Belle’s OT Corner
Belle’s OT Corner
Play Season: Ep 1 What is Play?
This episode explores the vital role of play for children and adults, unpacking its significance in learning and emotional well-being. We discuss the different stages of play, types of interaction, and the importance of fostering a playful environment for growth and development.
Join me to learn more about:
• Understanding the value of play for both children and adults
• Unearthing personal experiences with play and its impact
• Defining play and its implications for learning and growth
• Stages of social play - solitary, parallel, associative, and cooperative
• The difference between joint attention and shared attention
• Strategies for encouraging playful interaction with children
• The importance of following a child's lead in play
• Encouraging trust in one's playful instincts
As always, please, please, do share it around with anyone that you think could benefit from it.
Follow me on @bellesotcorner on instagram and Facebook for more insights.
DISCLAIMER:
Whilst I will always make evert effort to share correct information as at the date of the podcast, research is constantly happening and as a profession we learn more everyday. One therapist may have a different way of doing things to another, and every child's needs are unique. By listening to this podcast, you agree not to use this podcast as medical advice to treat any medical condition in either yourself or others Consult your child's paediatrician or therapist for any recommendations for your child.
Hello everyone, welcome back to Belzo Tea Corner. I hope you all had a really nice break, a really nice Christmas, a really nice New Year's and welcome to the new year, guys. I know it's halfway through January already, but we're making it. We're good. Starting the new year off, we have our new season, so we're going to be moving into a season all about play. So for this season, I thought today I'd give you a little bit of an overview of what's to come, and then we'll jump into some of the kind of building blocks that we need for play, the kind of nitty-gritty, behind-the-scenes bits, and then we'll flow into the rest of the season.
Speaker 1:But I'm really excited to share this season with you guys. I mean, as you'll hear a lot throughout this season, but play is so important for kids. Play is at the heart of what I do so often as an OT, when people ask what I do, I say I play. I play all day, every day, and it's great. So I'm really, really keen to bring this season to you guys and hear your feedback and hopefully we can start to demystify some of the things around play, because so often as adults we either forget how to play because it's been so long since we've had to play, or play looks different and we can't quite figure out why they're doing what they're doing. So this season hopes to kind of demystify a little bit of that and really help you guys feel comfortable and confident in engaging in those play interactions with your little kitties or helping foster some of those playful interactions within your class if you're a teacher and listening on. So in this season what we're going to do today's episode is going to be all about kind of what is play, what is joint attention and shared attention so key buzzwords that we tend to hear a lot that are really important and we'll talk about those. We'll very quickly kind of go through the outline of the stages of play today, but then in the following episodes we're going to go through those stages in a little bit more detail as well. Then in a later episode we're going to look at interaction within play, what that is and why that's important. We're going to do an episode all around supporting engagement in play. So how, if we have a kid that's not really interested in play, what do we do? What next? And then we're going to look at persistence in play and why play is so important for building some of these persistent skills, but also helping us to start to build some of those cognitive skills as well, some of our problem solving skills. So some of it will sound a little bit similar in places to bits of our motor skills, because that is still play, but there is lots of nuance that we'll be bringing in within the play season as well. So that's kind of a quick little overview and then let's jump into it.
Speaker 1:So what is play? It is my favorite question that I get asked, and I get asked it a lot, because we'll have parents that come in and they go oh, they're just playing. It's like well, yeah, that's, that's what we want. Well, you know, you come into, if you go into an OT clinic, there'll be toys everywhere. There might be a swing, there might be some climbing equipment, there might be some balls to play with, there might be endless cupboards of toys. If you've got an OT at school, I guarantee they'll be coming in with.
Speaker 1:You know all the fun games and different things to do or just the silly tickle games or chasing games. Like, we're the fun people and there's a reason for that. Play is incredibly powerful for children. It really helps and fosters their learning. But before we jump into play for kids, I want you guys to take a minute to reflect on adults and play. It's not something we do very often, it's not something we think about very often, but I really want to challenge you to think about times as an adult that you play and if we work off.
Speaker 1:A definition of play is when we kind of lose track of time. We're completely immersed in the activity that we're doing. It's one of those ones where five minutes might, what was an hour, might have felt like five minutes and it's taking all of your interest, but it's also a thing that's really motivating to you. It might be creative, it might not be creative, but it's something that allows you to explore something different, to try something new, where you have that control. And it's not something that we do all that often or we don't realize it when we're doing it.
Speaker 1:So a lot of the times when I ask adults this question, I go, oh, when was the last time you played? They'll go, oh, I had a board games night, like a couple months ago, and I'm like, cool, that counts, what else? And they go, oh, oh, I don't really play. Otherwise. I'm like, okay, well, what are your hobbies, what are your interests? And they go oh, like, I really like cooking and I'm like great, what do you do when you cook? Oh, we, you know, play around with some different recipes and I'm like you're what? And all of a sudden this word play comes in, because we're going to play around with some different recipes and I'm like you're what? And all of a sudden this word play comes in, because we're going to play around with some different recipes and I'm going to try something different. That's play. That's fun, exploring, trying something new.
Speaker 1:Another one could be like being creative, learning a new skill, taking time to do some knitting or some crocheting, if that's what you like, or even if it is as simple as putting on your favorite music in the car and having a dance along, that's play. You're in control of that. You can control what music you're putting on. You can control what dance moves you're busting out. You can control how loud you're singing. It counts as play. And so I want you to kind of start to notice just how much we as adults still play in our day, and also start to notice how fun it is when you can start to kind of give into that play a little bit and do the silly thing.
Speaker 1:I was on holidays with some friends a couple weeks ago and it had been raining and we were walking home and I went well, I'm walking home, so it really doesn't matter if I absolutely wet all of my clothes, that's not a problem. And I had my gum boots on or my welly boots on, wherever you are in the world and there was huge puddles, and so I ran and ran towards the puddle and jumped in the puddle and then ran towards the next puddle and jumped in the puddle and I looked like a complete idiot, but I was having so much fun. And, sure enough, then someone else jumped in the puddle and it was great fun and it was playful and it was silly and it was spontaneous and it was great. And so I really challenge you to think about times in your life that you'll play and also, if you have that sort of oh, but I could go for it, try it, have fun, play, because once we start to realize how a how good play makes us feel, how creative and how intrigued we can be by play, it's really nice to then help us understand a child's play as well. So that's your homework start to have a look at where you play in your life, how you play and what that looks like to you and what brings you that enjoyment. Is it playing with your kids? Is it playing on your own? Is it playing something with your husband or your partner? What does that look like? Where do you find those bits of enjoyment and what are you doing when you find them? So, if we think about play for kids, so if we think about play for kids, now, I did find a very technical definition of play and I didn't like it, truthfully, because it it is something that you can't easily define, particularly when we look at play for kids, because the ones for kids were, you know, taking part in a sport or engaging in activity for enjoyment and recreation, rather than serious or practical purposes. Okay, true, but there's so much more to play that we don't think about.
Speaker 1:Play is how children interact with the world around them. It's how we process and make sense of the world around us, to then start to want to do something else. It's how I start to build curiosity, to start to go oh, hang on, if I bang these two things together here, it makes this sound, but there's something over there that I could bang and that might make a different sound. And then what if I hit it against something different? Okay, well, what if I hit it against a door or the floor or my head? And we start to become curious and start to learn and try different things.
Speaker 1:It's where, when we look at different social interactions, I start to go, oh well, I really liked it when I did something and they did it back and that was fun and that made me feel good. And so we start to build this understanding of, okay, I liked that and okay, well, if I liked it when we rolled something back and forth or we did something and they did it back, I wonder what would happen if I copied what they did instead. Or what happens if we go and get a tool, and by tool it could be a toy, it could be a box, it could be anything a bit of cardboard. Well, and what if we shared this? And what if we did something with this together? Well, that was fun and it's how we really start to figure out the world around us.
Speaker 1:And the best bit about play and playing kids is it's where they get to follow their own ideas at their own rate, in their own way, so they get to start to look at the world around them and go well, this bit of the world is interesting to me at the moment. Whatever that bit of the world might be it could be cars, it could be birds, it could be everything that's in the plastics containers drawer it varies, but whatever that part of the world is, that's interesting. That's the bit that's motivating for me. That's what I want to do and I'm going to have my own ideas about what I want to do with it and I'm going to figure it out in my own way. And I guarantee you, the number of times particularly when we do like unstructured place, that's where we don't necessarily have a toy that has a certain purpose Like, if I give a kid a race car and a racetrack, most times they'll end up putting the race car in the racetrack and watching it go down. If I give a kid boxes, well there's not anything that's as clear to do with random boxes, and so it allows for a little bit more curiosity and creativity. And I guarantee you, if I gave three different kids the exact same pile of boxes with the exact same instructions, those three kids are going to do three different things. There might be some similarities in what they do, but they will do three different things because they'll have their own ideas and they'll have the freedom to explore what they want by themselves. And it's great and like.
Speaker 1:As adults, how often do we get that freedom to do exactly what we want, exactly the way we want to? Sure, there's times that we can, but there's often rules that we have to stick to and follow, and that's why play can be really hard to understand sometimes, because it is that true at its early stages and we'll get into that a little bit later, but it's that true. No rules, let's figure it out and let's see what happens. Let's see what feels nice and see what feels fun. Now, play is really important for how we start to explore the world and it has to be fun. And for it to be fun, it has to be motivating for the child. And so play is not play when we say, come and sit down and we're going to do this and then we're going to do this, and then we're going to do this Because all of a sudden I've given you my ideas, I can make it playful, but it's not going to be true play when we're following that child Because we really want them to start to explore and figure out how to interact with the world around them.
Speaker 1:So play is essential for fostering this sense of enjoyment, this engagement in different activities, and it does eventually help us build a whole bunch of learning skills as well. It's how we learn about the world around us. That's what we want. We want to be able to learn all about the world around us, and play is so important for that. So that brings me to why do we care about play? And it's another question I get asked all the time, particularly when I sit there saying, well, we're going to play today and the parents are going, oh, but we really want to work on these other skills, and I'm like, well, we are, but we're going to play, and why do we care about play? So, as you kind of heard before and what I just mentioned around, it's that natural medium. It's so important for exploring the world around us, exploring how things work, but it also helps support our goal attainment. If we can make things fun, the brain gets more involved and more engaged, we get more parts of the brain working and we hit our goals faster.
Speaker 1:If I came in and I had to, what's my best example here. Oh, if I came to work and my boss said right, belle, today you need to sit down and do these worksheets, and then you're going to have to come and follow me and do this exactly the way that I tell you, and then you're going to do something that's really hard and you really don't like doing it, but you're just going to have to do it. Whereas if we came in and say, well, what we've got today is we've got these worksheets, but instead of doing the worksheets like this, we're actually going to do them in this way, so they're really fun, and you're going to run around and you're going to find these bits, and then you're going to come back and then we are going to do something tricky, but here's how we're going to make it really engaging and I've built in these things that you like. So we're still going to do the tricky thing, but we're going to figure out a way to make it really engaging and fun and playful. Oh, and then you're going to have to do something, and this bit you're going to have to do exactly the way that I tell you, but we'll see if we can problem solve, something that we can do to make that fun as well, and so, all of a sudden, an activity that's gone from. Oh, I'm not going to have any control here, I'm not going to have any autonomy, and they're already telling me it's going to be things that I don't like to. Hey, we're going to play, we're going to do tricky things, but we're going to play.
Speaker 1:And play is fun, guys. Like at its core, we care about play because it's fun, it's motivating, it's good for us to do. And when I say it's good for us to do, and when I say it's good for us to do, there's a huge amount of research that shows us that play improves our cognitive, our physical, our social and our emotional and well-being, particularly in children. They learn the skills that we need to be able to navigate relationships, to be able to work, to be able to study, to be able to have to be able to study, to be able to have my own interests. We learn about us in relation to the world and in relation to those around us. So it's so, so important to help us start to develop some of these skills that we're then going to be pulling on later in life.
Speaker 1:And even better if, when we're adults, we can remember to still play because it's so good for our emotional well-being, it makes us feel good, and that's what we want. We want to fill our days with things that makes us feel good, that give us a bit of a challenge, but ultimately we come away feeling really great after, and so that's why we care about play. It's so much more powerful if we can wrap learning and play together. So much more powerful if we can wrap learning and play together, and what you'll find, and what the research is showing us, is that the more that we can wrap play into learning, the more that we will see the skill attainment happen faster and the more that we'll see the children start to take a bit more autonomy over it and want to do it and want to keep learning.
Speaker 1:It's like if you're stuck on dressing and dressing is getting really tricky make it playful, make it really silly. The number of times that I have been practicing putting a jumper on with a kid and then all of a sudden in session, I am stuck inside the jumper, pretend stuck, but you know, the kid thinks I'm stuck inside the jumper and we're laughing and we're pulling it in different ways and we're falling off. But then we figure it out and we solve how to get me into the jumper properly, and it's so much more powerful because you know that same kid can come back next week and go hey, belle, I remember last time you got stuck like this and it was really funny, but this is what we did next and we have all that memory that comes out and helps us and that learning is so much more powerful when we can build play into it. That's why we care about play. It is also a child's primary occupation. Most of what kids do is play. Most of what adults do more other things and a little bit of play. But most of what kids do is play. And you know it's so important that even the UN has put in that every child has the right to play like. I always love coming back to that because it really just shows us how important play is. So everybody has the right to play and be playful.
Speaker 1:So now that we've kind of talked about a little bit about kind of what play is, why we care about play, what we're going to do now is we're going to talk quickly about some of the stages of play, and it can be quite confusing, particularly if you don't necessarily know what you're looking for on Google, because you look up stages of play and 50,000 different things come up and different ages that we should be doing them, and there's lots, and so we're going to break it down into kind of like two sections. Today we have our stages of play in terms of, like, our social interactions, and we have our types of play in terms of what play can look like, in terms of the games that I might interact with, and so, within our social play, we have solitary play, and so this is where I'm playing by myself, on my own, exploring whatever it is that is of interest to me. We then have onlooker play and this is where oh, what they're doing over there, that looks kind of fun, that looks kind of interesting. I'm just going to sit here and watch what happens, because if I sit here and watch what happens, then I know what's going to happen. If I want to go and try that play, but it looks fun, but I don't want to try it unless I know what's going to happen, so I'm just going to sit here and watch, or maybe I'm watching an adult and what the adult's doing. So a great example of this is when you have kids that start to, um, you know, watch mom and dad put their shoes on, and so they'll put mom and dad shoes on, or they watch mom and dad vacuum or hoover around the house, and so they then will might try and vacuum or hoover with a stick or with the hoover itself. Um, and so we start to this like onlooker play I'm watching the world around me.
Speaker 1:We then move from that to parallel play. So this, this is where I'm going to sit over here doing this thing and you can sit just next to me or just over there doing the same thing. And we both know we're doing the same thing, but we're kind of staying in our own lanes. I'm going to be over here, you're going to be over there. It's kind of that early sharing we're close, but we're not super close.
Speaker 1:So then we move from there into our more associative play, and so this is a little we're dipping our toe into some collaborative play. We're dipping some toe into I'm actually going to play with someone else. I might start to share a toy with someone. I might start to accept a play idea from someone else. So maybe I'm building blocks and someone puts their block in a spot. That I wasn't expecting, but I can roll with that and that's okay. And so we start to have that kind of interaction with someone else, and then we have our cooperative play, and so this is where what we're playing has a common goal, and so this might be where we start to see some bits of pretend play come in, or we might see plays with a bit of rules or like some tag based games and or chase based games. We all know what the common goal is and we're working together to achieve that goal, and so that's kind of the early progression of some of those more social aspects of play, because from cooperative we can then get up into some more complex games, but they all still kind of fall under that. We're trying to figure something out together, be it a board game, be it a sports game, that we move into as we start to get older. But those kind of early skills that we need in terms of the social side of play goes from solitary, onlooker, parallel, associative and cooperative, and these are the ones that we're going to dig a little bit more into in each follow-up episode.
Speaker 1:I just wanted to give you kind of a little overview today and then in terms of the types of play that we have, and so this is why it gets confusing, because some parents are like, oh, but my kid's doing this sort of play. But someone else said that they're doing this sort of play. We can do lots of play at once. So when we think of types of play that we have, we have sensory motor play, and this is where we're using our senses primarily to explore the world around us. We might be making a big mess at this stage and we do lots of sensory motor play and we do feeding. It's as we're starting to kind of test our limits physically as well.
Speaker 1:And, if you kind of a little bit confused in terms of our senses and stuff, jump back into season one, where we looked at all of our sensory systems because that'll be really helpful, then we start to move into like some cause and effect type play. So I do this and something happened and I liked what happened, so I'm gonna do that again and it happened again, and then I might try doing something else, and oh, that happened, and so it's where kids start to develop this idea of, oh, I have control over this and I can do something that I like and that kind of makes me feel good and I can do it again to get the same reaction. That's our cause and effect. And then we move into our symbolic play. So we start to relate two objects to each other. We start to figure out what things could do and what they mean. Then we start to move into a kind of relational functional play, and so this is where we might start to move into a kind of relational functional play, and so this is where we might start to copy actions of someone else. So you can see how they sort of tie into the stages of our play that we were talking about before, because this could be where we start to do bits of like oh well, I'm going to copy what they did and build these blocks together or push this car down the track, or I'm going to copy mum and put her make or try to put her makeup on or wear dad's shoes around the house. All of those sorts of things start to come in.
Speaker 1:Then we move into our socio-dynamic play, and this is where we start to kind of engage with others a little bit more. And we start to engage in some pretend plays, start to build imaginary worlds, imaginary characters and scenarios. This is where kids might start to play mums and dads or play teacher, and so this is where we start to have those more complex play scripts that start to develop and then from here we'd move into like games that have rules, and so this could be anything from stuck in the mud to board games to head sound thumbs up that you might play in the classroom. All these games that have set rules and set jobs for different people to do that become a little bit more complex and a little bit more cognitively taxing. So that's a very, very short overview, excuse me, into the stages of play and the types of play that we might start to see, and so you can see one's more around kind of those interacting with someone else, skills that we might start to build and develop, and the other's more around kind of what that play could look like. And so in future episodes in this season we'll break those down a little bit more about what we're looking for, why it's important and what you can do at home, what some of that play looks like.
Speaker 1:But before we can get into play and this is the last bit to wrap up this episode but before we can get into play, there are some things that we need first and when we think about the things that we need first, we need something called joint attention and we need something called shared attention. Now, joint attention and shared attention are very, very similar, can be used interchangeably sometimes, but they do have a little subtle difference, and so I wanted to talk you through both of them. Joint attention and we hear it a lot but joint attention is something where I'm sharing my focus with you as a person. So I'm looking at your face or I'm watching your hands or I'm trying to pull your nose or your hair, and you and I are both sharing our attention together and we have what is called joint attention in this interaction. So if you think about peekaboo, we're looking at each other.
Speaker 1:If you think about when you're doing like tickle based games and you're coming up and you go and you know you're getting that giggles and that eye contact and that little like glint in the eye. These are a bit so like joint attention that we're developing. We're kind of looking, we're interested in each other and we're doing something that the other person might really like. Shared attention is then kind of the next step on from that and this is where you and I we don't have to look at each other, but we're looking at something. It could be a toy, it could be an object, it could be anything, it doesn't matter what it is, but we're both sharing our interest in this thing together, and it could be as simple as we're both turning over a block and looking at this block, or it could be that we're both watching something crash and finding it really funny.
Speaker 1:But it's this idea of we know that we're both enjoying this together, but our attention is on something separate, and so you can see how it's a tiny change, but it's an idea of instead of just relating between the two of us, we know that we're with something else and both of us are focused on this object, and so, before we can get into any of our play skills, we need to be able to share attention, we need to be able to have joint attention with someone, because then we start to go oh, I want to explore the world and I want to do something with you. So the other things that we need to be able to help build those skills is we need trust, we need a safe space and a safe relationship, someone that we know, someone that's going to be predictable, someone that's going to help us start to explore these things and feel comfortable and feel safe doing it, so that I know I can take a risk and I can do something that I'm not really sure about, but it's okay, because you're here, and so things that we can do to help start to facilitate some of this playfulness in our kids. Number one we want to be following the child's lead. So if what they're interested in is the cupboard with the containers and all the empty containers and we're making a big mess everywhere, then guess what. That's what we're playing with today and watch what they do. And if all you do is as simple as copy what they do, we don't have to say anything. You can sit down next to them. If they're tapping, you might tap. If they lift it up, you might lift it up and look at it. If they start putting their hand in and out and in and out, you might start putting your hand in and out and in and out, start putting their hand in and out and in and out, you might start putting your hand in and out and in and out. We're really following their lead and helping them foster that kind of curiosity, but we're saying I'm here with you, we're okay, we're safe, but we can explore this together. We want to be an active participant in this. So instead of just kind of watching all the time and don't get me wrong, bits of play by themselves is really important, but when you have those moments to play with your child, play, get involved. And you know, this could be anything from just commenting on what you're seeing them do oh, that's a really big box. Oh, you tapped on the box and it made a big noise. Ow, that was noisy and a little bit of a giggle or whatever it might be. Helping them know that you're there will help them to stay in that interaction a little bit longer. And also, if they might walk away, you can keep playing and doing it, because they might just need a minute and then come back to the play as well. So you're playing just as much as they are playing.
Speaker 1:And the biggest biggest thing that you can do trust your playful instincts. If it feels silly, go for it. No one's judging you, no one's watching. Trust the playful instincts that you have. You know, if you're playing with slime I don't know and it's dropping, and you decide oh, you know, it'd be really funny if it dropped all over my fingers and made a really big mess, or maybe I could see if I could make it roll down my arm. But it might go everywhere and it might stick to my clothes and this could go bad. Trust it, try it, enjoy being playful and enjoy having those playful moments with your child as well. So they're kind of the three really big things that we can do in play Making sure we're an active participant, following the child's lead and trusting your playful instincts. They, you know they can get buried deep as adults it's. For some of us it has been 20, 30 years since we've played properly. But they are there, your playful instincts are there and they do come back. And so trust them, go with the silliness. It's a really, really fun thing to do and you can be surprised how much you can enjoy it.
Speaker 1:Alrighty, guys, that brings us to the end of our first episode for our play season. So just a bit of an overview into play and then in the follow-up seasons we'll start to dive a little bit deeper on those stages of play and start to break down what you can do and what that play looks like at home and also in the school environment as well, but for now, I hope you have a fantastic week. I hope you guys. If you're in Australia, I hope you're desperately enjoying summer. If you're in England, guys, we're hanging in there. We're gonna make it to the other side. Same with the US. You guys are in winter as well at the moment. But, um, have the best week and I will see you guys in a couple weeks to talk more about play. Bye, guys.
Speaker 1:Oh, as always, I always forget this, but as always, guys, please rate the podcast, give it a review if you have time. I'd really appreciate it and share it with anyone that you think it would be helpful for anyone that you think might benefit from it. This podcast is for you guys. It's all about giving you the knowledge and helping you feel like you understand the why behind all these things. So, please, please, do share it around with everyone, and the rate and review really, really helped me on the back end of things with the podcast as well. All right, I am now done. Have a great week, guys. Bye.