10 Different Ways To Play With Your Baby Or Toddler For Early Childhood Development

Are you a parent who’s wondering how best to play with your baby or toddler? Here at Happity we love all types of play and know how important play is for early childhood development. It’s the reason why Early Years Foundation Stage (EYFS) in nurseries and schools is centred around play and it’s the reason why our class providers naturally use play in their sessions. So read on for five different ways you can play with your child and the sorts of activities you can do.

How Can Different Types Of Play In Early Childhood Benefit Your Child?

Different types of play in early childhood will help develop gross and fine motor skills, balance, coordination, social skills, cognitive problem-solving skills, imagination and creativity. It may also help your child develop a Growth Mindset as you encourage them to experiment and try out new things – which they may not get right first time round.

How Can I Find Out Which Types Of Play My Child Likes Best?

The best way to find out how your child plays best is by trying different activities, following their lead and seeing what happens. It may also depend on your child’s schema – for example, your child may like feeling contained, so will put hats or blankets over themselves, climb into tents or tunnels or hide in boxes. Or they might love physical movement so will run and jump at any opportunity. Just let your child play and explore. You might find you have a play preference as well!

What Are The Different Types Of Play In Early Childhood And How Do They Benefit Your Child? 

1. Sensory Play – Play For Early Childhood Development

play for early childhood development - the photo shows a child playing with gloop or slime

Using all five senses is so important for your baby or toddler. Hearing sounds, feeling the texture of objects, smelling unusual and familiar scents, tasting new foods and observing the movement of the world around them will all help your little one develop holistically. Try:

  • Messy play – squirting shaving foam in a tuff tray, for example
  • Playdough – you can make your own playdough or cloud dough 
  • Water play – get lots of containers for pouring
  • Sand play – maybe add toy animals to make habitats
  • Musical instruments – try homemade drums with a container filled with rice
  • Finger painting
  • Magic water painting
  • Cleaning or washing toys together in a large bucket
  • Popping bubbles
  • Gloop (also known as Oobleck) – use cornflour to make your own
  • Water painting on the floor with large brushes

Which Classes Help Develop Sensory Skills For My Child And Where Can I Read More?

For classes, try baby sensory, music classes and messy play. Here are some great sensory ideas you can try at home.

2. Gross Motor And Physical Activities

play for early childhood development - the photo shows a toddler crawling up a wooden ramp

Your child needs to learn the ‘big’ movements (gross motor skills) before they can focus on the small, fine motor skills. Think lots of movement and motion involving the whole body to help develop balance, strength and coordination. You could try:

  • Running
  • Jumping
  • Dancing
  • Swimming
  • Crawling
  • Scooting
  • Soft-play
  • Trampolining
  • Swings
  • Ride-on toys
  • Kicking or pushing a ball
  • Chasing bubbles
  • Climbing – use soft play blocks
  • The ‘Floor Is Lava’ games – jumping on and off floor mats

Which Classes Help Develop Gross Motor Skills For My Child And Where Can I Read More?

To develop gross motor skills, try swimming classes and baby yoga classes. Read more about how your baby can develop their gross motor skills at baby classes.

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3. Nature And Outdoor Play – Play For Early Childhood Development

play for early childhood development - the photo shows a child putting their hand in mud in a wheelbarrow

Being out in the fresh air and daylight is so important, not only to help develop your baby’s Circadian rhythm [link] but also for all the opportunities for play. Stomping through mud helps develop gross motor skills and sensory awareness while a bit of exploration will help with confidence-building and decision-making skills. You can also see patterns in the natural world, for example in leaves and spider webs. Try:

  • Mud kitchens
  • Stomping through leaves and mud
  • Collecting leaves, twigs and acorns
  • Observing insects like woodlice, spiders and ladybirds
  • Watching animals 
  • Making a bug hotel
  • Leaf printing
  • Digging in soil, sand or mud
  • Water play
  • Climbing trees and balancing on logs
  • Splashing in puddles
  • Planting seeds
  • Den building

Which Classes Help Develop Nature Play With My Child And Where Can I Read More?

Try forest schools and classes which focus on outdoor activities like gardening. Read all about the benefits of being in the great outdoors as a Viking Parent as well as some great outdoor activities you can try at home. 

4. Music And Rhythm Play – Play For Early Childhood Development

Music and rhythm helps with very early maths development as well as language skills (if the music has words). As your toddler moves to music this also helps develop coordination and gross motor skills. Try:

  • Nursery rhymes and songs like ‘Hop Little Bunnies’ 
  • Clapping games
  • Classical music
  • Dancing to music
  • Musical bumps or statues
  • Banging drums and objects – you can use kitchen utensils for this
  • Simple musical instruments – try triangles, drums, maracas, simple keyboards

Which Classes Help Develop Music And Rhythm For My Baby Or Toddler And Where Can I Read More?

Try baby rhyme time and baby music classes. Here’s more about what to expect at your first music class as well as how music can benefit all generations in a family. 

5. Activities Based Around Language And Storytelling

Listening to the rhythm of speech is so important for baby’s early language development and communication. Even when they can’t talk back, they will be learning about the structure of language and learning the phonetics of their mother tongue. You will notice your baby respond to the sound of familiar adults, too, whether that’s through head-turning, eye movements, smiles, gurgles or waving their arms and legs. It’s never too early to start reading with your baby and exposing them to new words as well as story structure. All brilliant for language development and cognition. Try:

  • Repeating words and phrases with your baby
  • Listening to and singing songs and nursery rhymes 
  • Reading picture books
  • Telling family stories
  • Talking about your daily routine
  • Pointing at pictures (you can do this in libraries and community centres too when you’re out and about

Which Classes Promote Language Skills For My Baby Or Toddler And Where Can I Read More?

Classes you can try which use language and storytelling include baby rhyme time in your local library, storytime classes and baby signing. Read more here about the benefits of nursery rhymes for under fives here. We have loads of lovely book recommendations from 0-5 in this blog too. 

6. Construction Play – Play For Early Childhood Development

play for early childhood development - the photo shows a child with a toy digger in the sand

Activities which involve building skills will help your child develop their early maths as well as gross motor skills.

  • Building bridges and towers
  • Constructing trainsets (like wooden Brio tracks)
  • Duplo or Lego
  • Magnetic blocks
  • Floor mats – you can help your child slot these together to make 3D boxes
  • Wooden blocks
  • Using tools – real or pretend
  • Going somewhere new (an inside or outside space) and exploring it
  • Pouring liquids from one container to another
  • Moving objects – for example, transferring stones from a toy digger
  • Use cardboard boxes to make cars, castles and hide-outs

Which Classes Develop Building And Construction Skills And Where Can I Read More?

Look out for toddler playgroups and stay-and-plays, which often have a lot of construction toys out for the children to play with. There are also Lego and even engineering clubs. Here are some more construction ideas for play with your baby or toddler. 

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7. Imaginative Play – Play For Early Childhood Development

Using imagination will help your baby or toddler develop their storytelling and also empathy skills. Try:

  • Make-believe using dolls, soft toys or animals
  • Play-cooking using play-food or playdough
  • Dressing up as different characters or animals
  • Small-world play using props or toys
  • Playing with toy cars and other vehicles
  • Playing with small toy animals
  • Acting out real-life scenarios like going shopping
  • Teddy bears picnics
  • Making tents and dens
  • Making masks 

Which Classes Develop Imaginative Play For My Child And Where Can I Read More?

Look out for classes which have small-world play (like toddler playgroups) or drama classes. Here’s more about how to set up a play shop with your child. 

8. Social Play – Play For Early Childhood Development

play for early childhood development - the photo shows a child playing Peek-A-Boo

Interacting loads with your baby or toddler and playing interactive games with them will help develop social skills. Try:

  • Peek-A-Boo
  • Building or drawing something together
  • Rolling playdough together
  • Playing alongside your toddler – known as parallel play
  • Turn-taking games
  • Pulling funny faces
  • Sharing crayons or toys with you/another child
  • Passing objects to each other and back again

Which Classes Develop Social Skills For My Baby Or Toddler And Where Can I Read More?

All baby and toddler classes have a social element! If you choose something like baby signing or baby rhyme time which all have songs, you’ll find communication is key. Young children learn so much about how we interact with others, so read more here about how baby classes benefit your child (and you too!).

9. Fine Motor Skills – Play For Early Childhood Development

play for early childhood development - the photo shows a child threading beads

Fine motor skills help your baby or child manipulate objects. This helps develop dexterity hand-eye coordination. Ever heard of the fist grip, or the pincer grip? These will help with writing too when your child is old enough, but remember they need loads of gross motor skill practice before they can begin to master fine motor skills. For fine motor skills you can try:

  • Chalk scribbling – paving slabs give more space
  • Finger painting
  • Drawing with wax crayons
  • Tearing paper
  • Rolling and chopping up Playdoh
  • Wooden jigsaw puzzles
  • Threading beads/string threading games
  • Playing with smaller toys and objects
  • Activity packs

Which Classes Develop Fine Motor Skills For My Child And Where Can I Read More?

To develop fine motor skills, try craft classes. Or why not sign your child up for Crafting Connections, an initiative that allows children to exchange their artwork with a resident in a care home? Here are some pre-writing activities you can try at home to help with fine motor skills. 

10. Problem-Solving Play – Play For Early Childhood Development

Problem-solving play will help your child develop cognitive skills. Although it can be tempting to jump in and help straightaway, try and let your baby or toddler explore the answers for themselves first. Tap into their natural curiosity and see what happens. You could try: 

  • Shape-sorters
  • Scavenger/treasure hunts
  • Mazes
  • Puzzles 
  • Matching games like pairs or snap
  • Counting
  • Dominoes

Which Classes Develop Problem-Solving With My Child And Where Can I Read More?

To develop problem-solving, why not go for a more informal toddler group, where puzzles and games will be on hand for your child to try? Read more about Growth Mindset and how to encourage problem-solving with your child.  

Want to get out and about, have fun with your baby or toddler, and meet other parents?

Search Happity to find everything that’s happening for the under-5s in your local area – from music and singing classes, to messy play, arts and crafts, baby massage, gymnastics and more. Simply enter your postcode and child’s age to search, and then book your spot in a few taps. Enjoy dedicated fun time with your little one, watch their skills develop, and make friends at the same time. Mums, dads, grandparents and carers will all find something to love!

Find a class today!

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Interested in being a guest blogger?

Liz Melnyczuk

Liz Melnyczuk

Happity's Content Marketing Assistant. Liz is passionate about raising awareness of postnatal health for both mums and babies, particularly around feeding issues, mastitis and abdominal separation. When not blogging, she can be found running, walking or camping with her family - and drinking a good cup of Yorkshire tea.

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