Recently, I have thought a lot about the differences between structured vs. unstructured play. Coincidentally, a friend of mine emailed me an idea for a blog post regarding structured vs. unstructured play, and I thought this was a great topic to discuss.
Structured play has a clear beginning, middle, and end. There is generally a rule or set of rules, and each piece or type of piece plays a clear role in the completion of the play activity. The materials themselves often indicate the method of play.
Here are some examples for each age group:
Infants & Toddlers
- ring stacker
- shape sorter
- graduated cups
- inset puzzles
Preschoolers
- basic board games (like Candyland, Chutes & Ladders)
- floor puzzles
- lacing cards
- peg boards with a set number of pegs
Elementary-age Children
- pre-designed Lego sets (like Star Wars, Harry Potter)
- jigsaw puzzles
- Board games for older children
- model vehicle sets (cars, airplanes)
Unstructured play is open-ended. It is not rule-governed; it relies on the use of your imagination to engage with various play materials. Children often creatively combine lots of different toys or pieces from different play sets.
Here are some examples for each age group:
Infants & Toddlers
- play kitchen with pretend food
- baby dolls
- wooden blocks
- Mr. Potato Head
Preschoolers
- dress-up (super heroes, princesses, pirates)
- toy trains, cars, and trucks
- puppets and other story-telling materials
- role-playing kits (doctor, veterinarian,
Elementary-age Children
- fashion dolls
- action figures
- make-believe school or house
- battle/war games
- Is this toy made of durable/sustainable materials?
- Can I use this toy with multiple children of different genders?
- Will this toy be appropriate across several developmental stages?
- Can this toy be used in a variety of different ways?
- Does my child have toys for structured and unstructured play?
For more ideas regarding structured and unstructured play, check out Creating a Toddler Learning Environment.
This makes it so much clearer! I’m trying to work out the best way to organize toys. Right now, we keep a storage system in the living room, as well as the kitchen (all the food, etc. in the storage bins), as well as the large cardboard blocks. In the bins we have the stuff he plays with the most. Soon, I am going to move what it stored in his room out here and what has been out here into his room. But I feel like everything is kind of jumbled together. Jack absolutely prefers unstructured play and combines everything – just yesterday, Spiderman was hanging out with some dinosaurs on the new Duplo table. But I also think it is important for him to learn to follow rules and guidelines so I want to try to get him playing with more structured toys. Any suggestions?
Just realized I need to respond to this! At 3 years old, he’s probably ready to start playing more structured games. There are so many early learning board games out now that are tailored to different interests. Maybe a memory game with some of his favorite characters (you could probably print pictures off the internet on to card stock and make your own memory game – I may need to do this, too!) You can do the traditional Candy Land or Chutes and Ladders. Floor puzzles are also a lot of fun and work on so many visual/motor skills. As for organizing, many of our bins are labeled with a photo of the contents, which helps when I want Lydia to help me put her toys away. I try to encourage her to just get one or two toys out at a time (especially when it’s something like blocks that has a lot of pieces) so that we don’t mix everything up. I do, however, let her take different pieces from different sets if she wants to be creative 🙂 Oh, one other thing – choice is such a big thing with children that age. If you do decide to get a board game or new puzzle, I would let Jack go with you to choose it. Then when you present it to him, it can be more like “Jack, remember that awesome puzzle you picked out at Target? Let’s do it together!” to get him more excited about it. Hope some of that helps!
Thanks for all the great ideas for both kinds of play! And good tips to keep in mind when buying toys – I especially like if the toy can be used in multiple ways.