Child Development Play Activities

Child development play activities are designed to guide parents and carers into learning how they can best promote meaningful and creative play with their children.

Parents and carers who play and talk with their children regularly, on the floor at their level, following the child's lead, make the best intellectual and emotional companions.

It is important to let your child be the learner and play with your child when you are feeling patient and relaxed.

Child development play activities:

Make sure your child is in the mood for play and wants to be actively involved.

Provide safe areas where there is great opportunity to explore with a variety of play materials.

Have play materials organised so your child can find them and safe enough so they can explore them freely.

Set up an explorative environment where you won't have to say "no" all the time.

	Variety of toys is more important than quantity. Rotate different toys and play materials weekly and move them from one room to another every so often.

	Provide your child with a range of different experiences, they need to get out and about. Go to the park, library, pool, shops, friends house, the zoo. Child development play activities need culture and exposure to feed the imagination.

	Expose your child also to a variety of people and children. This doesn't mean they have to go to daycare to achieve this. You can accompany them to playgroups, mother's groups, fun swimming/music/dancing lessons, friends houses and so on. Anything that provides a change of people, scenery and experience is excellent for child development play.

	At any age, activities need lots of repetition to connect neural networks for mastery. Young children love repetition, which helps concepts sink in.

	For babies, place a variety of toys just out of reach so they can choose which toys to grasp and investigate.

	Give praise during play and encourage efforts to investigate or explore new tasks.

	Try to keep restraints such as playpens and strollers to a minimum when is a safe area. These can inhibit child development play opportunities.

	Have light areas, such as windows where you can both look out and talk about the things you can see.

	Avoid using boxes full of toys. Instead, provide low shelving where toys, books and materials can be seen and explored freely.

	Children are more likely to engage with a toy if not bombarded with too many new ones at once. If your child is given a lot of toys for a birthday or Christmas, put a few away to bring out another time once they are ready to take on more concepts. Too much at once can create confusion.

	Set up child sized furniture such as easels, chalkboards, tables and chairs. This helps your child feel comfortable and in control of their play area.

	Let your child take the lead during play and refrain from directing or bossing too much. Just show and gently guide.

	Allow your child to make their own mistakes so they can learn from them. Praise effort and trying.

	Give your child simple choices so they feel they are making decisions and controlling the play. eg "What coloured play doh would you like to use?"

	Allow lots of free play, plus some planned meaningful tasks.

	Focus on the sensory aspects of play to build on vocabulary, ask "How does that feel/sound/look/taste and smell?".

	Encourage your child to talk about their play. Show that you are interested and listening. Their play may be guided by them telling you what they're doing.

	Be guided by your child's interests, write down some exploration activities that they could do so you have ideas on hand. eg have a magnifying glass and old camera to take photos, collect objects, sort boxes and build a mobile etc.

	Look through magazines for creative project ideas, modify them to suit what resources you have. Save some household materials for construction projects such as toilet rolls, tissue boxes, string etc.

	Examples of materials that help refine and organise sensory intake are easels and paints, clay, sand, play doh, water and finger paints. Try to buy materials that are washable so that you're not worried about the mess.

	Keep buzzing and flashing electronic toys to a minimum, see Brain Building Toys to learn why.

	The brain needs relaxation time so be sure to create quiet space for reflection and wind down such as a play tent, cubby, quiet corner with cushions and sheets.

	Help your child understand meaning and relationships be answering all the "why?" questions.

	Help your child create visual patters and feed their imagination eg "Look at that wood sticking out of the ground. It's like the shape of an elephant. Let's go and draw it".

	Encourage auditory patterning with rhymes, tunes, chants, instruments and humming.

	Provide visual patterning games such as puzzles, dominoes, parquetry and kaleidoscopes. Ask questions such as "What is wrong with this picture, how can we fix it?"

	Excellent materials for making perceptual and motor connections or simple carpentry tools, screws, nuts, large nails, measuring, cooking and gardening.

	Motor patterns need much practice and repetition such as cutting, using tools and utensils, catching, throwing and allowing your child to perform some safe and simple household tasks independently.

	Read books aloud often and look for patterns in stories for discussion eg "How is this character like that one?".

	Encourage play sport informally and without pressure that involve basic skills such as catching, throwing, kicking, running, hopping, skipping and climbing.