A home full of opportunities for play

Did you know you have a home full of opportunities for play?

The best thing about play for small children is that anything can be a toy if it comes with an adult to play with.

Research tells us that young children don’t need to have expensive or lots of toys to have fun with to support their learning. Often when babies or toddlers are given a gift, they are naturally more excited by the box it comes in, or the scrunching and ripping of the wrapping paper. When children play with generic everyday items they have the opportunity to use their imagination as familiar objects can become anything, and the ideas for play become limitless.

You can support your child’s play and imagination by providing them with items that are safe and tough enough to last through some robust play without injury to your child or home.

• Plastic cups, plates and any containers with large lids are great for stacking, sorting or building. when building, talk to your child about the different colours or offer suggestions on how they might use them.

• Pots and pans are also great items with instantly noisy instruments. Add a wooden spoon and you can make music and sing rhymes with your little one. Collect empty small cardboard boxes, egg cartons or toilet rolls, use these to build or tape them together for an activity.

• Boxes, blankets and scarves make the best cubby houses – especially if you’re brave enough to use the big cushions off the couch (who knows what you might find under those cushions sometimes!) You might like to add some pillows and books so you can snuggle up and share a story together.

All of these activities come complete with opportunities for lots of language eagerly describing or discussing the imagined projects that you are unlocking.

Have a go and see what else you can find for play, and enjoy the results.