Every child deserves the chance to feel understood, valued, and confident in their ability to connect with the world around them. For children with ADHD, however, social communication and emotional development can feel like climbing a hill that keeps changing shape. Impulsivity, difficulty focusing, sensory overload, and challenges with emotional regulation can make everyday interactions more complex. Yet, there is hope, support, and a wonderfully effective tool right at our fingertips: play.
At Edx Education, we have long advocated for play-based learning as a way to nurture children’s confidence, communication skills, and emotional well-being. Play provides a safe, pressure-free space where children with ADHD can practise social interactions, explore their emotions, and develop strategies to navigate the world with resilience and joy.
Understanding the Challenges Children with ADHD Face
Children with ADHD may experience:
- Difficulty reading social cues such as tone of voice, body language or personal space.
- Impulsivity, which can lead to interrupting or reacting before thinking.
- High energy and restlessness, making group play or classroom moments feel overwhelming.
- Emotional dysregulation, where feelings can feel “too big” and hard to manage.
- Challenges with executive functioning, the skills needed to plan, wait, take turns, and organise thoughts.
These aren’t misbehaviours they are neurological differences. And with the right support, children can learn to navigate them beautifully.
Why Play Helps
Play is more than fun. It’s powerful brain work. For children with ADHD, play offers:
- Repetition without pressure – practising social skills again and again in natural, enjoyable ways.
- Opportunities for turn-taking and cooperative interaction.
- Emotional experimentation – exploring feelings through imaginative or sensory play.
- A calmer body and mind, especially through tactile, sensory-rich activities.
-
A sense of autonomy and success, building confidence through hands-on learning.
Practical Play Ideas That Support Social & Emotional Skills
Here are a few play-based strategies to support children with ADHD as they build social communication and emotional resilience:
1. Sensory Play for Emotional Regulation
Sensory activities help calm the nervous system and bring big emotions down to a manageable level.
Try using:
- Busy Play Mini Rainbow Pebbles® – sorting, stacking, or creating patterns encourages focus and soothes overwhelmed minds.
- Sand & Water Play – pouring, scooping, and splashing provides grounding sensory input.
These activities also open up lovely conversational opportunities—naming colours, describing textures, or simply sharing space peacefully.
2. Building Social Stories Through Imaginative Play
Role-play allows children to rehearse social skills in a low-pressure environment.
Using open-ended toys like Linking Cubes, My Gears®, or Rainbow Pebbles®, children can create scenes, characters, and storylines. Caregivers can join in to model:
- turn-taking
- perspective-taking
- using words to solve problems
- understanding emotions
Storytelling helps children practise reading cues and expressing themselves clearly.
3. Movement Play for Self-Regulation
Physical play helps children release energy in healthy ways while learning body control.
Tools like the Joey Jump, Dancing Ribbons, or outdoor balancing activities support coordination and self-awareness. These activities also help children understand personal space and practise cooperative play with others.
4. Puzzle Play for Executive Functioning
Problem-solving, patience, and perseverance all grow through puzzle-based activities.
Our Abstract Magnetic Puzzles encourage focus, trial-and-error learning, and emotional endurance celebrating each successful step without pressure.
Encouraging Self-Awareness and Emotional Language
Through play, children learn to label feelings, recognise triggers, and communicate their needs. Simple prompts like:
- “How is your body feeling right now?”
- “What could help you feel calmer?”
- “Can we try that again together?”
build emotional intelligence gently and consistently.
Resources to Support You
At Edx Education, we continue to develop toys, tools, and free downloadable resources that empower families to use play as a meaningful learning tool. Our Play, Learn & Create with Edx Education podcast also explores strategies, insights and inspiring stories from experts around the world.
A Final Thought
Children with ADHD are creative, curious, energetic, and full of potential. By offering play-rich experiences, we can help them develop the social and emotional tools they need to thrive not by changing who they are, but by empowering them to understand themselves.
With play, patience, and connection, every child can shine.
By Heather Welch, Edx Education UK General Manager & author of Happy Children Play