—manipulating, experimenting
•Fantasy play—rearranges the world in the child’s fantastical way
•Imaginative play—pretending
•Locomotor play—chase, swinging, climbing, playing with the movements of your body. Using your body to propel itself
•Mastery play—lighting fires, digging holes, games of elemental control
•Object play—playing with objects and exploring their uses and potential
•Recapitulative play—carrying forward the evolutionary deeds of becoming a human being, e.g., dressing up with paints and masks, damming streams, growing food
•Role play—exploring other ways of being, pretending to drive a bus or be a policeman or use a telephone
Bob Hughes develops a deeper exploration of the concept of play types, suggesting that each play type may contribute to enhancing development in different brain regions.
In addition, Brian Sutton-smith (2002), believes that primary emotions can be experienced and kept in check by children’s play. For example, play fighting and the balance between anger and contest; disgust mediated through playful obscenities; etc..
I have set myself the task of (1.) identifying the different play types in my setting, and to (2.) observe what occurs when different play types play together.
I'd be interested to hear from you on your experiences with this too!
Let's wait and see what happens........ !
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