Structured play: what is it?
Structured play is when an adult directs or guides children’s play by providing resources, offering instructions, starting play or joining in with play. For example, an adult might help a child to complete a puzzle, play a board game, follow origami instructions, or decorate cookies.
Free or unstructured play is play that just happens, depending on what children are interested in at the time. Free play doesn’t have a specific goal.
Structured play and free play are both important for children’s development.
How structured play can help autistic children
Structured play activities can help autistic children learn play skills like sharing, taking turns, seeing things from other people’s perspectives and interacting with others. Structured play activities can also help children develop fine and gross motor skills and communication skills.
Structured play activities usually give children clear guidelines about what to do and when. They also usually have clear end points. This can help your autistic child understand the steps, skills, actions or ideas that are needed to achieve the play activity’s goal. It makes play activities more predictable and manageable for autistic children.
This creates a low-stress environment where your child can try out the skills they need to play and interact successfully with other children.
How to structure a play activity for autistic children
Start by choosing an appropriate play activity. Activities that have clear goals and end points are best. These include jigsaws, board games, puzzle books, colouring in activities, song and action videos, and matching games.
Next, you could create a visual support that guides your autistic child through the activity:
- Represent each step of the activity with visual cues. The cues could be objects, pictures or words.
- Tick off or remove each cue during the activity as your child progresses, so that your child can clearly see the next stage of the activity.
- Gradually reduce your support until your child can use the visual support and complete the activity on their own.
Structured play with autistic children: tips
These tips can help you and your autistic child get the most out of structured play:
- Use your child’s interests. When your child enjoys an activity, they’re more likely to learn new skills and stay calm. For example, if your child loves Thomas the Tank Engine, start by using Thomas-themed jigsaws, puzzles or colouring books.
- Give your child a range of different structured play opportunities, so they can try new things and develop their interests at their own pace.
- Choose activities that your child can do. Think about which stage of play your child is at and try moving play onto the next stage. For example, if your child is banging blocks, introduce turn-taking or stacking with the blocks.
- Use your child’s strengths. For example, if your child responds well to visual cues, try a visual activity like sorting coloured blocks.
- Talk only as much as you need to.
- Keep playtime short.
- Pay attention to whether your child is enjoying the activity. If they’re not enjoying it, take a break and then try something else.
Building on structured play with autistic children
As your autistic child learns to complete structured play activities on their own, you can begin to expand how long you play and the number of activities you do with your child.
For example, once your child can complete a few activities, set up a few different play areas around the house. This way, your child can move between activities and focus on different things without having you there all the time.