Explain the fundamental role of play for the social and emotional development of the child in the first three years of life. Provide examples and back up with literature. To begin with, Gleave (2009) suggests that play fundamentally influences a child’s social well-being and happiness. Play is considered to be an enjoyable experience in which there is the involvement of people, movements or objects. Studies have proposed that if infants are exposed to play opportunities, it can have a positive impact on their future life chances as well as health (Gleave, 2009). Some may argue that restrictions on playful activities for children can lead to profound effects on their mental health for example, Attention Deficit Disorder has been linked It could be argued that play can unite families and strengthen parent and child bonds, this is a positive factor which can promote positive attachments while having a positive impact on an infants emotional development (Tassoni, 2010). On the contrary when given access to play activities in early childhood , Elkind (2007) believes that infants given the opportunity to play with various toys have been found have higher IQ scores at the age of There are five fundamental types of play. The first type of play highlighted in children is playing with objects. This is referred to when a child constructs and creates things by manipulating their environment. Secondly, symbolic play is identified as developing a sense of moral reasoning and socially engage while interacting with others. Socio-dramatic play, is recognised when a child develops flexible thinking abilities and attempts new roles in possible situations though fantasy play or role play. Physical play promotes critical opportunities for children to develop their fine and gross motor skills leading to the integration of their muscles, nerves and brain muscles, games with rules support children to understand the concept of rules which highlight the importance that rules are put in place to be followed (Whitebread, 2011). Infants acquire a variety of behaviours which enable them to engage, exaggerate, change and abbreviate their characteristics of play which can significantly contribute to their developmental stages (Pellegrini,