The Power of Play

Through Play children are learning about themselves, others and their surroundings.  Play teaches many fundamental skills that will help them throughout their lives such as creativity, self esteem, experience, social interaction, muscle development, reasoning, sharing, responsibility, self expression, ect.  Can you see these things at work when your child is playing? Why is role playing important?

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Part of play is exploring.  Your baby is exploring when they drop their cup over and over again and it makes a noise.  Encourage your babies exploration by staying engaged and give expressions, encourage creativity by suggesting trying something new and provide a safe environment for your baby to explore.  Watch your Baby's expressions.  What interests them?  Are they concentrating?  

Here are some activity suggestions by Ready to Learn 

• Hold, rock, and sing to young babies.
• Take them outside on nice days.
• Explain what you are doing throughout the day when you change or feed them.
• Let young babies lie on a big piece of paper and hear the crunching noise when they move.
• Play different kinds of music on the radio.
• Put bright toys near babies.
• Give them soft toys (like a stuffed animal or a clean sock) to hold and feel.
• Give babies toys they can move and make noise with (like a rattle).
• Hang big pictures of people and animals on the wall at their eye level to look at.
• Hang up toys you make yourself for babies to see and hear. For example, hang aluminum pie plates on a string. Let a breeze blow them, or move them with your hand.
• Have a clean space for babies to crawl. Put bright toys near babies so they can reach out or move toward them. Put a big cardboard box on the floor so the babies can crawl inside and play.
• Put some chair cushions on the floor. Babies can bounce and roll on them.
• Read aloud books that have colorful pictures.
• Have blankets and scarves for infants to hide under.
• Remember that infants put everything in their mouths. Wash toys, and be sure they cannot be swallowed.

Watch/Read KBYU Ready to Learn workshop on Play!