In his autobiography Einstein: His Life and Universe[1], the Father of Modern Physics and discoverer of the Theory of Relativity spoke of a pivotal moment in his life that inspired his deep love for science. In 1884, when he was four or five years old and stuck in bed with a childhood illness, his father handed him a magnetic pocket compass to play with.

He grew excited and spent hours twisting the compass, fascinated about how the needle always knew how to point towards North. He couldn’t stop puzzling over the nature of magnetic fields and poles of the earth.

It was this sense of wonder that motivated him throughout his life. "I can still remember," he wrote, "that this experience made a deep and lasting impression on me. Something deeply hidden had to be behind things."

And thus, it was childhood play that led him to become the greatest physicist of all time revolutionising our understanding of space, time, gravity and the universe. Today, the world would not have GPS navigators such as Google Maps[2]; laser devices; photoelectric cells; and the physics of financial markets used to understand the price fluctuations in stock markets if it wasn’t for Einstein’s theories and equations in the field of physics.

“Play Is the Highest Form Of Research”

Albert Einstein called play, “the highest form of research[3]”.

From stacking blocks to building bridges and houses out of cardboard and ice cream sticks, play contributes to the cognitive, physical, social and emotional well-being of the child. Play is often a full-body activity that gives children the chance to develop their gross and fine motor skills as well as use their creativity and imagination, while developing problem-solving skills, language and communication, maths and counting, and science concepts including shapes, gravity, balance and spatial relationships.

Hand your six-month-old a rattle and see how his eyes widen as he reaches out to grasp it, fascinated with the colours, texture and the sound it makes. Rattles hold the baby’s attention, sharpens his vision and hearing and encourages cognitive growth while it works on his fine motor skills. There’s something else. The baby notices that as he moves his hand, the rattle makes a noise and he starts to learn the concept of cause and effect[4].

The same applies to games of Peek-a-Boo, aiming and throwing balls, piecing together puzzles, or even playing with pots and pans in the kitchen, these early childhood games lay the foundation for formal education in school and fostering future success in life. In most cases, it starts with parents engaging and playing with, and responding to the child.

Why Play Must Begin Early

The first years of life is when exponential brain development happens. The brain doubles in size in the first year of life and roughly reaches 80% of its adult size by age three. By age five it will be 90% developed[5] or nearly full grown.

The brain changes in size and shape in response to everything it encounters in the early years. New environments, life experiences and relationships as well as stimulation can affect the way the complex brain circuits are wired. Synapses, or links between brain and nerve cells, form every time a child experiences anything. This network of synaptic connections[6] ultimately determines brain function and the development of personality and behaviour.

Lack of play and communication, known as “under-stimulation”, can have long-term negative consequences[7] on a child’s learning and physical and mental health. It can inhibit social and emotional learning, increase isolation, and cause depression, reduced self-control and poor resilience.

11 Types of Play & How Parents Can Encourage it

According to research[8], there are 11[9] types of play that babies, toddlers and children will progress through as they grow up. By the time they are five years old, they would have progressed through six stages and the other five or more, when they advance physically and cognitively as they grow older and gain increasing confidence as they go along. Although the stages of play occur in a linear fashion, there are no hard and fast rules as to how children will play or in which order they will go.

1: Unoccupied Play

The first stage of play is Unoccupied Play. Newborns from one to three months old will engage in unoccupied play. They will observe their surroundings and make a lot of random body movements with their arms, legs, hands and feet. Unoccupied play might not look like playing, but it sets the stage for future development.

How to Encourage It: You could wiggle their hands and feet, place them on a play gym (a brightly coloured interactive mat) or show them colourful pictures just to encourage further exploration. The idea is to interact to help baby gain awareness.

2: Independent/Solitary Play

From birth to around two years old, toddlers won’t pay much attention to playmates but keep themselves entertained through Solitary Play. This means the child will solo play or play by himself. He will be picking up different toys, discover cause and effect and finetune motor skills.

How to Encourage It: Give the baby toys with different textures and shapes, as well as toys with buttons to push or levers to pull.

3: Onlooker Play

Around two years of age, toddlers engage in Onlooker Play which involves watching another child or other children play but not participating themselves. Experts say it helps kids gain the confidence needed to join the fun and learn how to play and interact with others.

How to Encourage It: Because Onlooker Play is inactive, it’s easy to incorporate into your daily life. Let your toddler watch you do tasks or play a musical instrument. You can also let him observe older siblings around the house or neighbourhood children at the park.

4: Parallel Play

Parallel Play usually occurs in toddlers aged two to three years old. These toddlers will play side by side, engaged in their own play but not really with each other, although one child may imitate the other child’s behaviour. It indicates they are almost there but not quite ready to make a social connection.

How to Encourage It: Provide toys and activities for these children to engage in Parallel Play. Stuffed toys, sticker books, pyramid rings are some ideas. You might want to offer multiples of the same toy to prevent tantrums because at this age, toddlers do not like to share.

5: Symbolic Play

Symbolic play is the ability to use everyday objects, actions and ideas to represent other objects, actions and ideas during play. Speaking into a banana as if it was a phone or turning an empty cereal bowl into the steering wheel of a spaceship are examples of Symbolic Play. Like all kinds of play, symbolic play is important to development, both academically and socially. This phase of play usually begins at age two.

How to Encourage It: Provide them with opportunities to pretend and play. Exposing them to various forms of art and enrichment also helps. Music[10], for example, has a huge impact on a child’s cognitive development. When children sing or perform in a play, they develop an understanding of symbolism which leads to pretend or Symbolic Play.

6: Associative Play

Around ages three or four, children will still engage in Parallel Play but might become more interested or involved in the actions of others. In Associative Play, they may talk to one another while playing on their own, or make comments on each other’s painting or even draw on the same paper. Because these children are not working towards a shared goal, there’s little organisation involved. This type of play helps help spark wonder and curiosity and building the beginnings of social skills, cooperation, language and problem solving.

How to Encourage It: To promote Associative Play, your child should regularly be in a social setting with peers like daycare, preschool, playdates and so on. Make sure the children have plenty of toys and activities that interest them.

7: Cooperative Play

This is when children finally start playing with others! Cooperative Play typically happens at around age four to five years old and lets them bring on skills they gained through other stages of play, such as verbal communication, teamwork, and sharing. Through Cooperative Play, kids work towards a common goal, whether it’s building a block tower together or playing hide-and-seek or treasure hunt. This stage of play is essential for social and emotional development.

How to Encourage It: Cooperative play at home can be trying family games that involve taking turns or planting the garden together. You can also encourage activities that require cooperation such as helping to put away laundry and other household chores appropriate for his age, organising toys, doing art projects together alongside his siblings and so on.

8: Competitive Play

Like its name suggests, Competitive Play consists of organised activities with rules and winners. Some examples are board games and sports. Not only do children learn about teamwork, they also learn about following rules, taking turns, and the realitiesof wining and losing. These are important life lessons for navigating society.

How to Encourage It: Competitive play mostly happens in school. To encourage it, enroll your child in sports or the chess or scrabble club. As your child becomes familiar with the activities, you might notice their resilience and confidence growing.

9: Dramatic Play

Dramatic play focuses on your child’s most impressive tool: their imagination. Any type of fantasy activity falls into this category. Examples include playing dress-up and costume play, pretend cooking, or make-believe working at a restaurant. In this stage of play, they are mimicking what they see in the real world.

How to Encourage It: Dramatic Play is easier with the appropriate props. Give children costumes, accessories, and other items that fit their role-play games. For example, stuffed animals can double as students in their fantasy classroom, while plastic dinnerware makes their pretend restaurant more realistic.

10: Constructive Play

As the name suggests, Constructive Play is about construction – whether it’s building buildings with Legos or making a race track for cars, or creating sandcastles or even constructing a fort out of cushions and pillows. Through Constructive Play, children create something with materials in an organized way. Constructive play teaches about planning, logical thinking, creativity and persistence to “complete the job”. Children have to figure out ways to make things work − whether it’s a block tower that won’t stand up or a sandcastle that keeps collapsing − and along the way, he learns real-world experience with scientific and mathematical concepts.

How to Encourage It: Constructive play is very hands-on. Provide materials that can be used for construction, like wood blocks, sand, craft supplies, Legos and so on. You can also guide their curiosity: Can they build a bridge for their race cars? What about a tunnel from recycled materials?

11: Physical Play

Physical Play involves body movement, but not necessarily in a competitive setting. Some examples are playing tag, shooting balls into a hoop, throwing a frisbee, dancing to music, swimming and riding bicycles. Physical play develops gross and fine motor skills while helping with balance, hand-eye coordination, muscle development, and more.

How to Encourage It: Regular physical activity builds strong and healthy bodies. So let your kids get active!

Nutrition Influences Child Development

In order for a child to be active, alert, happy and interested in learning and playing, he must receive adequate nutrition[11] through his diet. Nutrients are compounds found in foods which are essential to health and life. Every nutrient has its own function and provides the energy and all the building blocks for whole body growth, development, repair and regulation of chemical processes.

Toddlerhood and the preschool years especially are a critical period for establishing healthy growth and development including physical, emotional and mental abilities.

Morinaga Chil-kid is a Japanese growing-up formula that has specially been designed for Asian children aged one to seven. It has a mild vanilla taste and is enriched with 45 essential nutrients such as ARA+ DHA, GOS, 5 Nucleotides, Omega 3&6 LCPs, and 27 Vitamins and Minerals.

These nutrients are to support optimum growth and development of your children in their most important years. To find out more about Morinaga Chil-kid, do read here.