Thanks to Terry who suggested that I write a blog about Child Led Play.
It is too easy to hover over our children while they are playing. It is much better take a step back and et them use their imagination.
When I was child minding, I sometimes laid out the tea set on a child sized table in my play room and watched while the children played with it.
Another way of encouraging child led play is to ask them open ended questions such as “What are we going to have to eat and drink?” rather than just asking for a cup of tea and a slice of cake.
The most special occasion that I can recall of this was at Christmas time. There were three children, of varying ages in the play room. I was listening from just outside the door way. The oldest child dressed up as Santa, complete with glasses (without lens) had wrapped up random toys in sheets taken from the dolls cot she then placed them in a pillow case (santa’s sack) While this was happening the other children lay on the sofa and pretended to be asleep. “Santa” tiptoed over and placed a present beside each child as he crept out of the room, I saw one of the children open an eye, she then jumped up and squealed with delight “Wake up, quickly, Santas been!” to the other child.
Then they both unwrapped their gift, hugged and sang Jingle bells.
It was a magical moment for me to witness, made even more special because they didn’t know that I had been watching and listening, they retold the whole event when I went back in the room.
My grandaughter loves to play shops, her favourite is to be an ice cream seller. Instead of her Daddy asking for a vanilla ice cream, he asks what flavours she has, this not only makes her use her imagination, but also helps her communication skills.
Child led play is great for expanding a child’s imaginative play and vocabulary skills, while generally helping brain development at the same time.
Have fun and enjoy this special time with your children while they are young and innocent.
As always comments/ questions are welcome
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Great post! 🌟 I think we can bombard our kids with too many questions and this certainly halts the play and can spoil the experience too. Thank you for linking up to #ablogginggoodtime 🎉
Oh my goodness how sweet is that. I am not surprised you remember that. We do a bit of child lead play my daughter also likes playing shops and putting items through the till and asking for money. It’s quite cute really. Thanks for joining us at #familyfun
As a helper in a Reception class, I really learned the benefits of child led play. Children act our scenarios they will face when they are older, like going shopping or to the doctors, and rehearse how they will behave in these settings, so when they come to try it our for real the whole scenarios feels more familiar and less frightening. They practice the language they will need, the turn taking and even the maths they will need to use when the time comes. Really valuable lessons are learned. #Mischiefandmemories
Spot on, thanks for stopping y
My daughter absolutely loves pretending to be Santa, as an only child she tends to rope me into playing with her, we’re working on more open ended play though.
Katrina x
#MischiefAndMemories
Good luck with the open ended play, Katrina, bet your daughter will love y
I totally agree about asking open questions so that children are able to use their imaginations. Role play is very important for learnng skills that are important for later life. Thanks for linking up with #mischiefandmemories
Pleased to hear that you agree with my thinking, Laura
I could hear my twins playing today in their room and I really wanted to see what they were up to, but I knew if I went in I would disrupt the flow and stop it from being them leading the play so I hide and watched and listened 🙂 #MischiefAndMemories
Thanks for stopping by
It really is magical isn’t it. Being able to play using just their imaginations and little prompting from grown ups is a bit of a talent that takes time to develop. It’s heartwarming to read that, as a childminder, this was really important to you to facilitate. Thank you for joining us for #MischiefAndMemories
Absolutely, Annette, thanks for hosting the linky for me to join in