Young children learn through play. The development of a child’s play skills is closely linked to the development of their cognitive, language and social skills.
Stages of play development and how to develop these
Exploratory play
At first, children explore toys and objects using their hands, mouths and by watching others use them. Through exploratory play, children learn what to do with objects. They learn that a spoon is for eating from or that a ball can be rolled. They learn object permanence. For example knowing to look for an object if they have seen you hide it in front of them and how to play with cause and effect toys such as pop-up farms and jack in the boxes.
How you can help
Try not to put out too many toys at once as this may be overwhelming.
Play hiding games. While your child is looking, hide an object in a box or under a blanket in front of them, encourage your child to look for it.
Watch your child playing and follow their interests. If your child appears unsure what to do with the object or toy, show them how to play with it. For example by activating a cause and effect toy or by rolling the ball down the ball run.
Give your child everyday objects such as spoon, brush or an old phone to play with. Show your child how to play with these by using them yourself. If your child finds this difficult, you could try giving them an identical item and showing them how to use it within real life activities for instance, give them a spoon to explore and practice using it as you feed them.
Pretend play
Children move from understanding everyday objects and how these are used to beginning to ‘act out’ these actions with teddies, dolls or other people.
How you can help
Introduce a large teddy or doll that could join in with everyday activities. Your child could ‘feed’ teddy when they are fed or wash dolly’s face during bath time.
Use realistic pretend play toys, for example a tea set. If your child does not start to play with these naturally, you could pretend to drink from the cup yourself before handing it to your child who might copy.
Imitate your child’s pretend play. This will encourage them to extend the actions they are doing to see if you continue to copy. You could create a sequence of pretend play such as feed dolly and put her to sleep or go through the steps of pretending to bake a cake.
Use everyday activities and scenarios. Children enjoy copying what they see adults doing (such as cooking in a pretend kitchen).
If you have recently had a new experience with your child, use this as basis for your pretend play. For example, a first-time trip to the farm could lead to endless play routines, from using toy animals to pretending to be animals and farmers.
Last reviewed February 2026