FUNCTIONAL PLAY

Functional Play is sometimes called the "first play of children." Early in life, a child repeats simple actions and finds pleasure in "playing" with his environment. The child enjoys the results of his action such as moving something back and forth, hitting an object against another, splashing in water, etc. These first experiences with play revolve around the child’s senses; thus it is also called "sensorimotor play." As the child’s senses "function," interplaying with the environment, the child finds "functional pleasure." Functional play is not symbolic, but it is repetitive actions for pleasure.Functional play includes fine and gross motor play. The child practices variations of motor activity as she plays. She jumps up and down and rocks back an forth. Functional play is also called "practice play" because of this repetition of activities. Functional play is also "manipulative play" where the child engages in motor exercise with or without object.

"Exploratory play" is another name used to describe functional play. Play is use by the child to explore his environment. As he explores, he practices playful interactions with his environment. Through his senses and motor actions in functional play, a child learns about his world. The child explores his physical capabilities in relationship to the environment. The child is the cause of events. He has power over himself and what he can do in his world-even power over his world and what happens to it. The child squishes and plops mud. He thickens it and thins it out. He develops concepts of the nature of things, of change, and cause and effect. He acquires his sense of body in the world, develops hand-eye coordination, recognizes the permanence of object, and explores concepts of time and space.

Functional play is evident throughout childhood. Children run for the sake of running, climb up and down, twirl, jump, chase, pour, splash, and scribble. A variety of materials such as water, sand, paints, crayons, and blocks should be readily available for children to choose for their functional play.

The need for functional play decreases as the child grows. Three-to-five-years-olds engage functional play about 33 percent of their time. Functional play is gradually replace with constructive play where the child builds a bridge rather than just stacking blocks, or she draws a flower rather than moving a crayon across the paper. Functional play also combines with other types of play. For examples, "chasing" combines with dramatic play as a child pretends she is a giant chasing the little people. Young children will often use functional play to explore objects before they use them constructively or dramatically. For elementary age children, functional play represents a way to master motor skills for games or sports.

Functional play has an important role for children throughout their childhood. They gain pleasure from influencing their environment and have feelings of power as they master new skills. Their function in the world is being defined, and conceptually they are defining their world.