How to use play and games to enhance a young child's experience and learning of new perceptual-motor, social interaction and communication abilities.  

Theory into Practice

A recently published article entitled Embedding Play to Enrich Physical Therapy provides an a useful overview of the theory of embedding play in physiotherapy.

Fiss, A. L. et al  (2023). Embedding Play to Enrich Physical Therapy. Behavioral sciences (Basel, Switzerland), 13(6), 440.

However it does not provide practical guidance on how to structure therapy sessions to enhance and support the child’s motivation to engage in playful exploration of their interactions with the social and physical environment.  The effective use play to engage a young child in exploring their physical and social environment requires knowledge and skill.

In this series of posts I will provide numerous examples of infants and toddlers engaging in play either on their own or with a play partner.  This is an opportunity for therapists to expand their knowledge and skill in embedding play into their practice.

First, a definition of play and what are games

One more bit of theory: the Let's Play study

Knocking tower over game to encourage transition from sitting to prone kneeling