Play is a vital context for infant learning. We’ve found that infants spend over half their awake time interacting with objects in their environment, including toys and household objects. But, learning how to use objects and materials as manufacturers intended takes time, and so does learning how to use objects in novel and creative ways. By observing infants at play, with toys and everyday artifacts, we are able to document progressions in object manipulation and play across the first years of life. We track changes in children as they from indiscriminately exploring objects, to acting on the unique functions of objects, to extending the use of objects to novel applications, such as through pretend stories in symbolic play that move beyond the “here and now”.
Play and Language Lab