Infancy (0 - 14 months)

Early Childhood (2 - 6 years)

Skills practiced / demonstrated when child engages in this type of play

1. Banging on various surfaces with toy rattle

2. Riding tricycle

In infancy, (1) sensorimotor play. In EC (2.), physical (large motor skills) development, also spatial perception, understanding elementary physics, perhaps also "initiative" (Erikson).

5. Making simple shape puzzles

3. Making simple picture puzzles

5.& 3.. both involve fine motor and perceptual skills. In EC (3.), children can begin to imagine what the whole picture will look like when done. They still tend to center on one physical dimension (centration), and are easily frustrated, so will need a lot of help and patience.

4. Scribbling on paper with crayolas

6. Scribbling with crayolas and telling stories about "picture"

4. & 6. both involve fine motor and perceptual skills. In EC (6.), children initially scribble something, then make up a story about it. Adults and older children may respond to this with interest, elaborating further on the child's story. In some, but not all cultures, children begin to learn about visual representation as a kind of language that is valued (or not) by society.

7. Reading a familiar story book with older sibling, but periodically turning pages backwards to look.

9. Reading a familiar story book with older sibling, predicting what will happen next.

7. (infancy) Perhaps infants turn book pages backward as a way to "test" or verify their growing understanding of object permanence. Obviously, reading also fosters linguistic development, visual perception, social skills, for both age groups. 9. (EC) Children now can predict what is going to happen next. This reflects growing ability to remember things and (often) children show great joy as they exercise these new conceptual powers!

14. Playing peek-a-boo

15. Playing dress-up in mommy or daddy's clothes

14. For infants, learning about object permanence, making and "testing" predictions. 15. Make-believe play, learning about distinction between appearances and reality, gender constancy; social role playing.

11. Fitting shapes into geometric holes on toy "mailbox"

10. Practices writing name, with some letters reversed.

11. & 10. For infants, sensorimotor play. For both age groups, development of fine motor and perceptual skills. EC children are also engaging in a form of role playing (imitating older children and adults). They are learning, to a greater or lesser degree, that being able to write words is socially valued. They begin to learn what writing is good for (communication)!

8. Making "cakes" in sandbox

13. Making a real peanut butter jelly sandwich

8. For infants, sensorimotor play. 13. For EC, fine motor and cognitive skills. The child knows what a PB sandwich should look like and can figure out how to assemble the final product. The child is also engaged in social role-playing.

12. Playing surprise games that always end the same way ("this little piggie went to market" and "creep mouse")

16. Playing Hide and Seek

12. Infants have rudimentary powers of prediction. They get a kick out of playing the same game again and again. Why? I think they enjoy exercising their powers of prediction. In both examples (12. & 16.) children are also learning about human emotions and how to regulate them. There is a "mock fear/surprise" quality to such games for both age groups. Perhaps these kinds of play activities contribute to the development of emotional self-regulation skills.

17. "I'm gonna get you" games (pretend adult monster chases child)

19. Doll play, dressing and feeding baby dolls

17. Mock-fear /chasing games involve make-believe play of a very basic kind. This may foster emotional self-regulation skills. 19. In
EC, make-believe, pretend play helps children learn to distinguish between appearance and reality and practice/learn about social roles.

20. Chewing on plastic rings and placing on vertical post (no order)

18. Stacking plastic rings from largest to smallest on vertical post

20. Sensorimotor play. 18. Classification (cognitive) skills, as well as fine motor and perceptual skills.

21. Kissing and then chewing on toy teddy bear

22. Talking to teddy bear as though it were alive.

21. Sensorimotor play. 22. Illustrates animistic thinking (animism) in EC. Through play and observation, the child learns to distinguish between animate (live) and inanimate objects.

23. Pouring water into different size containers in swimming pool

24. Playing Candyland (or Chutes and Ladders)

23. Children in both age groups enjoy this activity. Infants would need to be old enough to have fine motor skills needed to pour water, etc. This kind of play helps children develop the skills needed to solve "conservation" tasks (Piaget's concept) as they enter into the concrete-operational period. 24. Even in early childhood, kids love to play board games. They have a very limited grasp of how rules work, and they do best with simple games of chance. Such games allow them to practice fine-motor, counting, and linguistic skills. They will not understand how rules work until middle childhood, so