Young Children’s Object Play: A Window on Development

Adults can learn a great deal about young children’s development by watching them play with toys or other objects. Insights derived from theoretical and empirical explorations of object play are particularly useful for early childhood professionals who assess the development of preschool children with disabilities. The following discussion reviews theoretical and empirical literature relevant to young children’s object play and suggests implications of research findings for practitioners. The review emphasizes the cognitive prerequisites for object play, the sequential development of object play, the relationship between play and language, and the characteristics of object play in young children with developmental disabilities.