4.3 Explain how children benefit from a range of play types

This guide will help you answer 4.3 Explain how children benefit from a range of play types.

Understanding how children benefit from different types of play is important for any playworker. Play is a natural and essential part of a child’s development. It helps children grow physically, emotionally, socially and intellectually. Every type of play offers different benefits, so giving children access to many types ensures balanced growth and supports their needs.

In this guide, we cover the common play types recognised in playwork and how each benefits children.

Physical Play

Physical play includes active games, running, jumping, climbing, throwing or catching. It can take place indoors or outdoors.

Benefits for children:

• Supports healthy growth of muscles and bones
• Improves balance, coordination and spatial awareness
• Strengthens the heart and lungs
• Raises energy and confidence in moving their bodies
• Encourages risk taking in a safe environment, helping them judge their own abilities

Examples include playground games, climbing frames, chasing games and sports activities. For younger children, it might be crawling, toddling or tumbling on soft mats.

Constructive Play

Constructive play is where children build, create and experiment with different materials.

Benefits for children:

• Develops fine motor skills such as hand-eye coordination
• Teaches problem-solving by exploring ways to make things
• Sparks creativity and imagination
• Encourages planning and organisation skills
• Gives satisfaction from achieving a finished product or idea

This may involve building blocks, Lego, sandcastles, model making, cardboard box creations or assembling puzzles.

Pretend or Role Play

Pretend play allows children to act out different roles or scenarios. They may use costumes, props, or simply imagine they are someone else.

Benefits for children:

• Encourages creativity and imagination
• Helps children make sense of the world around them
• Supports language development as they speak in-character
• Improves social skills by negotiating roles and storylines
• Offers emotional release and allows children to explore feelings

Examples include playing family, dressing as superheroes, pretending to be shopkeepers or running a pretend café.

Social Play

Social play involves play with others, building relationships and learning social rules.

Benefits for children:

• Teaches sharing and turn-taking
• Encourages cooperation and teamwork
• Helps children learn empathy by considering the feelings of others
• Develops listening and verbal communication skills
• Builds resilience when managing conflicts or misunderstandings

Social play can happen in small groups or large teams. It could be board games, playground games, drama activities or sports.

Creative Play

Creative play includes art, music, dance and other creative expressions.

Benefits for children:

• Allows self-expression and individuality
• Builds confidence in personal ideas and abilities
• Improves fine motor skills through art materials and instruments
• Supports emotional wellbeing by providing outlets for feelings
• Encourages problem-solving when thinking about how to express an idea

Examples are painting, drawing, singing, dancing, making music, crafting and sculpting.

Exploratory Play

Exploratory play is when children investigate objects, materials and environments to find out how they work.

Benefits for children:

• Encourages curiosity and questioning
• Builds scientific thinking and experimentation skills
• Improves sensory awareness through touch, sight, sound, taste and smell
• Helps children connect cause and effect
• Supports concentration and focus

Examples include water play, sensory trays, nature walks, magnifying glasses, sand play and experimenting with materials such as clay or fabric.

Fantasy Play

Fantasy play is similar to pretend play but set entirely in imagined or magical worlds.

Benefits for children:

• Expands imagination beyond real-life limits
• Encourages creative storytelling
• Helps children practise thinking about situations differently
• Can give a sense of freedom and control over the play world
• Allows exploration of ideas and possibilities that would not occur in everyday life

Examples could be playing in imaginary kingdoms, inventing magical creatures, or creating stories about outer space travel.

Communication Play

Communication play uses language, gestures, signs or other forms of expression as the main focus.

Benefits for children:

• Builds vocabulary and sentence structure
• Improves listening skills
• Encourages children to think about how to express themselves
• Supports bonding with others through shared language activities
• Helps children enjoy storytelling and word games

Typical activities include jokes, rhymes, group storytelling, puppet shows and interactive games using verbal prompts.

Dramatic Play

Dramatic play is structured role play with a clear story or theme.

Benefits for children:

• Enhances storytelling skills
• Teaches children to follow a plot and remember sequences
• Supports confidence in acting out ideas publicly
• Helps with cooperation when children take different roles
• Builds creative problem-solving when adapting the story

Examples include acting out a play, improvising scenes, or making short performances for peers.

Symbolic Play

Symbolic play uses objects to represent something else.

Benefits for children:

• Helps children develop abstract thinking
• Encourages problem-solving in using items creatively
• Supports language development when explaining the idea to others
• Strengthens imagination in finding new uses for familiar objects

Examples include using a stick as a sword, a banana as a phone, or chairs to make a pretend bus.

Locomotor Play

Locomotor play focuses on moving for the sake of movement.

Benefits for children:

• Improves balance and co-ordination
• Enhances muscle strength and flexibility
• Supports mood and emotional wellbeing through physical activity
• Encourages persistence and stamina

Activities could be running, skipping, climbing trees or swinging.

Object Play

Object play involves exploring objects and their use.

Benefits for children:

• Encourages learning about shape, texture, weight and function
• Builds problem-solving skills when working out how something works
• Supports thinking and reasoning skills
• Improves hand-eye coordination

Examples are investigating toys, mechanical items, household objects or natural materials like stones and shells.

Solitary Play

Solitary play is when children play alone and focus on their own activity.

Benefits for children:

• Encourages independence and self-reliance
• Supports concentration and detailed thinking
• Allows reflection without outside influence
• Provides downtime from social contact, which can help emotional balance

Solitary play might be reading, individual crafts or personal projects.

Parallel Play

Parallel play happens when children play side-by-side but do not directly interact.

Benefits for children:

• Allows observation and learning from others
• Lets children feel part of a group without the demands of full interaction
• Can support those who are shy or new to a group before joining in more directly

This is common in younger children who may play with similar toys next to peers without sharing or exchanging ideas.

Deep Play

Deep play is where children test their limits physically, mentally or emotionally.

Benefits for children:

• Builds resilience through tackling risks and challenges
• Teaches self-assessment of ability and safety
• Encourages determination and persistence
• Builds self-confidence through achievement

Examples might be climbing higher than before, riding a bike on a steep slope or performing in front of others.

Rough and Tumble Play

Rough and tumble play involves wrestling, chasing, play fighting or other contact that is controlled and fun.

Benefits for children:

• Improves strength and coordination
• Teaches how to manage physical contact
• Helps with self-control and reading social cues
• Can strengthen bonds between those involved

Staff must watch this play to make sure it stays friendly and safe.

Emerging Play Types

Playworkers may adapt environments to encourage blended types of play. For example, combining creative and physical play in activities like building large outdoor art installations. This supports multiple benefits at one time and keeps play fresh and engaging.

Supporting a Range of Play Types

Children benefit most when they can move freely between different play types. A setting that offers variety helps meet different interests and developmental needs.

Playworkers can support this by:

• Providing flexible spaces indoors and outdoors
• Offering materials for many types of play
• Allowing children to lead play without unnecessary interruption
• Observing to see which play types are used most and introducing new options

Final Thoughts

Every type of play supports different parts of a child’s development. By offering many play opportunities, children can build skills, confidence and resilience. Play brings joy and inspires learning in ways that formal teaching cannot.

As a playworker, your role is to create safe, stimulating and varied environments. Watch how children respond to different play types. Add resources and adjust space to keep play interesting. Remember that play is not a luxury. It is a core part of childhood and a right for all children.