| Learning Play and Speech |
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Play is the most powerful tool for learning for a preschool child. It allows children to explore and experiment with objects and roles that they observe in their environment. As with other skills, play develops over time. As your child's play becomes more sophisticated, so too does their language and social skills. By encouraging your child's development of play, you are facilitating their learning of language. |
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| Most children go through the following levels as they learn to play: |
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Level
Of Play
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Description
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Suggestions
For Helping Development
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| Exploratory
play (birth to 18 months) |
Shakes, mouths, bangs and turns over toys and other objects |
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| Functional
play (18 - 24 months) |
Uses objects the way they were mean to be used (e.g., roll a ball, stack blocks, listen to a toy phone) |
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| Creative-symbol
play (2 years) |
Begins to use symbols in play (e.g., may pretend a box is a train; the box symbolizes a train) |
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| Pretend
play (3 to 4 years) |
Plays with imaginary friends or animals or pretends to be someone else |
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| Sequenced
pretend play (4 years +) |
Acts out sequences either observed in their environment or through books and T.V. (e.g., household routines of preparing a meal, school, doctor) |
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