What is Play?

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The word “play” means different things to different people. There are scholars and psychologists who have devoted years of research to defining and researching play, and unfortunately for me as I write this article, there isn’t a universally accepted definition. As a loose definition we can say that play is doing something for fun, rather than for practical reasons.

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There are many different types and styles of play:

Symbolic- using objects, actions or ideas to represent other objects

Rough and Tumble- not fighting, but when children are discovering their physical flexibility and gauging their own and others’ strength

Social- follow set rules (game or making something)

Creative- using imagination, explore and try out new ideas

Communication- using words or gestures (charades, jokes, play acting)

Locomotor (physical)- movement for movement’s sake (chase, tag, tree climbing, dance)

Deep Play / Risky Play– Risky experiences, conquer fears, Find new hidden strength never knew

Exploratory- using senses to discover (baby putting things in their mouth)

Fantasy / Imaginative / Socio-dramatic – Imagination can run riot, acting out situations

Mastery - Control of the environment, digging, constructing

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What types of play have you seen children doing? What kinds of play do you remember doing yourself? Did you realise at the time that you were playing? As a child I would never have grouped the locomotor style of play of dancing and running that I did in my self-directed play time in the same category as the card and board games that I played with my parents.

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The way we play changes as we get older. I remember overhearing a discussion between classmates in our first term of secondary school:

“Why don’t we play tag at breaktime?”

“We can’t play those kinds of games now, we’re not babies.”

Looking back on it, it’s sad that physical play became solely the domain of team sports once we’d passed a certain age.

 

Advantages of outdoor play 

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One of my favourite quotes about nature is: “Nature is the first educator, the child is the second, the leader is third.” Putting a child in a natural environment means that there is less onus on the adult to create meaningful experiences. Nature is there to do a lot of the work for us!

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Within the natural world there are so many opportunities to do all kinds of play as I listed above. The complexity of the outdoors allows for children’s imaginations to run wild, there is much less pressure for things to look “perfect” in the outdoors. In fact, things are not going to be perfect, and that’s such a wonderful relief from modern day social media expectations. (yes, I’m looking at you Pinterest!)

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Playing outdoors helps children build resilience, independence, and confidence and connects them to nature. There have been studies that show children use a wider variety of language when they are playing in a natural environment!

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Access to nature has benefits for humans. These range from wide reaching benefits such as reduction in stress and anxiety, improvement in mood, improvement in psychological wellbeing, to more specific benefits such as improvement in concentration and attention, reduction in symptoms of ADHD, a reduction in crime rates, increased immunity. With these known benefits, why do we insist that children should be indoors for 8 hours a day?

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What’s even better, is that there have been studies that show “Green time negates screen time”. So, if you’re worried about the amount of time children are spending in front of screens, get them outside for a bit!

 

What can I do outside?

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It can be nerve-wracking for adults taking children outside in natural spaces, especially if they turn to you and say “But what should I do?!” You don’t have to be Bear Grylls to have a good time outside with children, there are no expectations that you must put up a tent or build a fire or know exactly what kind of bird a specific feather is from. If you have the urge to learn a new skill to share with the children, then good for you! And if the children show indications of wanting to learn, then that could be a great activity for you to learn how to do, safely, together.

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Some low risk activities that you could suggest to prompt outdoor play:

Walking and noticing (make up your own scavenger hunt- e.g. can you find a stick with 3 bumps on it? Can you find a leaf with a hole in it?)

Mixing (water and mud, with sticks or with hands- messy but great sensory opportunities!)

Toys in different environments- (toy cars over grass, over tree branches)

Transporting/Transferring – one material to another, moving sticks, stones, water, leaves

Observing (take some cheap magnifying glasses or binoculars, there are lots of free online resources to help identify different animal and plant species, you could even draw pictures or take photographs for later identification)

Collecting (sticks, stones, petals)

Sort and categorise (use empty egg boxes to group items into categories e.g. different colours/textures)

Barefoot sensory walking- you’d be surprised how rarely some children take off their shoes outside, try walking on different surfaces and describing them to each other.

Obstacle courses- set a start and finish line and encourage the children to create their own route (hopping over grass, crawling under a log, balancing along a tree root)

 

The danger of “Be careful”

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As adults (parents, teachers, care-givers) it’s very easy to fall into using the phrase “Be careful!” when children are physically playing. The problem with this phrase is that it’s not specific and it’s our fear speaking, not the child’s. The phrase “Be careful” points out a problem, that maybe the child wasn’t aware of in the first place, and it doesn’t provide a solution.

If there is SERIOUS danger you need to be forceful and specific:

“Issac, STOP! There is a wasp nest inside that tree.”

“Matthew, STOP, that branch is about to break.”

How can we break the “Be careful” cycle?

• Help them to notice (Look how high you are! Do you see how that branch is thicker and more stable, Do you need more space?)

• Help them problem solve (use guiding questions- What’s your plan for getting down? What are you going to do with that rock?)

• Remind them you are there to support (How can I help you? I’m here if you need me, Take your time- I’m here)

 

Remember, the children take their lead from the adults around them. If you are enjoying yourself in the natural world then it encourages the child’s curiosity, and eventually will help their development and growth. We don’t have to be experts; all we need is a little enthusiasm!