Did you know that play isn’t just for fun? It’s a powerful tool for your child’s development!? At Explore and Soar, we incorporate play into all our therapy interventions to teach essential skills, including managing transitions. 

Throughout the day, children experience numerous transitions—from waking up and eating breakfast to leaving the comfort of home and adapting to the school environment, to name a few. For many children, moving from one activity or situation to another can be particularly challenging. It can be one of the hardest times of their day, but through thoughtful play, we can help children become more comfortable with these moments and build the confidence they need to handle transitions more easily.

The Importance of Smooth Transitions in Effective Communication

Through play, we are constantly communicating, whether verbal or non-verbal, through words, gestures, or facial expressions. These moments require ‘opening’ the ‘communication circle.’ Children share their ideas, thoughts, wants, feelings, and needs while maintaining a back-and-forth exchange in conversation. Lastly, they need to “close” a communication circle, and when one is finished, they need to transition to the next. This can be challenging, as children may need time to think, can be easily distracted by noise or visual activities, or have different interest points that make this transition time extra tricky.

Therapeutic Strategies

Our Occupational Therapists use play therapy alongside the child’s Speech Pathologists, who help children with communication-based transitions, such as speech and language skills. 

You will see our therapists using a range of strategies to help in directing the communication and play ideas to make this easier for them:

• Facial Expressions: Use big smiles and animated looks to help children understand emotions and stay connected.
• Tone and Sounds: Varying our tone—We love to use sound to support transitions throughout our play and hold our clients in the moment with us. We whisper, talk louder in critical moments, or use sounds like “uh-oh” to create excitement or focus.
• Body Language: Our bodies communicate too! Shrugging, clapping, and arms crossed or waving to show different emotions such as sadness, frustration, or excitement to help children navigate their feelings during play.

Utilising these strategies not only improves communication with our clients but also provides support during challenging times. This approach allows clients the space to work through difficulties together and transition between uncomfortable feelings and enjoyment while playing. This approach is powerful in supporting the development of Emotional Regulation Skills and Social Skills.

The Magic of Pretend Play

Play is a vital part of development. By as early as 13 months, children begin to use functional play themes. Play is an exciting time when a child is learning all about their everyday life activities like sleeping, eating, and bathing. This early play is a sign of your child’s growing memory, as they can remember something they saw or what you did and reenact this. 

As children mature and develop their play skills, they shift from functional to pretend play. This occurs over a period of time, with different skills building upon one another to achieve these skills. This shift to pretend play is paramount as it symbolises that there has been a cognitive shift in their development. They are no longer imitating others but now engaging in activities with intent and a purpose. When children begin developing these skills, they seek solo play or with other children their age, exploring new ways of thinking and creating. (Keep an eye out for an upcoming blog breaking down all information on play). 

However, not all children can easily shift, adapt, and be creative in their play themes with others, often finding it more accessible to play by themselves with their own ideas and internal monologue. This can be challenging in social settings like preschool and peer conversations. This is where Occupational Therapy shines! By using the child’s interests and strengths in play, therapists support children in exploring play themes while building their confidence and skills necessary for play with others. Transitioning from single-play to multiple-person play requires different communication strategies and the ability to connect with the child to support their confidence and skills to play.