Parents and practitioners alike often confuse play and playful. It is useful as a parent to know the difference so you can give as many play opportunities as possible, because often what we consider play, is actually playful.
Open-ended child-led actions with no set goal are considered play
Play is completely open-ended and child-led. It starts with a cue, given by your child, and continues with a response by the adult. When your child puts two pieces of Duplo together and makes a plane sound, they have begun a cycle of play between themselves and the adults (and perhaps other children) around them. When you become a passenger, say 'turbulence!' Or even build an airport, you are engaging in play.
Playful, by contrast, is a set task with a start and end point. Setting your child a task to build, sing, create or paint something specific, can be regarded as playful. It is adult-led rather than child led. It is playful because there is creativity contained within the adult-led activity eg. Colour or material selection.
A task to create a set piece of art can be considered playful. It is adult led, but has children's creative choices contained within.
Both play and playful have their places within your play sessions, but play leads to deeper development of your child's neural pathways and should be prioritised wherever possible.
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