Playing to learn

Joy is pretty much unavoidable when playing peek-a-boo with a giggling baby or throwing a ball back and forth with an excited toddler. Although playing with littles is often filled with laughing and silliness, essential learning is occurring.

“Play is critical to a child’s development across all areas, including their communication, language, movement and motor skills,” says Stephanie Parks, assistant professor of practice at the University of Kansas. “Everything is developing through play.”

Helping babies discover the basics

For babies, Parks recommends a “serve and return” approach, where the child might make a facial expression or gesture, and the parent responds to that action with another meaningful interaction. She said these moments can be quick and simple, but they make a lasting impact, and it’s important for parents to be in tune and present with their children to be able to enjoy those moments.

In terms of skills, one of the first that babies learn is eye-tracking. Babies just a few months old or younger see in black and white, so consider taking a stuffed animal that is mostly black and white and moving it around to see how well the baby can follow along visually. Progress to colored objects and more complex things for them to watch.

Babies also love pictures. Whitney Mammoliti, a local mom of four who has previously worked as a home educator with Parents as Teachers, suggests taking pictures of people in your family and putting them in zip-lock baggies. This allows your baby to look at the pictures and flip through them. The motion of moving the baggies as they flip through the pictures is the same motion as turning the pages of a book.

She also suggests putting pictures of various objects on empty Clorox wipes containers so they can roll or crawl to get them. This activity helps babies with their visual tracking and gross motor skills. This can be just one of many games you use to move desired toys and objects away from the baby to encourage gross motor development through rolling or crawling.

Overall, Parks recommends open-ended play where a child is given an object that can be used in many ways. She says one reason children often seem to enjoy playing with a box rather than the toy it contained is because the box can have multiple uses, but the toy might only have one primary use.

Keep in mind, too, there are many ways of achieving desired development with babies.

“It’s not all about the actual toy, materials and skills,” Parks says. “It’s about laying that foundation so that their brains have a strong foundation for everything that happens later.”

Although there are always lists of activities you can do with your baby, the most important thing is to simply interact with your little one.

“There is no right or wrong way to play with your baby,” says Jennifer Hanson, lead parent educator with North Kansas City Schools Parents as Teachers.

Exploring the world with toddlers

As the child becomes an older baby and begins to enter toddlerhood, pinching and grasping are essential fine motor skills important to develop. To encourage this, you can have Baby practice picking up pieces of food with her hands, or you can have him put pom-poms into an empty plastic water bottle. Having toddlers play with play dough also builds strength in their hands and develops fine motor skills.

Social skills are also an important part of toddler playtime, Mammoliti says. Playing games that teach kids how to interact with others, share and take turns are important too. Even playing common games like freeze dances, Simon says, hot and cold, hot potato, musical chairs and Hokey Pokey all teach listening, following directions and concentration.  These games can also help teach the kids how to handle big emotions.

Toddlers get a boost in their logic skills from games, too. Mammoliti suggests hiding a favorite toy and giving the child clues to help him find it. Playing memory match games assists with logic and cognitive skills, and sorting shapes and colors are other fun games.

Although a variety of online apps and games say they help with fine motor or other skills, both Mammoliti and Parks emphasize the importance of active play over screen time, as active play experiences just can’t be replicated online.

While structured, parent-guided play boosts development, Parks says, and child-directed play also play an important role. Giving a child various objects, like old milk crates, socks, cups or wooden spoons, and waiting to see what they do allows tots to explore, discover and learn on their terms.

“Follow the child’s lead, and let the child be the one who decides how the play is going to happen,” Parks says. “Let them practice their decision-making skills and move at their pace.”

Parks also says there is value in “riskier” play outside, including playing with sticks, running around barefoot and playing in the mud. These activities engage the brain, and the child can be taught how to engage in such play in a safe manner.

“Babies and toddlers learn best when they are just interacting with their environment,” Hanson says. “So much of what they want to do is imitate what they see you doing.”

Overall, keep in mind that while we break down social, emotional, cognitive and motor skills when we study how littles learn, the reality is children develop these skills all at once, according to Parks. And Hanson says that’s the most amazing thing: “The beauty of play is that is so naturally involves the whole child.”

Embrace the mess

Sensory play teaches littles about different textures and how things feel in addition to aiding in developing fine motor skills. Despite this, parental dread meets the mess that comes with letting such a young child play with the likes of slime, shaving cream, paint or kinetic sand.

From time to time, don’t be afraid to let the mess happen, as important learning occurs when you do.

“Messy play is a great opportunity to figure out what the material is and what it does,” says Stephanie Parks, assistant professor of practice at the University of Kansas. “It is their way of exploring and investigating the material and how it changes.”

Allison Gibeson is a Lee’s Summit writer and mom who loves making silly faces at littles to make them laugh.