Play ideas for Child Development: By Olivia Rivero (Paediatric Occupational Therapist)
I absolutley love playing games with children and tapping into their imagination. Play is how children learn and is a great avenue for parents and caregivers to promote a child' s development. It is wise to check how your baby and child is developing – if a child has not achieved one or two of its developmental milestones by the recommended age then it is a good idea to seek advice from a qualified health professional. Every child develops differently, your child may be ahead in some areas and behind in others it is not necessarily a cause for concern but it is better to be sure. Sometimes development can be assisted with a few basic exercises. One of the best online resources that I found is the Milestone checklist: Community Health
You may also find these sites helpful:
For ideas on using play with Annie'b products to assist your child's development click on the links below
Kids Bean Bags and Kid's Bean Chairs
Children's Puppet Theatre
Puppet theatres are so very versatile and can be great for multiple develpomental stages. This is probably why puppet theatres are so frequently employed by health and educational professionals who work with children. Puppet theatre should have a simple and no fuss design. This assists the child to focus their attention on the activity rather than exterior of the theatre. A child become overstimulated out with overly busy designs and mulitple bright colours, especially in a child care environment when there are a lot of extra sensory stimulation (noise, other children, things hanging from the ceiling and multi- coloured toys). To be useful puppet theatres also need to be safe and comply with Australian safety standards and practical (easily constructed and stored).
Fine motor:
- Use puppets that employ the use of the hand and fingers
- Finger puppets made out of gloves, paper bag or plates with paddle pop sticks for the child to grasp or socks puppets.
- Getting a child to help make the puppets is a great way to employ fine motor skills.
- Turn your puppet theatre into a shop or postoffice
Gross motor: Larger puppets tend to employ the larger muslces so opt for:
- stuffed toys and dolls
- hand and sock puppets
- string puppets for older children.
- Have children stand while they perform, have other children lie on their tummy with head resting on hands while they are in the audience (shoulder development). Allow children to change positions when they tire but see if the time they spend on their stomachs can be increased over time. Tummy time is very important for babies at first they will have difficulty maintaining this position, puppets are a great way to entertain bub while he or she is working hard.
Speech and language development:
- A puppet show is a great way to encourage speech.
- Get puppets to help with saying words properly, answer questions, respond to knock knock jokes
- Enact stories the child knows well and allow the child to sequence events in the story
Social skills:
- Turn taking with the popular puppet (because there is always one puppet that everyone wants), take turns in being the audience or performers.
- Perform social stories that teach appropriate social skills- ie. perhaps one puppet is learning to toilet train or is learning how to share. Kids love helping toys get things right!
Kid's PlayPalace
Cognitive development:
- Play palaces are a great forum for imaginative play. So let your child and your imagination run wild. Not only can they be used outside but they are great for inside play
Gross motor:
- Crawl, skip, bear walk, crab walk or run in and around the play palace.
Fine motor:
- Have a tea party in the play palace and dress up to attend! Dress ups and tea parties employ many fine motor skills when doing up zips, bows, belts and buttons on clothes and shoes, pouring and stirring, holding a tea cup with pincer grip, and how about using those handwriting skills to write signs and invitations to the tea party!
- Add a special touch to other fine motor games by playing them in your playpalace like puzzles, blocks, threading, drawing and colouring in.
Speech and language:
- Invite all the stuffed toys your playpalace and have lovely chat over tea or lunch.
Social skills:
- Imaginative play is a great way for children to experiment with social skills like sharing and turn taking, whether it is communicating with other kids or just their toys. Play " mums and dads" and put dolls to sleep, feed them and teach them how to do everyday activities.
Cognitive skills:
- Great for peek a boo, hide and seek and story time.
Kid's bean bags and Kids Bean Bag Chairs 
Sensory awareness:
- A child's ability to take in information with their senses, interpret the information and response appropriately is an important part of development. Bean bags have been used in therapy and schools to help children develop sensory awareness. In recent years children's bean bags lost popularity due to poorly made and unsafe products. Therapists were also required to wash the cover before seeing a new child- which was just too labour intensive. But in the home environment a safely designed bean bag is super versatile developmental tool.
- A bean bag provides the child with a sensory environment different to a hard surface and thus requires different skills to manoeuvre and position their bodies. Simply sitting in a bean bag during story time is a great addition to your child's sensory experience. Do not leave small children unsupervised in a bean bag or chair as they can become distressed if they have difficulty getting out of it.
Gross motor:
- Robust bean bags and chairs are a great addition to gross motor activities. On a rainy day make an obstacle course in the lounge room. Crawl over or around the bean bags or bean bag chairs, jump on cushions on the floor, crawl under the table, walk on the sofa and jump off into a mountain of pillows and cushions. Oh sounds so FUN!!!
Teddy Bear
Fine motor:
- Dressing teddy bears and other soft toys in dolls clothes or even the child's own clothes, is a great way to develop the strength and dexterity of the fingers. It is especially valuable when clothes involve long sleeves, zippers, laces, buttons and press studs.
- Dressed up teddies can be invited to attend tea parties, to listen to story time, to be the audience in kids puppet shows or be a special guest star of the puppet show.
Gross motor:
- Play catch with teddy bear. Throw high, low, slow and fast.
Towels
Visual Memory:
- Start with objects that you have two or more of like building blocks, spoons, cups, pegs etc. Put a few of the objects in a sequence. Hide objects under or behind a towel- while your child tries to replicate the order. Remove the towel and let the child check how they went. When the child seems to have mastered sequencing a few objects correctly add to it.
Self care skills:
- Children love to be independent. Teach them to dry themselves, their dolls, their pets and the play equipment.
- Drying after a dip in the pool or after a bath is a great opportunity to teach body parts. Call out a body part and make it a race to dry it as quick as possible.
Gross motor:
- Tossing and throwing soft items is a great way to help children develop their eye hand co-ordination. Make bath time fun by tossing towels to your tots. This is also as gentle help in shoulder strength development.
What game ideas have you or your children invented or found fun?
Let us know and we will add your ideas to our handy game list. Our guest OT may even be able to tell us how the game can be used to help your child's development!
