1. CL pg. 251 Reviewing the Facts 2. Turn and take a worksheet from the back table

What may seem like fun, cute or even silly activities to adults are really the ways in which babies and children learn about their world. Through play, children explore their surroundings, understand their place in the world, develop physical, cognitive and emotional skills and learn social cues to practice their social skills.

Learning Through Play Play promotes all areas of a toddler’s development: –Physical –Intellectual –Communication –Social

Learning Through Play Physical Development –As toddlers become more adept at using their new balance, coordination and muscle strength, their physical skills will become more complex as well—moving from walking to running, jumping, climbing, dancing, and pedaling.

Learning Through Play Intellectual or Thinking Skills From age 1 to 2, toddlers are “do-ers”—they want to make things happen! You will see your child acting with a goal in mind, whether it is climbing on top of the kitchen table or getting a block tower just right.

Learning Through Play Intellectual or Thinking Skills As they play, they are also testing the properties of objects—what bends, what snaps, what bounces, what sinks, what floats. While this can be messy, exploration like this helps children better understand how the world works. (P.S.: Time to child-proof!)

Learning Through Play Communication Skills Your toddler can probably tell you exactly how she is feeling through her cries and gestures, but will increasingly start to use words to communicate. As your child plays, you can promote her language development by talking about your game, her toys, and the world around her. Encourage pretend play (“role-playing”) when she is ready, as dialogue flows naturally from these acted-out stories.

Learning Through Play Social Skills Toddlers develop social skills as you show your enjoyment in spending time with them—this makes them feel fun to be with, loved, and special. Through play, you can help your child practice turn-taking, sharing, and cooperation.

Learning Through Play Social Skills At this age, playing with peers often means parallel play, in which children play next to, but not with, another child. This is normal and is an early friendship-building experience, as children watch and imitate others.

Ways to Promote Your Child’s Development Through Play Make movement activities part of every day. Possibilities for play grow by leaps and bounds for your young toddler! Physical skills are taking off as your child learns to stand on two feet, walk forwards and back, and even jump, run, and climb. Look for games that encourage movement and help build on new physical strength, coordination, and balance.

Play In order for an activity to be called play, the player must choose to participate; a play activity is self-chosen. The child controls how long she will participate. The child defines the goals of the activity. Play is active, not passive. It is interactive. Play has no rules. Children playing outdoors often have more freedom than is typical of indoor play.

Types of Play

Unoccupied Play Generally the very young infant will engage in this type of play. They tend to be looking at their hands or other body parts or cooing to themselves. They do not seek contact with others or appear to have a purpose.

Usually seen during infancy. Infants tend to play by themselves totally unaware of others around them. Children will engage in solitary play at all ages. This is also typical play of toddlers

This can occur across many stages of development, but is most commonly associated with infants and toddlers. Evidence of onlooker play is seen when children are near a group of other children and are often following the actions or copying what is happening in the play.

Parallel play: This type of play is also common in the toddler years and into the early preschool years. Children will now tolerate other children standing near them when playing and using the same equipment. However, they are only concerned with what they are doing and have few meaningful interactions.

This is first seen usually in the early preschool years. Children will begin to play and talk with each other in dramatic play situations where roles may be taken on. However, these roles are usually not sustained for any length of time. There doesn’t seem to be a common purpose to the play.

Cooperative play occurs in the later preschool years. Children are able to take on roles and sustain them for the duration of the play. The group of children have agreed upon goals and roles for the play. In this stage of play, leaders and followers emerge within groups. Roles are delegated and tasks distributed within the group. There is a common goal and children will play together in a more complex way.

This stage usually emerges in the school-aged group when achievement, completing tasks and producing an ‘end- product’ becomes more meaningful. Competitive play is inevitable but should be played down by carers as too much emphasis on competition can be destructive to peer relationships and children’s self-esteem. Instead there should be an emphasis on collaboration.

Paste the pictures on the construction paper on the back table

We also need to remember that not all children develop the same skills at the same time. Individual differences occur and some of these may be a result of the diversity that exists within our community. This diversity can include;

How do you know this isn’t an aggressive encounter?

What type of play is this?