Nanny GPS: Entertaining Kids
Free playtime is essential for a child's development. Kids need playtime to help them develop social skills and creative thinking skills. One of the most vital forms of play for young children involves fantasy and role-playing with their peers.'Play equals learning' for children and when you are caring for children it is important that they have free playtime.
- Childhood play is crucial for social, emotional and cognitive development.
- Imaginative and rambunctious "free play", as opposed to games or structured activities, is the most essential type.
Unlike structured games like soccer which has predefined rules, play, on the other hand, does not have a priori rules, so it affords more creative responses.
A child's play room or bedroom should be a refuge for them. Children need a place where they can go to find enjoyment while learning at the same time. In order to ensure that your child is developing during their playtime, they will need a selection of educational toys.
Some great traditional educational toys are:
- Dolls, dolls accessories and push chairs. Both boys and girls can enjoy playing with dolls. My own two girls spend hours playing house with their dolls and adding in high-chairs, clothes, shoes adds to their imaginative play.
- Role play toys to encourage your child to mimic real life situations and create their own scenarios too. Such toys include:
- Mini appliances like a kitchen, utensils, washing machine so your child can mimic what you do.
- Pretend tools and work benches. These kind of tools can also help your child develop logic skills.
- A play house can fuel lots of imagination in your child.
Your child should also have a variety of jigsaws and other building toys like lego to play with. These type of toys encourage their cognitive development. Some suggestions are wooden jigsaw puzzles, play dough, reading materials, and writing materials. These toys offer fun, quiet playtime, while stimulating your child's cognitive learning skills, such as problem solving and hand eye coordination skills.
There are lots of types of toys available to stimulate your childs free playtime.
Suggestions for Free Outdoors Play
- make mud pies
- collect conkers
- slide down a grassy bank
- climb a tree
- make a den in the garden
- a teddy bear picnic
- build a sand castle
- camp out in the garden
- find some worms
- ride a bike
- fly a kite
- plant a tree
- find 10 different leaves in the park
- grow vegetables
Ideas for Indoor Play
- make some cookies
- bake bread
- make a hands and feet painting
