Play is essential for your child’s learning and development. It helps them practice new skills, learn to experiment, explore and persevere. When you play together, you will be supporting their early speech, language and communication skills and boosting their self-esteem too.
Play helps your child to …
- Listen and respond to others
- Practice new and familiar words and sounds
- Build on their independence
- Flourish in their self confidence
- Interact with others and make friends
- Develop imagination and creativity
- Explore the world around them
- Unlock new learning opportunities
- Learn new skills
- Engage in deeper learning
- Celebrate and accept differences
- Succeed and thrive
- Have fun!
Can you imagine any other activity that covers so many things?!
What play activities will help your child learn and develop?
Play can be anything!
Babies and children are naturally curious about the world and will explore, investigate and play with the objects and materials they find around them. Reclaimed and recycled materials or objects found around the house can support creativity and playfulness very effectively.
Try to follow your child’s lead, and encourage their imagination; a blanket could be a blanket for a doll, a superhero cape, a roof for a den, a raging river, a flying carpet or a ….
Here's some ideas to get you started with supporting and encouraging creative play at home:
Watch this mother and daughter playing together:
When you join in with your child’s play it...
Shows them that you value their ideas.
Supports them to learn how conversations work.
Enables them to build confidence in their speech and learn new words.
Will strengthen your bond as you have fun engaging in shared experiences.
Start small
Try to fit in some little moments together to play every day.
Why not have some family fun playing together, play is for everyone, anytime and everywhere!
