Find resources / Group parenting programme / Child development / Play and development

• Explore using toys to encourage children's play and learning.
• Know how to provide children with age-appropriate activities.

Have a selection of homemade toys available to explore. Invite the participants to talk to each other about the toys. Encourage them to play with the toys and work out how they might use them with their babies.

You could ask them:

• What do you think pēpi would learn through the activity?
• Why is that?
• What’s the connection between the activity and their stage of development?

Look through all of the ‘Ngā taonga tākaro’ activity ideas in the Tākai Whakatipu booklets, or use the Find resources menu on Tākai website to select activities for the relevant ages and stages of the participants’ children. (There are some examples in the activites list below). 

Choose an activity that looks interesting. Can you find something similar to do with the homemade toys? Talk to each other about how you think pēpi would play – or if tamariki are present, do it now. Watch them playing and talk about what they do.

Encourage discussion, and ask the following questions:

• What other activities are relevant for this stage?
• What other play ideas can be found in the Tākai Whakatipu booklets or on the Tākai website?

• A selection of homemade toys