Speaking of Play: 5 Years
Introduction
By the age of 5, most children will reach the final stage of play development. At this time, a child is able to integrate all of their developmental skills in order to engage in full cooperative play. While your child may have reached the last stage of play development, that doesn’t mean that play time is over! Far from it! Play will continue to be the primary way that your child will learn and it is a critical part of how they explore social, emotional, and thinking skills.
Play Development
Children’s play during this stage is highly imaginative. They no longer require realistic props because they are able to make believe that items are something else. Tissue boxes can be cars, rocks can be treasure, or anything else that your child dreams up with the items around your house! Play can include multiple scenes or events and children can coordinate more than one event at a time. They are also able to organize what they need for future events. Your child is able to imagine and plan out entire worlds of play.
Socially, children in this stage take a big leap into cooperative play. When a child plays together with others and has interest in both the activity and other children involved in playing, they are participating in cooperative play. They will be able to play with peers to engage in one activity together, such as building a city out of blocks or acting out a scene together with stuffed animals or figurines. They are also able to play games with simple rules that involve winning or losing. Children at this stage strengthen their relationships with peers through play and continue to learn thinking and social/emotional skills through play.
Communication Development
Due to the highly social nature of this stage of development, children need communication skills. Language is a critical part of being able to interact with peers, from simple greetings to complex narratives during imaginative play. At this stage, children should be able to produce complete sentences and be able to be understood the majority of the time by adults and peers. They will be able to incorporate more complex ideas into their language to produce narratives and stories. As part of story telling, they will be able to mark sequences of events by using words such as “First, next, before, and after.” Your child will also be able to understand most of what they hear at home and at school.
Toys to Explore
At this age, your child will be able to use their old favorites in new and creative ways, while also exploring some toys that require more thinking or social skills. Here is a roundup of our favorite toys for this stage of development:
Building is perfect for both solo and cooperative play; the possibilities are endless. This activity allows opportunities for problem solving and social language while they use their imagination to construct anything they think of.
Construction toys
Blocks, magnetic tiles, or Legos are great toys for both solo or cooperative play at this age.
Your child will exercise fine motor skills, problem solving, social and language skills as they build new designs.
At this stage, your child will be able to work on building a project together with a friend. This is a good opportunity for learning new social skills such as cooperative problem solving and taking turns.
Board games are fun for the whole family. Plus, it’s a great way to work on and support turn taking, winning and losing, and even academic vocabulary that you may see on the board (colors, counting, etc.).
Board games with simple rules
Simple board games based on chance, not strategy, are a fun way for your child to begin learning about the rules of board games and the social skills that go along with them, such as winning and losing and taking turns.
Board games are also great for communication skills. Many board games require you to ask and answer questions or describe pictures!
Many board games for this age range include early academic skills, such as counting or identifying colors.
Examples of simple board games include Candy Land, Snail’s Pace Race, The Sneaky Snacky Squirrel, Memory, and Go Fish.
Kids love being active! At this age, activities like soccer, basketball, and kickball are a fun way for children to learn to play cooperatively and learn basic rules of an activity or game.
Balls
Soccer balls, basketballs, or kickballs are great ways for children to engage their motor skills, communicate with their peers, and strengthen their peer relationships.
At this stage, children can play cooperatively with their peers kicking or throwing balls back and forth. Some children may be ready to understand the basic rules of using these balls for sports.
Whether they’re playing doctor or acting out going to the beach, stuffed animals and figurines allow your child to role play different scenarios within their play. This supports your child’s social/emotional development, as well as their language through dialogue creation.
Stuffed animals or figurines with accessories
Children at this age still LOVE to include a stuffed animal or figurine as part of their play routines - And for good reason! They are a great way for children to use their imagination.
At this stage, children can use their toys to act out new scenes. This can be beneficial to their social/emotional development because they can role play different scenarios. Socially, they are able to act out a scene together with a peer. This is also a great way to practice language skills as children create dialogues for their toys.
Most children love to get messy. Art projects stimulate your child’s imagination and prompt language. Talk about what you or they are creating or the tools you’re both using. If your child doesn’t like to get messy (or even if they do!), they can practice using different tools (such as a paint brush so their hands do not touch the paint).
Arts supplies
Paint, markers, crayons, or crafts! Art projects can be a solo activity or children can work on building projects together.
At this stage, your child will be able to engage in a dialogue with you or a peer about what they are creating, the supplies they are using, and their finished product. You could even look through a book or magazine first and discuss the pictures while you look at inspiration for your art project!
We hope you have enjoyed this series on the stages of play development. Play is a critical part of language development and the two are intrinsically linked. If you have any questions about your child’s play or language development, please feel free to contact us.