3B.P3/M2. Types of play.
0-2 Years. George case study
In this case study, George (7 ½ months) was playing with the items in a treasury basket. Treasury baskets are considered heuristic play, meaning it encourages active exploration through children’s senses.. Heuristic comes from the Greek word ‘eurisko’ which means ‘serves to discover or gain an understanding of’.
Through playing with the objects in his treasury basket, George is engaging in sensory play. Sensory play is very simple and happens naturally from birth, but it is essential to access other areas of development. For example, through touching objects, George will be using his brain to recognise texture and temperature, then developing his fine motor skills. George was tasting the objects, touching them and exploring the different textures and shaking and banging them and listening to the noises they made. This sensory play encouraged George to develop cognitively, by understanding different textures, shapes and sizes, and by concentrating on each object. The more George plays with the items in his treasury basket and the more his cognitive development is growing, he will become familiar with more objects.
He also took part in physical play, by grabbing, touching, lifting, shaking and dropping the objects he found in the basket. All of these movements and actions are helping develop George’s fine and gross motor skills, contributing to his physical development. George will also become familiar and develop his hand eye coordination skills, as well as spatial awareness.
George is also developing his communication skills through this type of play. Even though it is only simple communication such as facial expressions and noises, he is developing by learning how and when to use them.
Playing with the treasury basket also encourages emotional development for George. He appears to be enjoying himself – smiling, giggling and babbling. George will be