Understanding Play Schemas: How Young Children Make Sense of Their World

At Westside, we believe that play is the foundation of joyful, meaningful learning. Through play, our youngest learners test ideas, make discoveries, and build the skills that shape how they think and interact with the world. One powerful way teachers observe and support this process is by recognizing play schemas, the natural, repeated patterns children use as they explore and learn.

If you’ve ever watched a young child play, you’ve probably noticed certain patterns; they might line up cars, fill and dump containers, spin objects, or carry items from one place to another. These patterns aren’t random; they’re called play schemas.

Play schemas are meaningful expressions of how children explore and make sense of their world. They represent deep learning in action, moments when children are developing and strengthening cognitive structures in the brain through hands-on exploration and repetition.

When teachers observe and reference a child’s play schema, they’re identifying an important aspect of that child’s learning and growth. Understanding these schemas can also help families recognize what their child is practicing through play, and how to nurture that learning at home.

You can support your child’s schema by offering similar opportunities for exploration, introducing new materials that build on their interests, or simply joining them in conversation about what they’re doing and why it matters.

Here are a few common play schemas you might recognize at home:

Positioning: Arranging objects, or their own bodies, in specific ways. You might see this when a child lines up cars, sorts by color or size, or places items in a repeated order.

Orientation: Exploring the world from different viewpoints, such as hanging upside down, looking through their legs, or climbing to see from a higher perspective.

Connection: Discovering how things join together or come apart, like linking train tracks, snapping together blocks, or using tape and string to fasten objects.

Transporting: Moving items from one place to another by carrying, pushing, or filling and dumping containers.

Trajectory: Investigating how things move, whether that’s rolling cars down a ramp, dropping items, or tossing balls into the air.

Enveloping: Covering or wrapping objects (or themselves) with scarves, blankets, or tunnels.

Rotation: Exploring things that spin or turn, such as wheels, tops, gears, or even spinning themselves in circles.

Enclosing: Creating boundaries around spaces or objects, like building block walls, forming circles with loose parts, or climbing into boxes.

Transformation: Combining or changing materials to explore cause and effect, such as mixing sand and water, blending paint colors, or stirring ingredients in pretend cooking.

Recognizing and responding to play schemas helps children move through stages of development with confidence, focus, and curiosity. Through play, they are not just having fun; they are building the foundations for how they think, solve problems, and understand their world.