| Types | Characteristics | Examples |
| Functional Play | Repetition of movements when new skills are being learned, with or without objects. | Infants and toddlers: grasping and pulling a mobile |
| Preschoolers and kindergartners: repeating a pattern on a pegboard | ||
| School-aged children: practicing throwing, catching, or doing acrobatics | ||
| Symbolic Play | Use of imagination and role play to transform the self and objects and to satisfy needs. | Infants and toddlers: pretending to drink from a baby bottle |
| Early symbolic play: mental representation that transforms one object for another. | Preschoolers and kindergartners: pretending a block is a broken car and pretending to fix it | |
| Later symbolic play: mental representation that transforms self and objects | School-aged children: using secret codes or made-up languages to communicate | |
| Constructive Play | Manipulation of objects or materials to make something. Combines functional play repetitive activity with symbolic representation of ideas. Occurs when children regulate their own creations or constructions. | Preschoolers and kindergartners: constructing a hospital room for a sick animal |
| School-aged children: creating an exhibit of a project just studied or designing virtual games and figure with electronic icons | ||
| Games with Rules | Activities with predetermined rules that are goal-oriented and often competitive with one or more individual. | Infants and Toddlers: playing pat-a-cake with an adult |
| Preschoolers and kindergartners: playing simple singing and circle games | ||
| School-aged children: tag, marbles, hopscotch, or contests such as relay races |
Excerpted From:
Excerpt from Creative Thinking and Arts-Based Learning Preschool Through Fourth Grade, by J.P. Isenberg, M. R. Jalongo, 2006 edition, p. 57.
© ______ 2006, Merrill, an imprint of Pearson Education Inc. Used by permission. All rights reserved. The reproduction, duplication, or distribution of this material by any means including but not limited to email and blogs is strictly prohibited without the explicit permission of the publisher.
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