While they were busy the other day, I set up a little Invitation to Play Doctors, utilising the free printable Toy Check-up Checklist from the Disney Junior website, some willing toys as patients and other bits and bobs from around the house.
Showing posts with label pretend play. Show all posts
Showing posts with label pretend play. Show all posts
Toy Doctor Pretend Play with free Printable Doctor's Checklist
Oct 11, 2014
While they were busy the other day, I set up a little Invitation to Play Doctors, utilising the free printable Toy Check-up Checklist from the Disney Junior website, some willing toys as patients and other bits and bobs from around the house.
Jun 24, 2014
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Welcome to TUESDAY TOTS. Brought to you weekly by Learn with Play at home (that's us), Rainy Day Mum and One Perfect Day.
This week we are showcasing
"10 Pretend Play Ideas"
Pretend Play or Imaginative Play is a huge part of growing up. Children are naturally drawn to imitating and copying the actions of those they see around them. Pretend play provides them with opportunities to practice a wide variety of skills in a safe way. From oral language development and socialisation to specific physical skills and creativity, imaginative play allows for so much and is to be encouraged. Here are 10 fun ideas that you could use to encourage your child's love of pretend play, with lots of clever little props and additions that you can provide to make the experience even more fun and entertaining.
Mar 12, 2013
Imaginative Play is a way for children to experiment with language, thoughts and processes that are vital to their development. It is a safe way for them to learn about the world around them and practice and experiment different ways of acting and reacting.
Here are a range of fun ideas and activities that promote imaginative play.
Aug 17, 2012
Open Ended explorations for Children are vital in their development and constructive play is a great way to encourage this.
Children love to physically explore and manipulate materials as it helps them to gain a better understanding of their world and gives them the control to move, question and create.
Today M (3.5) and a mini mate, took on the role of 'Builders' and got cracking.
Ages- 2-6+
The Set Up
Creating an "Invitation to Play" is as easy as setting out a few materials to set the intention of the play and then let the kids go for it.
Materials: Empty cardboard boxes of all shapes and sizes. Any play construction toys such as hard hat, hammer, drill, measuring tape etc
I also popped a "broken" stool in for them to hone their fix-it skills
The Play
First it's fixing time
Then time to build. Notice the added containers/boxes that the kids gathered themselves?
Their minds were working hard and were set on their task.
The ever evolving construction site. Builder J is busy drilling the front.
This type of play is fantastic for Collaborative play.
Working and playing together with their peers leads to skills such as sharing, taking turns, compromising, working together, language development and so on.
Checking to ensure it's been built to specification.
Note the addition of measuring skills, number recognition and so on.
Handy Tips:
- Simplify this activity by simply providing the basic materials and letting the children loose on it. You could assist younger children with the building process. Talking with them about how to balance the items, which are best for the base, etc.
- Extend this activity by giving your child/ren a "brief" on what's expected. Join the role play fun by being a contractor who is calling in a building team for a particular project. Perhaps you need a building of a particular height, width etc. Add toy telephones to call your workers and explain what's needed. Be sure to add in other materials such as measuring tapes, spirit levellers etc.
- Talk to your child about what they are doing/building in order
to develop their cognitive skills (thinking) and language development. Not
to forget the important bonding that takes place between you both.
- Repeat this activity with different materials, in a different location, with different specifications... etc. Children need to be exposed to experiences more than once and mixing it up will ensure that they are focusing on, gaining or using different skills each time.
- If you don't have "pretend tools" etc... then make some! Let children use their imagination to find something or create something they think could be appropriate for the job.
Looking for more Pretend/Imaginative Play Activities?
Here are some of our favourites
Happy playing,
Debs :)
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Aug 10, 2012
Encouraging number recognition and counting skills through "real-life" experiences assist children in making the connections between the abstract symbols and figures and how/why they are used.
This gives children real meaning which in turn leads to real understanding.
The more experiences your child has with numbers and counting, the better, and this fun activity should engage and entice them, be it at home or in the classroom.
Ages: 2-6+ (Maddie is 3)
The Setup
Materials: Pretend money (we used plastic lids), post-it notes, marker and things to "sell" (eg toys)
On your post it notes, write one number per sheet, leaving them still on the pad.
Use the numbers that you want to focus on with your child.
For this activity I wanted to consolidate smaller numbers so we just used the numbers 1-5. I also drew the amount of dots to represent each number to make it easy to count and correspond with the pretend money.
I then set up a small "shop" area like this
I explained to my daughter that she was the "Shop Keeper" and that she needed to find stock for her shop and put the "price tags" (numbered post-it notes) on.
The post-it notes make it so easy for kids to peel off and stick on. If you have none though you could always use little squares of paper and add some extra fine-motor practice with sticky tape
The Play! (the learning)
You could talk about how larger or more special items might cost more. They would need a bigger number.
Smaller or less special items might cost less. They would need a smaller number.
You can buy our dog for the bargain price of $2!
Once her shop was full of stock and it was all priced. It was time to open shop to the public
(just setting up the stock and pricing it all kept her busy for ages!)
(just setting up the stock and pricing it all kept her busy for ages!)
The shop keeper needs to tell the customer how much something is.
I decided to snap up this wombat. It was a bargain!
Using one-to-one correspondence.
Counting the "money"
Swap and let your child be the customer and have them choose some products for sale.
They need to count how much money they need all together.
Counting out the "money" next to each price tag.
Handy Tips:
- Simplify this activity by only focusing on 1or 2 numbers at a time. Avoid using real money and the money symbols so as to ease any confusion and just focus on the the number recognition and counting out that many "dollars"
- Extend this activity by using larger whole numbers, real money, money symbols etc. Your child can add money together to find out how much in total and can subtract to figure out how much change someone needs if they hand over too much money.
- Use new language and descriptive words like, "more," "less," "expensive," "cheap," etc This will help with their language development.
-Ask questions to help connect their understanding and use vocabulary to give them words to describe what they're doing, eg. "Why is this huge item only $2? It is a bargain!" "Why did you choose to sell that?" "How much does the dog cost?"
- Listen to your child talk as they go through their experiences. This will help you determine where they are at with their learning, knowledge and understanding and help you to develop the activity (or future activities) to their level and interests. eg. If they are breezing through numbers 1-10, move onto doubles etc.
Happy playing,
Debs :)
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May 23, 2012
Playing with peers is so important for children. The amount of peer learning that takes place is amazing as is learning an understanding of self within a group and the best ways to deal with and cooperate with others.
Here I'm sharing some activity and food ideas for a play date that was set up for 4, three year olds (3 boys and 1 girl. Obviously the food and activities could be used with children of varying ages.
Invitations to play
(Activity ideas)
Water Beads, cups, bowls, spoons, containers
Playdough, popsicle sticks and wooden farm animals
Imaginative play. Dress Ups. Doctors
Home made playset. Blue glass beads, rocks, sticks, twigs, felt, leaves, flowers etc
Baby Play
Let's Play and Learn Together
The boys exploring the water beads for the first time. Quite the sensory experience
What are you doing with the play dough? Learning new ideas from one another
Collaborative imaginative play
(t's pretty funny for everyone when the "sick patient" has a "sore butt" and therefore needs a butt injection.
Burning off a bit of energy
(Three year-olds certainly have A LOT to spare!)
Fun for baby too!
The Food
Exploring Apples.
Tasting plate. Apples 4 ways. Back- 3 types of apples. Granny Smith, Pink Lady and Golden Delicious. Which is your favourite? Bottom Left- puréed apple, Middle- Apple chips, Bottom right- apple cinnamon crumble mini muffins.
Nutrition for busy, growing kids
They dug right in!
Who knew that Pirates ate Purée?
This was the only time our fabulous 4 were quiet!
Want more food and activity ideas for a playdate? Check out some of our other ideas here.
Handy Tips:
- A little bit of planning and thought before your house is descended upon will help make your playdate run more smoothly
- Depending on the age of children, modify the snacks and activities accordingly
- I buy my Water Beads off ebay (love shopping from home!) but they are also available at flower shops, markets and more and more variety shops. I recommend waiting for a good day to do this outside if it's the children's first experience with them.
- I buy my Water Beads off ebay (love shopping from home!) but they are also available at flower shops, markets and more and more variety shops. I recommend waiting for a good day to do this outside if it's the children's first experience with them.
- Don't be upset if the children are more interested in everything else in your house than the activities you've set out. Just being in a new environment is a learning experience for children and they will get to your activities eventually
- To contain mess, try setting out individual activities on their own blanket/mat. This can help the children see and recognise boundaries and can keep toys with lots of parts (eg Lego) all together and a breeze to clean up at the end.
***- Water Beads should not be ingested so parental supervision with children who might be tempted to eat them is required***
Happy playing,- To contain mess, try setting out individual activities on their own blanket/mat. This can help the children see and recognise boundaries and can keep toys with lots of parts (eg Lego) all together and a breeze to clean up at the end.
***- Water Beads should not be ingested so parental supervision with children who might be tempted to eat them is required***
Debs :)
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Apr 4, 2012
Children love to replicate the behaviours of adults, especially if it involves water!
Here, with this fun pretend play activity, I got 3 things accomplished.
1) I kept her entertained, 2) She was learning AND 3) the dirty toys and doll's clothes got clean! haha
Ages: 2+
(M was just 3 here. See the Handy Tips at the bottom to simplify or extend to meet your child's needs)
(M was just 3 here. See the Handy Tips at the bottom to simplify or extend to meet your child's needs)
The setup: An Invitation to Play. using a couple of towels on the floor I set up a washing station (bowl of soapy water for washing and bowl of clear water for rinsing) and a child-sized clothes line with pegs. We then collected toys from around the house that needed a wash
Learning about order and process. First we wash and scrub in soapy water. Lots of fun pouring, swirling, scrubbing etc here
Second we rinse all the soap off in clear, clean water
We don't need to scrub the material the same way we would with plastic toys. Notice how the material absorbs the water
Understanding order and process gets easier the more we practice
Wringing out the clothes to remove the excess water. This is trickier than it seems for little kids... especially ensuring all the material is OUT of the water before squeezing and that it doesn't go back in!
Pegging up the clothes to dry. This requires good fine motor skills and is fabulous for practicing coordination
Swishing it round and round in the water... just like a washing machine does!
Coordination required here! There was a lot of dropping the peg while trying to adjust the clothing to be hung. I was happy to see her demonstrating patience and keep trying
Whilst doing this activity she role-played being "mummy" and commentated her every move.
Fabulous language practice!
Fabulous language practice!
Handy Tips:
- Talk with your child about what they are doing. This will help them understand the physical and mental processes they are going through as well as giving them the vocabulary to describe it.
- Use new language and descriptive words like, "process", "wringing out" etc. This will help with their language development.
- Simplify this activity for young toddlers who might not have the fine motor skills and coordination required to peg up clothes by just giving them some plastic toys or plastic plates etc, to wash
- Extend this activity by assigning your child a pretend role (mummy, daddy, Mr Washer etc) and allow them to get into character. This can add to the imaginative aspect of the activity and often promotes language development as they commentate their actions.
- We had to change the rinsing water at one point because it got too soapy.
- Demonstrate how or where to hold the clothing in order to peg it up if your child needs the assistance
Happy playing,
Debs :)
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