We grew up with games and toys like Lincoln Logs, Hot Wheels, Barbie Dolls, and Chutes and Ladders. When we were children, we loved playing with these toys and were oblivious to the fact we were learning important skills while playing. As we know, children love screens. We didn’t have access to screens when we were children like children have today. Screens are everywhere and it is difficult to escape them. This blog highlights different toys to help limit your child’s screen time. With present day technology being at its best, the American Academy of Pediatrics urges play as a prescription, or antidote, to screen time. Their advice: limit screen time, make time for unstructured play, and choose toys that inspire imagination.  

We’ve built a guide of go-to, educational toys that children gravitate toward:

1. The Melissa and Doug Learn to Play Piano: 

Purpose and Benefits: Teaches fine motor coordination skills, sound discrimination, core stability, listening, concentration, self-regulation, and memory.

2. Magna-Tiles

Purpose and Benefits: Encourages creative thinking, color, shape, & symmetry discrimination, mathematics, social play, and fine motor skills.

3. Fisher-Price Laugh & Learn Smart Stages Piggy Bank

Purpose and Benefits: Grows and develops language in English and Spanish through numbers and songs. Features different levels to help progress learner in skills.  Uses action words and phrases such as ‘open’. Fine motor skills, color discrimination, counting, and animal recognition is also a plus!

4. Feed The Woozle

Purpose and Benefits: This Game utilizes fine & gross motor skills, body awareness, reading and word recognition, counting, turn taking, and multiple step directions.

Bonus! Cooperative game play!

5. The Learning Journey: Space Match

Purpose and Benefits: Social play, turn taking, shape & color discrimination, matching, and memory are all focuses of this game.

Bonus! The Learning Journey: My First Grab It comes in many different versions that all teach different learning aspects. Check out The Learning Journey for puzzles, numeracy, matching, and imaginative building.

The list of toys that grab attention and make learning fun is endless. Other toys to make the list:

• Kinetic Sand
• Play Doh with molds
• Train and Tracks sets
• Marble Run
• Hoot Owl Hoot
• Zingo
• Catch the Fox

These games and toys help children to continue to put building blocks of various skills upon their already existing foundation. Giving a child the opportunity to play is one of the best gifts that can be given. It is crucial that we share the joy of social interaction with children and connect with each other through play.

Prompting sibling bonding is important but can be challenging. This blog gives tips for parents to promote sibling bonding while keeping in mind the needs of your children. You shouldn’t force too much togetherness with siblings and you must provide time for unstructured play. It is also important to keep in mind that each child develops at their own pace. The first step to promoting sibling play is to collect a list of items that each child prefers to play with. After gathering your list, set up the environment to promote play. Setting up the environment is very important. Depending on the stage of play that your children are in, you want to set up the environment so that they are engaged in the same activity without other preferred distractions. For example, siblings can engage in parallel play while coloring. You would need to remove all other toy options and set up the table with markers and preferred pictures for each child. For associative play, set up blocks and remove all other toy options so that they can engage in the same activity next to each other on the floor. For social play, remove all other toy options and set up a board game, card game, ball game that requires turn taking and sharing. 

ONLOOKER PLAY (1-2 years) 

Onlooker play starts during toddler years, but can happen at any age. This stage is when children watch others play. The child who is looking at the other children, but there is no effort to join the play. This may happen when a child is shy, or unsure of the rules, or is hesitant to join the game.  

PARALLEL PLAY (2-3 years)  

Parallel play is usually found with toddlers, although it happens in any age group. Parallel play starts when children begins to play side-by-side with other children without any interaction. Even though it seems like they are not interacting, they are paying attention to each other. This is the beginning of the desire to be with other children. This stage really starts to lay the groundwork for the more complex social stages of play. 

ASSOCIATIVE PLAY (3-4 years) 

At around three to four years of age, they eventually become more interested in the other children rather than the toys. At some point, a child will start interacting more with the other child they are playing with; this is called associative play. They start asking questions and talking about the toys and what they are making. This is the beginning of understanding how to get along with others. During associative play, children within the group have similar goals (for example: building a tower out of blocks). However, they don’t set rules and there’s no formal organization. 

SOCIAL PLAY (4 and up) 

Children will really begin to socialize starting around three or four. They begin to share ideas and toys and follow established rules and guidelines. They play shop and figure out who will play what role. They can work together to build something or maybe play a simple game together. This is really where a child learns and practices social skills, like cooperating, being flexible, taking turns, and solving problems. 

As children proceed in the stages of play, their play becomes more complex and involves more and more interacting with others. For children to practice social skills like cooperating, compromising and problem solving, the best way to do that is to let them play. They’ll remember the rhythms and melodies of social interactions much more smoothly if we allow them the time and space to play. 

Suggested activities to promote sibling play:

• water play
• bubbles
• balloons
• magnetic tiles
• playdoh and cutters (not recommended for children that mouth non-edible items)
• sand (not recommended for children that mouth non-edible items)
• cause and effect toys
• ball pit
• cars and tracks
• trains and tracks
• books (touch and feel, flip tabs, pop ups, sing along)
• and more! 

References: 

Parten, M.B. (1932). Social participation among preschool children. Journal of Abnormal and Social Psychology, 27(3), 243-269.  

Rymanowicz. (2015). The power of play – part : Stages of play. Retrieved from http://msue.anr.msu.edu/news/the_power_of_play_part_1_stages_of_play  

Why is play so important? Play is a powerful learning tool!

“Play is often talked about as if it were a relief from serious learning. But for children, play is serious learning. Play is really the work of childhood.” -Fred Rogers

As an adult, we often look for the most effective and efficient way to complete a goal or finish a project. Need to complete a report for work? Let’s gather the information and fill in the required forms as quickly as possible. However, when we are learning a new skill, it is important for us to think about the best ways to acquire the needed information, practice a new way of thinking or doing something, and possibly share that knowledge with others. When you learned to drive, you probably spent some time reading the rules of the road, watching videos, but most importantly, practicing driving with an adult. This time spent practicing allowed you to apply the information you learned in meaningful ways while also deepening your understanding of the rules of the road.  

This same approach is also important for our children. While we can show them pictures of letters or talk to them about numbers, the most powerful way for them to learn new concepts is through hands-on learning activities that are interesting, creative, and engaging. The most powerful approach to support this learning? PLAY!  

Learn more about Child Development from birth to 12 years old here.

Imaginative play allows children to explore their feelings and thoughts, depersonalize difficult topics, and express themselves in various and creative ways. For example, by using puppets a child can act out experiences or challenging emotions they are feeling while creating solutions for the puppets. Play supports children’s innovation, encourages them to reflect and problem solve, and engages all of their senses which can stimulate their thinking.  When children develop their play, they are building their focus and attention in a deeper and more meaningful way while supporting their abstract thinking skills. These are important abilities that will serve them well throughout their lives. Playful learning also supports natural ways to engage peers and build social skills like sharing, turn-taking, and waiting. Children can also think about others’ perspectives as they consider how to build relationships with others. These skills are best learned through hands-on activities. There is no worksheet or flashcard that can support a child’s patience, friendship skills, or the ability to understand others’ emotions quite as effectively as playing with others. 

The next time your child is playing, try to observe how they are engaged with the materials, the activity, or other people. Consider what they might be learning and how they are developing their skills through play. If there is a specific skill you want to support in your child’s development, consider playful ways that are fun but also meaningful. Turn-taking or waiting? Try a game they enjoy like doing puzzles or play dough and add a turn-taking component like “First you put in a piece/cut out some play dough, then it’ll be my turn!” Emotional expression or vocabulary? When things are calm, try using puppets to act out a common scenario that causes emotional challenges for your child. Don’t have a puppet? Try a sock, hand puppets, a stuffed animal, or favorite doll. Or read a story that has an emotional component and ask your child what the characters are feeling or how they could handle the situation. To reinforce learning of numbers and letters, try playing a game like “I spy” where you focus on “I spy a sign that starts with ‘A’…has a ‘3’…etc.” You can also make three-dimensional letters or numbers with clay or play dough or engage fine motor skills to paint them or cut out pictures of letters or numbers from magazines or newspapers.  

Play is the most powerful tool for supporting children’s learning and observing their development. It creates positive opportunities that encourage children’s innovation, creativity, and social-emotional skills. Through play, children can learn important skills like literacy, numeracy, fine motor skills, gross motor abilities, and maintaining focus. Children are simultaneously motivated by play, spend more time thinking about an idea they are playing with, and are challenged to expand their ideas through play. The next time you want to learn or teach a new idea, try engaging play! 

For more information: 

The Importance of Play

The Essentials of Play

Research on the Impact of Play

More Research on the Importance of Play 

Ways to Use Puppets to Engage Children