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Come and play!

Play

Play is fundamental to learning. It contributes to cognitive, social, physical and emotional well-being and therefore is essential to development (1). Through play the child explores their environment and tests out their skills and abilities. The child also learns that they have some effect and control over their environment through their actions, build communication skills and relationships with their caregiver and gain social feedback.

In sum, some of the many benefits of play are:

• 
  

  Physical skill development (fine and gross motor skills) e.g. through sorting blocks, putting objects in and out of a container

• Develops language skills – Research (2) suggests that play incorporates many of the socially interactive and cognitive elements known to enhance language, especially “guided play” (parents follow child’s lead while scaffolding the interaction, rather than “free play” where play goes wherever child wants)

• Develops communication and social skills – e.g.sharing, taking turns (with older children), social communication with other children and adults, negotiation skills

• Understanding of cause and effect relationships – e.g. testing out a toy to try and understand how it works (3)

• Relationships and bonding

• Awareness of self in environment – control and ability to make decisions and direct the play

• Self expression – of choices, wants, needs – experience of these being recognised by another person and learning their influence on the outcome

• Creativity and imagination skills (1)

• Independence – e.g. when playing on own and entertaining self

• Benefits for parents: Observing or joining in child-driven play gives opportunity to see the world from their child’s perspective, especially with younger children who cannot talk yet – they might be able to express their views and frustrations through play . Learning to communicate more effectively and gives another setting in which to offer nurture and guidance (1)

How to support your child during play – what parents can do:

“Scaffolding” learning

Playing alone can be important – it might help the child develop confidence and independence skills, and at other times you (the parent or caregiver) might join in. I remember my toddler when he was a bit younger went through a stage when he didn’t want me to interfere too much in what he was doing and communicated this to me by making annoyed sounds and taking the object(s) we were playing with away from me. For example, if we were trying to sort shapes and I tried to “help” him he’d say waarrah and get annoyed. So I stopped. But, he still wanted me to sit with him. This made me think of the concept of:

• Zone of Proximal Development (Vygotsky)

• This is about what we can do with the help of others, that we could not do alone.

• The support and interaction with others helps develop skills, learning and understanding in the area the child is trying to develop.

• Here’s a brief page explaining zone of proximal development and scaffolding

This is a learning model that actually applies to learning over the lifespan and is relevant us as infants, children, teenagers and as adults, across contexts from school to work. For example, a teacher or supervisor at work might refer to this concept when assisting the learning of a student or less experienced employee.

• The teacher or supervisor can provide “scaffolding” to support the child’s developing knowledge, skills or understanding of the area they are trying to master.

In general, a consistent and predictable parental approach is beneficial

• Encourage curiosity when playing together e.g. asking – where did that ball go?

• If baby is exploring and experimenting comment on what they are doing. If they’re not quite getting something “right” e.g. stacking the wrong size block and it keeps falling off – try a comment to acknowledge their hard work and motivation such as “I can see you’re trying to stack those, it doesn’t look like that one fits does it?” – and maybe try scaffolding their attempts by suggesting another block or holding the blocks so they don’t fall to maintain baby’s interest and perseverance.

Get creative

You don’t need fancy expensive toys for play or to aid development. This study here (4) discusses the possible benefit of every day items and furniture that can support gross and fine motor skill development (being mindful of risky items or dangerous situations)

Toys, appliances, and even a sofa and coffee table can impact the way or when a baby first crawls, walks or achieves other growth milestones… the significant role household items play in their infant’s motor skill development.

 

‘What does a toy or a coffee table do?’ Well, depending on the space between the couch and the coffee table, it could be the first distance that the child wants to cross… If a toy is cranked and pops up, the child might want to go grab it, which could lead the child to walking. But the challenge is the thing that stimulates that child to begin walking.

Get Social

And of course, another free and thrifty play option is the local playground or park, where you can hang with your other parent friends and benefit from some conversation normalising the trials and tribulations of parenthood… 

References:

1. Ginsburg, K. R. (2007).The Importance of Play in Promoting Healthy Child Development and Maintaining Strong Parent-Child Bonds. PEDIATRICS Vol. 119 No. 1, pp. 182 -191. http://pediatrics.aappublications.org/content/119/1/182.full

2. Weisberg, D. S., Zosh, J. M., Hirsh-Pasek, K., Golinkoff, R. M. (2013). Talking It Up: Play, Language Development, and the Role of Adult Support. American Journal of Play, 6 (1), pp. 39-54. http://files.eric.ed.gov/fulltext/EJ1016058.pdf

3. Schulz, Laura E., and Bonawitz, Elizabeth. (2007). Serious fun: Preschoolers engage in more exploratory play when evidence is confounded. Developmental Psychology, 43, 1045-1050.

4. P. M. Cacola, C. Gabbard, M. I. L. Montebelo, D. C. C. Santos. Further Development and Validation of the Affordances in the Home Environment for Motor Development-Infant Scale (AHEMD-IS).Physical Therapy, 2014; 95 (6): 901 DOI: 10.2522/%u200Bptj.20140011

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Happy Birthday Baby! You’re now one. Time has gone so quickly!

So what has he been up to?

In the week or so before his first birthday he’s

• Spoken his first word, taken his first steps (although the steps have not been repeated since then, grrr)

• Appears to understand more words and basic instruction, e.g. can you put this in the box (or maybe it’s just fluke each time). Can say “up”, kind of say “moo”, knows the cow says moo, knows the chicken says “bukkarr” and can say his version of a chicken sound, might have said “book” but i’m not 100% sure, say dada, has said “hi” a few times.

• We have two new teeth coming through – he has 8 already so this will make 10.

• He can nod his head, wave hello and bye bye and wave this if you ask him to say bye/hello

• He can play ball by rolling it to me (though not completely accurately)

• His concentration during reading has improved and he can sit most of the way through a baby book.

• He eats a lot of finger food and cut up “regular” food, such as pasta, sandwhiches, cheese, basically meals and food that I feel to the toddler (nearly 2.75 years old) but with extra attention to salt content. However, saying that, now that he is one he could have a little more salt in his diet. The NHS write:

The maximum recommended amount of salt for babies and children is:

• up to 12 months – less than 1g of salt a day (less than 0.4g sodium)
• 1 to 3 years – 2g of salt a day (0.8g sodium)

What are general developments and milestones at 12 months?

You can find a useful birth to five development timeline here, from the NHS. According to this timeline:

• 10-18 months, baby usually walks alone

• by 12 months, responds to their own name

• 12-18 months, takes an interest in words

There is also useful information on development across a range of areas here from the CDC, including social/emotional, language/communication, cognitive and physical developments:

• Plays games such as peek a boo, can hand you a book if they want a story, repeats sounds to get attention

• responds to simple verbal requests and follow simple directions e.g. pick up the (item)

• can bang two things together

• moves into a sitting position without assistance, cruises/pulls to stand, may take a few steps, may stand alone

For further reading on development in young children, have a look at this article “Children under three years: the time of their lives” (M. Dowling), a free resource from the British Association for Early Childhood Education (more resources found here). It discusses areas of progress, important social and attachment related elements, cognitive and emotional development and more.