About Schema Play Theory

Schema play theory is the idea that children enjoy repeating patterns of behavior during their play and exploration and that this repetition helps them gain, understand, and organize information and knowledge of the world.

According to Cynthia Vinney, “A schema is a cognitive structure that serves as a framework for one’s knowledge about people, places, objects, and events. Schemas help people organize their knowledge of the world and understand new information.”¹

Swiss biologist Jean Piaget was among the first to notice these organized patterns of behavior. He defined schemas as mental maps. His work on schema theory was foundational in our understanding of children as active learnings and child development as a whole.²

In Schemas: A Practical Handbook, it is explained this way:

“Put simply, schemas are patterns of behaviour that allow young children to construct knowledge and understanding of how the world works, e.g. you may notice a child consistently dropping items from a high chair or persistently throwing things across a room. Both are signs of schema exploration as young children make sense of how items work and how their bodies affect change.”

England, Laura. Schemas: A Practical Handbook. Bloomsbury Publishing. Kindle Edition.

Researchers have identified 100 plus such patterns of schema play that children repeat as they play and explore. The most common include:

• Rotation Schema
• Enveloping Schema
• Enclosing Schema
• Transporting Schema
• Scattering Schema
• Connecting Schema
• Trajectory Schema
• Positioning Schema
• Orientation Schema
• Back And Forth Schema
• Going Through Schema
• Filling And Emptying Schema

Eye-Opening Understanding

Understanding these common repeated patterns can help caregivers and parents better prepare environments for play and exploration, but it can also help them better understand children’s behavior. For example, toddlers who repeatedly haul baskets of blocks across the room and gleefully dump them are not trying to (intentionally) drive you insane. They are engaging in Transporting and Scattering schema play. Understanding this can guide how you react to it.

You’ll find Playvolution HQ’s free handout highlighting 12 important play schemas here and related schema play content here.

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1. https://www.thoughtco.com/schema-definition-4691768
2. Louis, Stella; Beswick, Clare; Featherstone, Sally. Understanding Schemas in Young Children (Featherstone Professional Development) (p. 8). Bloomsbury Publishing. Kindle Edition.