The Importance of Play
As a pediatric occupational therapist, I truly believe that play is a child’s most important occupation. I also think that children learn best through play, and research supports this!
In my sessions, I clearly see the importance of play. The easiest way to get a child to participate is to make the activity fun. If a child tells me something is boring (this does happen and always makes me laugh), I ask them, “hm, how can we make it more fun?” Often, we don’t even have to change the activity itself (which is great because I probably chose it to work on specific skills) but add a bit more imagination to it. I find the easiest way to do this is to think of animals. Instead of asking a child to roll playdoh into a long piece they could then cut, we are rolling it into a caterpillar or a snake. Trust me, it works.
Play can also be incorporated into activities by pretending things are food. With the above example, the long piece of Playdoh is a noodle or a sausage. Another example is a game I call the pizza game. We (yes "we”, I almost always do what I ask the child to do along with them) sit on the floor with our legs outstretched. We add “ingredients” to our pizza (our legs) by pushing down on our legs with the palms of our hands (providing deep pressure which can be regulating). I will also be silly and add ingredients on my head, shoulders, tummy, and toes. No matter what the child wants to add to their pizza (I have one kiddo who always adds mom and dad to his pizza) we can add it. Then we raise our arms in the air to open the oven, close it by outstretching our arms over our legs, count to ten, make a beeping sound, and open the oven by raising our arms back over our head. We shake out our legs as we “eat” our pizza. Through this simple, fun activity I am working on tons of skills! I could have asked the child to “sit with your legs out long”, “ok, press down on your legs”, “now put your arms up”, and “now touch your toes”, but I am almost certain they would not have enjoyed it as much.
My number one recommendation for transitions, which are difficult for almost all kiddos I see, is animal walks. Instead of simply saying it’s time to get ready for bed, saying something like “do you want to walk like a bear or hop like a bunny to the bathroom?” I recommend this for daycares when transitioning from their classroom. And yes, as mentioned above, I do tend to do my activities along with the kids, which means I am seen to get down on all fours in the hallways of schools and daycares, and yes, I suggest you do the animal walk along with your kids!
Side note: I think adults need to play too. Why do adults stop playing? I am lucky enough to be able to play every day since I work with kids, and I do think it keeps me young at heart and makes me an overall more joyful, playful person in other areas of my life. Why not make things more fun when we can? I recommend watching Human Playground (found on Netflix) if you need some inspiration!
If you find it hard to be playful, and I get it, in some moments being playful is the last thing you want to do, you might be in a dysregulated state (see this blog post for more info about this). This is in no way medical advice, but I would suggest you learn to play as an adult as well. What do you like to do purely for the fun of it? If you can’t think of anything, what did you used to do as a kid? What could you try to make time for that feels like play to you?
Thank you for taking the time to read this. I hope that next time you find yourself frustrated with a kiddo who is not listening or doing what you ask, the idea of making it more fun and playful pops into your head.
If you want some suggestions for how to make a specific task more fun or want to share what you do as play, comment below!
For more about the importance of play, check out:
https://learningthroughplay.com/explore-the-research/the-scientific-case-for-learning-through-play
(French) https://www.oeq.org/DATA/NORME/67~v~document_enfancejeunessefev2022.pdf
