A chart representing ways that children use symbolic play at different ages, from the California Department of Education.
How and Why to Encourage Pretend Play - from the Hanen Centre
The Hanen Centre is a nonprofit organization from Canada that helps to promote language, social and literacy skills in young children.
Here the Hanen Centre presents a great article on the stages and importance of pretend play.
Students Who Play Do Better in School - The Atlantic
A fun video of sensory activities
Games that build executive functioning skills
For more information on what executive functioning is, check out this article.
A video on play from Zero To Three
Play activities birth to three
The Development of Play Skills from Birth to 3
Resources from Zero To Three about how play skills develop, as well as toys and activities at different ages.
The Power of Play
Check out this download on "The Power of Play" from Zero To Three.
Apps to help us with play
Learning Through Play At Different Stages
Check out these links for articles from Zero To Three on play at different ages:
Learning through play: birth-12 months
Tips on playing with babies and toddlers
Block Play
Children generally learn to play with blocks in a sequence.
Check out this PDF from the Montana State Library about the stages of block play.
At 17 months, this little girl is stacking and making block towers.
This video highlights all the things that this young child is learning when playing with blocks.
I also loved this quote on block play: "Unlike toys that have limited use or can be play with in only one way, open-ended toys and play-things can be used in diverse ways and with different levels of proficiency. Blocks, for example, can be used to stack, load in a wagon, build a tower, clap to music, or symbolically represent a person, vehicle, animal, or railroad track. Blocks are enjoyed differently at different ages as play behaviors and capabilities change over time. Blocks have an enduring quality essential to play that supports cognitive and language development at all ages. Think about it: Architects and engineers use blocks to create models of their proposed structures. By contrast, a wind-up mechanical or electronic toy is of little value if all one can do with it is watch it "perform," or if its use requires adult assistance" (Puckett & Black et al., 2009, p. 302).
Peekaboo and hide and seek
Peekaboo is a classic game that is not only good fun but is also a great way to teach object permanence and attention skills and to potentially reduce separation anxiety.
Check out some fun examples:
Early on: Mom moves the cloth
Then baby moves the cloth.
Fun with patterns: This grandma is teaching beginning patterns by popping out from one side to the other.
Ask children get more skilled with peekaboo, they can start to play Hide and Seek!
Let's Play With Baby
The classic video from the Gottman Institute about family play. This video changed the way that I think about family play.
Such a good feeling
Enjoy this video about play courtesy of Daniel Tiger or Mr. Rogers.
Play Challenge Day 2 Update
This month is going to be awesome! So far I:
- Sang along to Christmas music in the car with my family
- Danced to the music while on the elliptical and in the shower
- Experimented with frosting and sprinkle colors on Pillsbury sugar cookies
- Made a race car with our nephews out of a big cardboard box, markers, paper plates, muffin liners, tape, and a plastic bottle for the brake.
Looking forward to more of this!!!
The critical link
A great visual definition of play
Play is one of the building blocks of learning.
How play impacts us as adults
Watch this story of how one man was impacted by adding more play into his life. This is the essence of the Play Challenge.
