ABSTRACT
Children’s play takes many different forms and serves many different functions. Play is a voluntary and usually a pleasurable activity that enables the child to experiment with alternative skills and roles without the fear of failure. Play is an area of development that is of major importance in the child’s development of cognition and language. There are many factors that might affect the development of play. They include: a sensory impairment, an underlying neurodevelopmental disorder, and environmental factors. The chapter focuses on the following types of play: object play, imaginative play, functional play, large doll play, small world play, role play, and social play. Most children have an innate curiosity about themselves and their world, and infants soon discover that objects and people exist apart from themselves. The different textured surfaces of sensory bricks offer a tactile experience as they are held in the hand for stacking and building games.
