Hidden Opportunities for Play
Do you think that 'invitations to play' are little set ups in trays?
Do you think that the only way your child will engage in play is if you sit beside them, put on silly voices and lead a game or activity?
I have big news.... you don't need to do either or anything. Just by living everyday life we are exposing our kiddos to so many incredible opportunities for play.
Below you will find my Top Five hidden opportunities for play;
Go to a new environment- live near the beach? Go into the city and stroll around and pay attention to the sights and sounds.
Get into the kitchen- the kitchen is full of so many opportunities to learn through play. Measuring, taste testing, reading recipes, and feeling the textures of different ingredients.
Take a home toy to a new environment- at home we can set up rocks and build jungles for our toy animals to climb over but what happens when you actually take the toy dinosaur to the local park or creek?
Get your kids involved in daily household tasks- cleaning the windows? Can you spray it up high and watch it run down the window? (Will you have to do it again? Maybe, but you have exposed them to cleaning and made it a fun task. Is that even possible?) Get siblings to race each other and see who can collect all of the toys/books/dirty clothes first.
Allow kids to use real utensils and tools- the earlier we expose kids to 'adult' tools and utensils the sooner they understand how to use them, what they are used for and most importantly how to be safe when using them. (Please use common sense when taking on this one- we are not going to go giving a baby a knife now are we?!?
We need to stop putting so much pressure on ourselves to have incredible play spaces and set ups.
Everyday life is filled with opportunities for play so let's make the most of them.