Play

Playing with your child helps with their confidence, development and overall wellbeing. Many parents make the mistake of trying to take the control of how their child plays. However, you should let them experiment with unstructured play, which allows them to go at their own pace and usually revolves around their interests at that moment.

The desire to play starts at toddler age, all the way through to early adulthood, however, babies, toddlers and young children have the instinct to play, which should initially be shaped by parents. As they move through the different phases of their life, the way they choose to play will change. Not all children find it easy to play.

Here’s how you can help your child’s development through play during the different stages of infancy:

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Entertaining children is one of the toughest tasks. In order to maintain their full attention, they have to be mentally and physically engaged, but the task can’t be too challenging from the get-go. Initiating entertainment and maintaining entertainment is a  challenge, no doubt, but it can be done.

In a time where instant gratification is the norm, many children indulge in screen time as their main source of information. TV, movies, tablets, and video games provide entertainment, but little more. 

Enter card games. These might seem vintage to some, but a simple, two-player card game has just the right balance of physical and mental engagement, while challenging children enough to keep them involved. 

If you’d like to switch out screens for a deck of cards, keep reading. I’ve got a few of the most loved card games that will keep kids entertained, no screens attached. 

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Board games are meant to provide fun and creativity during playtime, so why not create your own board game. They are one of the great ways to develop social skills in early life. Boards are quite expensive, so it will be cheaper to create one using recycled materials. When designing the board, it is good to consider the age range of the players. The target age influences the game rules and the complexity of the game board. For example, good board games for 6 year olds that are fun to play, both educational and easy to understand are ideal for children.

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Jumping, climbing and running are all important ways for kids to engage in physical play, which is important for developing gross motors skills and promoting other developmental milestones. However, an equally important means for development is through imaginative play.

Imaginative play is essential for children’s social, emotional and cognitive development. This type of play includes make believe games and role plays. Studies have shown that imaginative play improves development across many important areas,such as self-regulation, language skills and problem-solving. Pretending to be different characters also helps kids to experience the lives of others and develop empathy.

You don’t need to spend big bucks to make a big impact. With just a few simple materials, you can create these amazing DIY make believe costumes to keep your kids entertained for hours.

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Wooden railway is an absolute classic toy – popular in most homes and nurseries. It was a huge hit with my boys particularly when they were younger, and now that N is moving out of the baby stage into the toddler years, we’ve started to reintroduce it again. Wooden railway is really open ended and can be played with many ways. The versatility is one of the reasons why we like it so much!

We were sent a great bundle of new wooden railway items from woodenrailways.co.uk to refresh our collection. We have various wooden tracks already, but some of it is quite battered from years of play so it’s always nice to start again with some fresh ones – plus wooden railway tends to be compatible across brands so if N wants to expand her tracks with some of our older accessories then that won’t be an issue.

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We all know that spending time outside is good for our children. So, many parents try to take their kids to the park or for a bike ride. The problem is there is not always enough time available to do this as much as you would like. So, you have to do what you can to encourage your kids to go outside and play on their own more. A great way of doing that is buying them toys that are more suited for playing with outdoors than inside. Here are a few suggestions.

Radio-controlled toys

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This summer, Little Tikes are celebrating all of the parents and families who encourage kids to get outdoors into the garden or great outdoors, and in a time where indoor screen based activities can be very tempting, or safety concerns can keep kids inside, they’ve brought out some great new ranges to make outdoor play even more fun and exciting.

We went along to the Little Tikes Bring Back the Outdoors event at Hyde Park on the weekend, and had such a lovely time. We had the perfect weather for it, as it was a really sunny day and N couldn’t have been happier. Exploring all of the Little Tikes outdoor toys was so exciting for her, and a few hours just flashed by!

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