Recognizing Play Schemas Can Transform Your Early Learning Practice

Have you ever wondered why some children love to fill up a container with materials, carry it around, and then dump it all out just to start again? Or why others seem fascinated with building block towers only to knock them down? You may be seeing Chris Athey’s theory of play schemas in action!  

During the 1970s, British researcher Chris Athey, building on Jean Piaget’s work, observed children ages 2-6 at play as part of her Froebel Early Education Project. The goal was to understand how young children construct knowledge of the world, and how these insights could inform curriculum design.

Through observation, Athey’s team identified repeated patterns in how children played. These patterns were not tied to specific toys or materials, but to the recurring actions children use to make sense of the world and develop their thinking.

They called these patterns play schemas.

What Are the Play Schemas?

Athey and her team identified more than 40 of these repeated patterns in children’s play, but subsequent work has generally focused on the following eight schemas. While a child may strongly prefer one or two schemas at a given time, over time and across groups of children you’re likely to observe many of them. 

Transporting

In the transporting schema, children pick things up and carry things around. They want buckets and other containers to fill. They may just walk around the space with their hands full of seemingly random items. They may dump contents out of containers. They may carry items in their hands or pockets.

Transforming 

In the transforming schema, children change materials or themselves from one thing into another. They mix up materials like paint or playdough. They invent different ways to use materials, their bodies, or their voices. Transforming explorations may sometimes look like “misbehavior”—knocking down block towers or using loud voices.

Trajectory

In the trajectory schema, children explore horizontal, vertical, and diagonal movements of materials and of themselves. They make things fly through the air and move their bodies through space in different ways. They may be interested in building and knocking down, to explore the properties of the building materials as they fall. They may find ways to explore trajectories during art by flicking paint, splattering with tools, using squirt bottles, or tearing paper.

Rotation and Circularity

Children exploring rotation and circularity are interested in things that turn and spin, but also in exploring curved lines and arcs. They may be drawn to wheeled vehicles, materials with screw top lids, or water wheels. They may move their hands in circles while fingerpainting or draw curved lines in their mark making. They spin their bodies in circles or enjoy pushing others on the merry-go-round. They may want to roll down hills or twist the ropes of their swing to let it spin them until they are untwisted. 

Enclosing and Enveloping

In the enclosing and enveloping schema, children put objects or themselves into enclosed spaces or make enclosures to put objects into. They may build forts or climb under tables and behind shelves. They may fill boxes and baskets with collections of toys and other materials. You may see them creating physical boundaries in their play, like block fences around animals. You may also see children playing with “covers”—blankets, layers of clothes—or covering paper fully with paint or other mark-making tools. 

Connecting and Disconnecting

In the connecting and disconnecting schema, children will join things together, tie things up, and take things apart. They may scatter materials off tables or across the floor using their arms or legs. They may be especially interested in trains and tracks, undressing or undoing their shoes, gluing and taping materials, or cutting and tearing paper. You may notice them breaking playdough into smaller pieces and then gathering the pieces back to make it whole again. They may be exploring by building and knocking down block structures or sandcastles.  

Positioning and Ordering

When children explore positioning and ordering, they might line up toys and other materials on shelves or tables. They may sort toys and objects into categories based on their shared characteristics. It might be important for these children to have some control over food placement on plates, their position in lines with other children, or putting items in the “correct” place. They may enjoy creating and copying patterns.

Orientation and Perspective

Children exploring the orientation and perspective schema are learning about the world by finding ways to view it from different angles, positions, and perspectives. They will climb, hang upside down, crawl through tunnels or under tables, and lie on the floor. They may explore toys and materials by turning them over or around or moving them up high and then down low.

Implications for Our Work

In addition to providing an interesting way to look at and wonder about children’s play, schema play theory presents opportunities to transform our work with young children in many ways. Here are a few:

Creating Supportive Environments

The schema play framework provides us with a new way of looking at the materials and opportunities children have in the space we create for them. Look around your space and ask:

• Where do children have room to move their bodies in trajectory experiments?
• Can children and adults find what they need to clean up after joyful explorations of paint transformations?
• Do our rules allow children to transport materials from one interest center to another?
• Are there blankets and cushions that can be used for enclosing themselves and each other?
• How many ways can children explore rotation as they move through the day?
• Are there safe spaces, and ample materials, for building and knocking down block structures?
• Do you have binoculars, magnifying glasses, windows, and affordances for children to experience various orientations and perspectives, like being upside down or climbing up high?

Reframing Challenging Behavior

One of my favorite things about discovering Athey’s work is the new perspective it offers us for the sometimes confusing or, let’s be honest, annoying actions we sometimes see from children that we might otherwise label as “misbehavior.” Instead of seeing these actions as challenges to our rules, it offers a new way to be curious about what may really be happening. For example:

• If a child is throwing materials, he may be more interested in how that item moves through space, comparing it to how a different item moved. This can help us decide how to offer more interesting redirection or arrange space to safely allow the throwing instead of assuming we need to curb his destructive intent.
• A child who frequently goes home with classroom toys in her pocket may be engaging in a transporting schema rather than intending to steal.
• A child mixing playdough colors might be in search of data about changes to the playdough’s physical characteristics through the transformation rather than intending to disrespect classroom materials.
• A crashing block tower offers entirely different sensory experiences as the blocks disconnect than were offered when the child originally connected them in their construction.
• A child who loves to climb may be seeking new perspectives of her world.

Advocating for Free Play

Psychology researcher and scholar Peter Gray warns that free play is disappearing from young children’s lives, resulting in increased issues around sensory processing, mental health, and even academic success for many children. Early care and education practitioners who acknowledge the research supporting the value of free play have a responsibility to advocate for the return of free play in our child care centers, family child care homes, preschools, and other care and education settings.

When we look for and wonder about the schemas we see in children’s play, we can make connections and translate the play to those who may be skeptical about its value. For example:

• For the skeptic who needs to see mathematical learning, we can explain how building a block tower and knocking it down provides experience with ideas of composing and decomposing.
• The skeptic who can only be persuaded by an activity’s literacy value can be shown that when Molly transforms herself into a mother in her pretend play with her teddy bear, she is experiencing symbolic thinking that is necessary for future decoding and comprehension.
• An early educator who describes herself as a “brain architect” but has interpreted the research about the importance of the first three years to brain development as a mandate for more structured academic curriculum can be helped to see that when children in the trajectory schema jump and spin, neural connections are formed and strengthened.
• The parent who wonders why her child doesn’t bring home preschool worksheets like the neighbor’s child does can look at the photos you’ve taken and labeled with possible schema explorations and can be reassured that she’s made a good choice for her child in enrolling him in a playful program.

Conclusion

As you return to your work with children tomorrow, or after your lunch break, or when they wake up from their naps, choose one schema to watch for. You’ll be amazed to see how much of what seems random, unfocused, or just plain weird may really be deep engagement with a play schema.