Put simply, play = learning! Play is essential to a child’s day. Within play you can embed teaching into any daily routine. Play is your child’s space to practice language, motor skills, new ideas, and problem solving among many other skills! By making routines a bit more fun, you can help grow skills easily.
1. Toy play – this should be the easy one! Grab the same or similar toy to your child, then all you have to do is sit down imitate and narrate. When I say imitation, I mean YOU imitate your child. Follow along with all of their different (and sometimes unusual) ideas. Add in words and sound effects to gain more eye contact and probably some cuddles!
Ideas:
- Play along!! Just add words to your child’s actions and sound effects and watch their excitement at having you play THEIR game.
2. Eating – food doesn’t have to be only about eating. There are plenty of skills to practice along the way.
Ideas:
- When you have time to support, get your child practicing cutting with a knife. I often see kids fascinated by using cutting tools in session. This natural interest translates well to supervised cutting on strawberries, capsicums and other easy to cut foods.
- Cleaning up should be a whole family job! Get your child started early on taking their plate to the sink to help. You can carry over the popular “clean-up” song from day care to generalise what clean-up means and make the routine more familiar and fun.
3. Personal care routines – I hear parents say that these can be the most difficult in their day. Dressing, bathing or being changed can be monotonous, especially if your child is having fun doing something else. Try adding song, dance or anything else you can think of to break up the routine!
Ideas:
- Dressing – kids are more likely to complete unmotivating tasks if they have autonomy. If your child can’t dress themselves yet, let them choose between a couple of options. If your child can dress themselves but they are a bit sluggish, try racing them to put clothes on that you have 2 of, like socks or shoes.
- Bathing – get involved here! Instead of telling your child what to do, try making a game out of it by asking, “where’s your hands?” Give them some time to respond, and if they get it wrong you can still wash the body part they’ve pointed to while by adding a silly “nooooo!!!” Then continue to find the right one and washing all the way.
4. Social play – I’ve always had the most fun with social play, where it’s just a child and I creating a silly game over a shared interest. This kind of play can be sweet, like a simple peek-a-boo game, or rowdy, like a spin and toss game. The best part is that you don’t need anything else to have all the fun, you two are enough!
Ideas:
- Peek a boo, hide and seek, or singing songs with actions can be a great face-to-face experience
- Spin your child and toss them into a beanbag
- You can mix-and-match here as well by singing Zoom Zoom Zoom, then pick up your child for take off and toss them onto their bed
- If you need extra tools, try some bubbles or a balloon to get the social piece happening
5. Chores – chores aren’t just for mums and dads to do! Children often like to complete the same tasks that parents do because they’ve seen it over and over again. You are your child’s most important and consistent model. Try getting your child involved in all of the tasks you do at the level that they can participate.
Ideas:
- Getting the mail: while you’re doing this you can add fun things to do like: skipping, hopping, or singing to practice some different motor and social skills.
- For kids that love water play, watering the plants together can be fun. Bonus: most kids love watching plants grow, especially when they get to eat them after! Try adding a strawberry or leafy green to your garden to encourage food exploration.
6. Books or photos - Books and photos can be a great way to explore understanding and sharing information. We should also try videos here as well! Some children like to see videos of activities they have enjoyed in the past.
Ideas:
- Use your child’s favourite books to ask questions that they can respond to and promote language and understanding, such as: find something green. Where is the dog? Who is eating? Questions should be based off of your child’s current knowledge.
- Take photos of familiar people and make a book out of them. If there is a special interest, you can take photos of the interest doing different actions. For example, if your child likes Thomas the Tank Engine, try taking photos of Thomas doing silly things, like eating or sleeping to help build their imaginative play.
- For videos, try taking a video of their favourite activity. When you’re at home, sit down with them to watch it and narrate what is happening in the video. This is a great tool to increase language based off of their interest!
Get playing and have fun! Let us know if these or other ideas worked well for you with your child!
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