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There are many different play types according to experts in the field of Child development and Play. Some of the more common play types offered at Playscheme include:

Rough and Tumble Play: characterised by close encounters with other children, typically involving a tactile element. It allows children to discover physical flexibility and gauge their relative strength. This type of play allows children to participate in physical contact that doesn’t involved or result in someone being hurt. It is also great for using up lots of energy.  

Socio-dramatic play: involving the enactment of real and potential experiences of a personal, social, or domestic nature. Examples of socio-dramatic play may include playing at house, going to the shops, being mothers and fathers, setting up a café or playing doctors.

Locomotor play: characterised by physical movement where gross motor skills are also exercised. It usually involves getting out of breath and can include activities such as tag, hide and seek, and tree climbing.

Imaginative Play: Involves play where the conventional rules, which govern the physical world, do not apply, and often is evident in lots of other play as well. Examples of this play type could be taking on an imaginative role e.g. pilot, or interacting with objects which don’t exist.

Fantasy Play: characterised as the make believe world of children, this type of play is where the play narrative is beyond the realm of realistic or possible. Play involves characters and events which would not occur in real life e.g. escaping from sea monsters or having a tea party with pixies.

Creative Play: a form of self-expression through any medium, making things, or changing things. It involves repurposing materials available to create something new. Allowing children to design, explore, and try out new ideas. As well as using their imagination, different tools, props, and equipment may also be used.