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Baby Play idea for Under Twos Treasure Baskets

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"One of the most important types of creative activity for young children is creative play. Creative play is expressed when children use familiar materials in a new or unusual way, and when children engage in role-playing and imaginative play" (PBS, 2023)

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Creative play promotes self-expression of the child which can also promote their self confidence. "Creative play is fundamentally important to our children’s physical, social, cognitive and emotional development. It is how children learn to perceive the world and understand their place in it" (Playdale Playgrounds, 2023). Play that is creative can provide a lot of benefits for a child including:

"Hand-eye coordination

Sensory development

Exploring the imagination

Concentration & attention

Individual confidence

Social confidence

Understanding different environments"

(Rhino Play, 2018)

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- making finger puppets or normal puppets (pretend play)
- painting pictures
- junk modelling
- using play dough or clay
- using outdoor crates do build a fort/house/castle e.c.t

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- Creating masks of your favourite superhero or villains.
- Or get creative and make your own character mask!

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Include description/videos/pictures

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What are the benefits of your types of play

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What are the benefits of your types of play

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What was your activity that you planned - put in an activity plan

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What was your activity that you planned - put in an activity plan

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How does your activities link to Holistic development

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How does your activities link to Holistic development

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Physical
Intellectual
Language and Communcation
Emotional
Social

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Equipment List:
- A mask template
- Coloured pencils
- Coloured pens
- Tissue paper (or anything you would like to decorate with!)
- Scissors
- String/wool
- A hole punch

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Imaginative play is 'when children are role playing and are acting out various experiences' (Janice D, 2011). It could be based from what happens around them and from what they see, hear, smell, taste and touch. It could be the children having a tea party or playing families. They are using their imagination to come up with ideas of what to do.

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we used different objects to present the 5 senses, for example we used icing sugar to taste, bubbles for sight,. Cotton, paper square and beads for touch. we used beans for hearing and hot chocolate powder for smell.

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What are the benefits of imaginative play? 

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What are the benefits of imaginative play? 

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The benefits of imaginative play are that it encourages creativity as it provides a safe environment for the children to act out their own situations. It also gives them the opportunity to 'let the children learn about other people's perspectives.' (Tracey E, 2022). For example, they might think about what a dad thinks when they're playing house. It can also be used as a fun way of of teaching positive behaviours. For example, you can ask questions, make comments and discuss dilemmas while the child is playing.

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1). Think of a design you would like to do.
2). Cut out your mask template.
3). Now get creative, you could use anything to make your mask.
4). Once you've finish, use the whole punch to create two holes either side of the mask, this will be used for the string part in the next step.
5). You can use the string/wool to measure around your head and see what size you would need to be cut off, so your mask can fit on your face.
6). Cut the string accordingly and then tie through the hole created in step 4.
You are now finished enjoy playing and having with your new mask(:

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Some activities that you could do with children is cooking a pretend meal and running a shop or café, where they can use toys and play with others. You could also act out a book or story and acting as a doctor so that they can explore different situations and act out different scenarios. They could also play with dolls and puppets to act through characters.

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Davis, Janice (2011). What is imaginative play and how to encourage it? Available at:
https://www.learning4kids.net/2011/12/30/what-is-imaginative-play-and-how-to-encourage-it/
(Accessed: 30 Nov 2022)
Ellis, Tracey (2022). The benefits of imaginative play. Available at:
https://therapyfocus.org.au/on-the-blog/the-benefits-of-imaginative-play/ (accessed: 30 Nov 2022)

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How to encourage and support imaginative play with our children?

Imaginative play is essentially when children are role playing and are acting out various experiences they may have had or something that is of some interest to them. They are experimenting with decision making on how to behave and are also practising their social skills. Children learn from experience: from what happens around them, from what they see, hear, smell, taste and touch. To absorb those experiences and make sense of the world, they need to be engaged in imaginary play.

We as adults can often under value imaginative play. Play is a child's way of engaging and making sense of the world. Role play may appear to be a very simple activity, yet within it, young children learn practical life skills such as dressing themselves, how to cooperate and share with others.

A place to play

Provide your child with a space in your home for imaginative play. It could be a separate room or even just the corner of a room. Fixed or build-in wardrobes are great places for imaginative play.

Another great place for imaginative play is the dinner table, remove all the chairs and cover the table with sheets, it becomes an instant cubby house or even a castle where a beautiful princess is kept captive by an evil dragon.

Couches are another great place to begin imaginative play; again a sheet thrown over the couch can become a tunnel or a cave that an explorer needs to investigate. Canopies and play tents can create a great place to begin the imaginary world. The play corner or imaginative play area should be changed regularly with different props and toys to keep children stimulated by it.

Provide Props and Toys

This does not mean that you have to go out and spend a lot of money on toys to help promote imaginary play. You will find that the most simple of items found in the home will act as perfect props to spark the imagination. Card board boxes can become anything in the imaginary world, I have seen them become computers, cash registers, and beds for sick animals. The plastics cupboard or drawer in the kitchen is filled with props that kids can re-invent them into other things.

Provide a dress ups box full of clothes, scarves, hats, handbags, shoes and wigs. Dress ups are irresistible to young children to spark the imagination. Consider creating a props box filled with toys, objects and props to encourage your child's fantasy world. You might include: washing baskets, pretend plastic flowers, old telephones, stuffed animals and dolls, blankets, plastic crockery and cutlery.

Be your child's playmate

Kids love to play with their parents! When your child brings you a pretend cup of tea, play along and ask for a tea spoon of sugar. Ring them up on their pretend phone asking to put in an order for 2 large pizzas for delivery. Show an interest in what they are doing as this helps to develop the story and encourage the imagination but let your child be in charge. Arrange play dates with children of a similar age so they can support each other's imaginative play.

Provide them with experiences to role play

Reading to your children will expose them to different scenarios, stories and experiences. Taking your children to many interesting places such as the zoo is also another way of exploring new experiences. This does happen naturally anyway, such as visiting the doctor and the supermarket. These will provide them with more experiences and more ideas for their imaginative play.

The learning benefits of Imaginative Play:

It provides opportunities for children to identify with the adult world. Practise and role play their understanding and interpretation.

Develop social skills: practising negotiation skills, turn taking and sharing. Provides opportunities for working out problems and experimenting with solutions.

Emotional development: Understanding and expressing their feelings through the re-enactment of certain experiences. Taking on roles that encourage discipline and empathy.

Encourages imagination: Children can be anyone and do anything in the pretend world.

Develop language skills: practising listening, looking and talking. Being spoken to and talking with other people, also developing an understanding of what is being communicated through body language such as smiles and nodding.

I also believe that imaginative play is a great way for children to relax and unwind from their busy lives.

I whole-heartedly believe that kids should be allowed to be kids! In our world today, it seems as if we get caught up in being busy and forget to have fun. Encouraging our children to play and have fun will develop healthy connections and choices in life.

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What is Imaginative Play and How to Encourage it?

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How to encourage and support imaginative play with our children? Imaginative play is essentially when children are role playing and are acting out various experiences they may have had or something that is of some interest to them. They are experimenting with decision making on how to behave and are also practising their social skills.

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What was your activity that you planned?

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What was your activity that you planned?

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We gathered different items and placed them in a basket to create a treasure box to let the children explore different play.

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What you can include within the treasure box:
Whisk
Wooden spoon
Bowl
Plate
Spoon
Rattles
Scrunchies
cups
Bauble
tinsel
sponge
animals
cotton wool
pine cone
rolling pin
jingle things

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How holistic development links to creative play.

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Activities you can do including physical play

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PBS (2023) Creativity and Play:
Fostering Creativity. Available at: https://www.pbs.org/wholechild/providers/play.html#:~:text=One%20of%20the%20most%20important,role%2Dplaying%20and%20imaginative%20play. (Accessed: 17 May 2023)

Playdale Playgrounds (2023) What is Creative Play? Available at: https://www.playdale.co.uk/what-is-creative-play-for-toddlers/#:~:text=Creative%20play%20involves%20self%2Dexpression,go%20through%20the%20education%20system. (Accessed: 17 May 2023)

Rhino Play (2018) The Benefits Of Creative Play. Available at: https://rhinoplay.co.uk/news/the-benefits-of-creative-play/ (Accessed: 17 May 2023)

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the children are learning and feeling different textures of day to day objects. the children can learn new skills like brushing there hair if you have included a hair brush. the children can do many different things with the items in the box. they also can improve there fine motor skills when taking things out and playing with them espeshaly if there is things like small balls and sponges as they can play with them in there hands.(squish, pull, throw, role,grab).  throughout this activity the children are exploring things that may have never seen or used before so it is giving them a hands on experience. they can also improve there communication skills as you can ask them questions about the items that they are holding. they are also learning to shear things as they may pass the objects to there friends. they may talk about the objects to there frinds depending oh how old the children are. they may say things like " i have a fork" or "im brushing my hair".

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"Heuristic play is rooted in young children’s natural curiosity. As babies grow, they move beyond being content to simply feel and ponder objects, to wanting to find out what can be done with them. Toddlers have an urge to handle things: to gather, fill, dump, stack, knock down, select and manipulate in other ways. Household or kitchen utensils offer this kind of activity as every parent knows, and can occupy a child for surprising stretches of time"(Huleatt, 2012) children get curious about different objects and this activity is a great activity to do to let them explore different things that get used daily.

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Huleatt, H., 2012. What is heuristic play?. [Online]
Available at: https://www.communityplaythings.co.uk/learning-library/articles/heuristic-play
[Accessed 14 march 2023].