What is Open-Ended Play? Our Top 5 recommendations
There are many aspects to a child’s growth and the most vital one is Play!
We have already spoken about the importance of play in early childhood, for development and learning.
One of the popular terms in this context you must have heard is “open-ended play”.
But what does it mean exactly?
Have you noticed, whenever a child is on their own, they start playing with anything and everything around them? It could be a feather, a leaf, a pine cone or just an empty cardboard box. But these simple things bring out the creative expression of the child, where they start playing freely without any limitations or boundaries. And when a child starts playing and exploring without restrictions, directing their play in whichever way they wish to, they are engaging in Open-Ended Play.
What is Open-ended play?
Open Ended Play is a simply unstructured form of play, that has no perceived boundaries, that enables children to explore, investigate, problem-solve and represent their understanding. A type of play that has no strict rules to follow and no ‘correct’ solutions or fixed outcomes.
For example, when a kid is playing with a doll or an action figure, the doll could be a dancer, a doctor, or any character the child relates to, and the possibilities and story-lines they can come up with are endless.
When playing with sand or water, the child is engaging in pure sensory play by squishing it or splashing the water and so on. There are no rules to play here. These serve as Open-ended resources here. The child can pretend to be a sailor or a sand artist or simply pour it from one cup to another and create a whole different world for themselves.
Pretend play helps a child to imagine scenarios and then act them out. This level of openness and freedom lets children be creative and imaginative for hours together.
Why encourage Open-ended play
A child’s brain develops rapidly during the initial five years and we have the opportunity to help them grow. An environment enriched with sensory play and toys provides the perfect life experiences and promotes brain development in the early years of childhood. The benefits of Open ended toys are huge.
The enrichment of creativity that happens during Open-ended activities can never be underestimated as it expands the thought process for many possible solutions and new ideas.
Studies have also associated free play, especially imaginative play, with significant improvement in divergent thinking and creative skills. Pretend-play is especially beneficial because it allows young children to practice new vocabulary when they speak and try to understand others improving their communication skills.
Unstructured active play with others including parents, siblings, and peers is a significant opportunity to cultivate social skills and emotion regulation. It becomes easier for grownups to play along as there is no correct way for playing, they can just follow the kid’s lead and join their adventure.
What is the difference between Open-ended play and Close-ended play?
In close-ended games, there are clear start and endpoints. Like, when a kid finishes a puzzle or a color sorting or shape matching game, the child wins and stops playing when all the colors and shapes have been sorted into the correct place. They have their winning moment here.
These are beneficial too as they build patience and problem-solving and logic skills but children quickly move on to the next game after finishing the activity. If they enjoy it, they might play with the same thing over and over again, but close-ended toys could become repetitive and less beneficial if overused.
With open-ended toys, children can play for as long as they want as there are infinite possibilities and limited rules. Even if they return to the same game many times, they'll find different outcomes. Because of this, open-ended play and open ended toys are more beneficial when it comes to developing creativity, independence, and self-confidence.
Go for a healthy mix of both open ended toys and closed ended toys to reap the maximum benefits of play. Choosing toys mindfully that is based on your child’s developmental level and that are age appropriate would help them achieve their play milestones.
Classic open-ended toys
Here are our top 5 recommendations for Open-ended toys for preschoolers, toddlers and infants that you can try today.
These are one of the ideal Open ended toys for toddlers.Playing with wooden blocks helps children develop their vocabularies, improves math skills, and even teaches them about gravity, balance, and geometry. They learn the concept of numbers, and how to describe colors, shapes, sizes, and positions as they build various structures. These open-ended toys for 3year olds, help in developing Leadership skills, critical thinking skills and also problem solving skills. Watch the little one concentrate and balance the bricks making towers, bridges, parking spots, railroads, homes for little figurines, and more. These are one of the most recommended resources by the Dept of Education for preschoolers.
Playdough is a wonderful sensory toy and serves as an open ended toy for 5year old kids and gives them a great learning experience. As your child shapes the play dough into a ball or a snake, they're thinking creatively. The squeezing, pinching, and pulling movements also strengthen your child's hand muscles and develop fine motor skills. Instead of regular store-bought clay, you can go for Food-Grade Play Dough which will be safe for the kids.
The colors and soft sensory feel of the silk support fine (threading activities) and gross motor (throwing) skills, sensory exploration, and hours of creative play. These are a great a option for occasions when you are looking for Open ended toys for babies or 2 year olds. Play Silks have been a staple in Waldorf & Steiner-focused classrooms for decades. Play silks are widely considered to be the most open-ended “toys” there could be. You don't need to show your kids how to use Play Silk - they will show you!
Here are some Ways to play with Play silks.
Rainbow rice play encourages children to manipulate and explore materials, building up their fine motor skills and eye-hand coordination. This kind of play engages the child as they use all senses, with the sense of touch/feeling dominating over others. It is one of the best Open-ended toys for 3 year old kids.
Beyond Open Ended Resources:
Application of this concept can be extended beyond just toys or resources.
We can help children be comfortable with ambiguity by incorporating some openness in our routines. For example, letting kids be bored sometimes. This will bring out their hidden expression of creativity and imagination, where they find resources themselves and start playing with them in their innovative ways.
Give your kids plenty of downtime, include them in household chores, take them for nature trails, get them a good supply of art and craft tools, and ask them open-ended questions. Creating different play zones for different types of play carves the path for their next stage and encourages them towards open-ended play, resulting in the overall growth of the child.
It all comes back to balance and mindfulness. The key is to balance what your child needs and how we support them by providing resources and opportunities. Look around your kids’ environment and try including more open-ended play materials. Letting them free to explore, goes a long way in shaping their personality.