Activities for my child’s stage of development
Learning about play and development by playing with toys.
Learning goals
- Explore using toys to encourage children's play and learning.
- Learn how to make play part of everyday life.
Try out toys to learn about play
Just like children, some of our best learning happens when we’re doing. In this workshop we give participants the opportunity to play with whatever’s available – like children often do.
Provide some simple and homemade toys. Encourage the participants to play with the toys and work out how they would use them with babies.
Encourage discussion alongside the play:
- What could you do with this toy?
- What might pēpi do with it?
- What would a toddler do with it?
- What do you think babies would learn through the activity?
- How many ways can you use one toy?
Then working in pairs, one person can be pēpi and one the adult, trying out ways to encourage pēpi to play.
Brainstorm similar activities
Gather ideas about other similar activities we could create. Prompts for ideas might include:
- What does it look like? (Colours)
- How does it feel? (Smooth, rough, cold, soft and so on)
- What happens if I shake it?
- Can I roll it?
- What can I fit it into?
- Can I balance it on my head?
- What happens if I throw it?
- Can I put it in the water?
- Could we play with it outside?
- Can it help me make music?
Talk about safety – for example, things to look out for:
- size of toy
- sharp edges
- parts that can come off
- breakability
- safe paint (non-toxic).
Workshop materials
- Simple homemade toys.
- Common household objects – for example, funnels, sieves, plastic containers, wooden spoons and pot lids.
Resources
