CURRICULUM AND LEARNING ENVIRONMENT * 2 HOURS * LEVEL 2
The Importance of Play for Infants and ToddlersIdeas for Play Activities |
Page 10 |
Dramatic Play Activities
Pretend activities are crucial times for adults to interact with infants and toddlers and encourage their development in all of the domains, including language, mathematical, scientific, social-emotional, physical, and self-help development. When an infant first pats a toy dog or holds a toy telephone to his ear, he is pretending. Pretend play is one of the ways that young children begin to make sense of the world. You can support infants and toddlers in this important learning by providing a variety of materials such as dress-up clothes and toy household furnishings. You also can encourage or prompt children to think about new ideas and topics through pretend play. For example, after reading a book about a rabbit family, you might add one or two toy stuffed rabbits to the pretend play area and ask toddlers, “Do you want to tuck the baby rabbit into bed?” With infants, you can use dolls, puppets, and simple props to act out familiar activities such as feeding a baby or saying “hi” to a friend. For toddlers, you can provide a wide variety of props and dress-up clothes. Dedicate a pretend play area where children are free to enact their own dramas. Encourage children to develop their own pretend play ideas whenever possible. Limit groups in the pretend play area to two or three children at a time to encourage the greatest sharing of ideas. |
New Enrollments Set-Up
|
|