Using extinction to promote response variability in toy play.

The team worked with three preschool kids who had one favorite way to play with a toy.

First they taught each child a single play move, like stacking blocks the same way every time.

Then they stopped giving praise for that move. They watched to see if the kids tried new ways to play.

When the old move no longer earned attention, every child started doing new, untrained play actions.

One child who always pushed a car in a straight line began driving it in circles and making engine sounds.

No extra teaching was needed—extinction alone sparked creative play.

Cengher et al. (2020) later used the same trick with children with autism. They stopped reinforcing one-word requests and saw brand-new, longer sentences pop out.

Matson et al. (2011) saw the same burst of novelty when they withheld reinforced sign language; the kids suddenly spoke new words.

Duker et al. (1996) warned that extinction research was still too patchy for a step-by-step manual. This toy-play study is one of the clean early pieces they had in mind.

If a child gets stuck in one play routine, stop reinforcing it. New actions can appear on their own, giving you fresh shapes to praise and build into flexible play skills.