Play is the “occupation” of children. While some may think play is just something a child does to keep themselves busy, play is probably the most important thing a child does. Through play, a child learns about life and develops the skills for daily living. So many things are learnt through play, including:

• Exploration of self and roles in society through role play and feedback from others
• Emotional maturity through development of frustration tolerance, success, delay of gratification, etc
• Social skills through interaction with and feedback from others.
• Organisational skills and sequencing
• Problem solving
• Concepts, such as up/down, in/out, bigger/smaller. Abstract concepts also develop through play (such as “space” through during imaginative play or “gravity” through things falling)
• Motor skills, such as gross and fine motor skills through active play or creative play.
• Daily life skills, such as feeding, dressing, money management, caring for others, cooking/tidying, etc
• Academic skills, such as attention, reading, story-telling, memory and so many more

Because of its important role in the development of children, play is one of the most common things occupational therapists work on. Play is typically addressed from a team perspective, with the occupational therapist, speech and language therapist, psychologist, play therapist, parents and teachers all playing important roles.

Occupational therapists will find the “just right” challenge and ensure that children engage in a wide variety of play activities in many different contexts to develop the above skills. Occupational therapists have many skills to draw from in promoting a child’s play skills, and will give advice to parents and teachers on how to promote play in these environments.