Everything...Family Guide: themed play

Showing posts with label themed play. Show all posts

Wednesday, 8 January 2014

Series of Themed Play - Ball (with Printable)

"Series of Themed Play" will teach your child about related vocabulary and actions that go along with each play scenario. During play, your job as a parent is to clearly speak the vocabulary and demonstrate a sample action that goes along with the words. Then you will let your child try it out for a few minutes, until they get bored or lose interest. The "Series of Themed Play" activities are targeted to help your baby, toddler and/or preschool with their speech and language development. For this blog post we will be playing with a ball.

Little kids squeal with delight while they are playing with a ball. It's always fun and gets your child moving. Here are some play and vocabulary-rich activities that you can delve into with your child:

Vocabulary Development - Sound out "B" letter words that are related to the word "Ball":

Bouncy, big, blue, balloon, bubble, baseball, basketball, bat, beach ball, bowling ball, bulge.

Adjectives/Action words that are related to playing Ball:

Roll/Rolling, Catch/Catching, Throw/Throwing, Bounce/Bouncing, Dribble/Dribbling, Kick/Kicking, Play/Playing, Serve/Serving, Strike/Striking (hit with a bat), and Down/Up.

Characteristics - Talk about the defining features of a Ball:

Texture/Feel: soft, hard, smooth, rough, bumpy
Size/How it looks: big, small, blue, red
What is it made of/Materials: rubber, felt, plastic
Sounds: bump, thud, clunk, ping

Playing with the ball (Say simple sentences like "Roll ball, throw ball, catch ball, ball up, or ball down"). Before we begin, it is probably safer to start with a large, soft and squishy ball for BEGINNER practice or during play with babies and toddlers. Here are some varied play ideas for ball play:

Roll the ball back and forth to each other. Say "roll", "back", "forward", "ball".
Another rolling activity that is similar to Bowling is also fun. You need a plastic ball and some stand-up toys like plastic figurines. Or you can clean up some plastic recycling bottles and use them as bowling pins. Set up the bottles at the far end of the room and then roll the ball towards the bottles to topple them over.

Tapping or dribbling the ball on a hard surface like a bouncy ball or a little basketball. Then aim to throw the ball in a store-bought hoop or old cardboard box. Say: "dribble", "bounce", "throw".
Go to an open outdoor area to teach your child to catch and throw a ball. Say: "catch", "throw", "retrieve".
Hang up a net in an open outdoor area. Stand on the opposite side of the net and serve or throw the ball on the other side. Once the ball reaches the other side, the receiving person will throw it back by hitting it with their hands (similar to Volleyball) over the net. Say: "serve", "throw", "over", "under".
You can teach your child to swing a ball with a plastic bat (like baseball or cricket). You can take turns serving the ball or swinging/striking with the ball with a bat. Say: "swing", "strike", "ball", "serve".

Finally, the all-around kids' favorite game is Soccer or Kicking/Passing a ball. For this specific activity, I have bought a small foldable net that you can set up anywhere for scoring a goal or during soccer game. Teach your child to share by passing the ball to each or to other players of the game. If the game is played in an outdoor open area, mark the ends of two sides as the goals and then try to kick the ball to the opposing side to make a goal (like soccer). Say: "kick", "goal", "pass".

Here are some kids books that talk about the various types of balls, stories about playing ball & games that involve ball play:

Where is Baby's Beach Ball? by Karen Katz
A Ball for Daisy by Chris Raschka
Balls by Michael J. Rosen (Non-Fiction about ball games and their histories)
Elmo's World: Balls! by John E. Barrett
Little Basketball, Little Soccer, Little Baseball, and Little Football (all 4 books by Brad Herzog).
Snowballs by Lois Ehlert
Toddler Storybook: Ball by Ros Asquith
Play Ball! by Santiago Cohen
What is Round like a Ball? by Lisa Campbell Ernst

So here you have it; "Ball Play". It is a free and exciting object that you can play with and does not require any batteries or technology. You can play any game with a ball whether it is an organized sports game or just for fun. Best of all, it's suitable for all ages!

Have fun playing,
Annie
(Encl. Printable Vocabulary Cards)

Monday, 23 December 2013

Series of Themed Play - Construction Equipment Toys

This is a continuum to the Themed Play Series. Kids need daily exposure to verbal, written, heard, and spoken vocabulary for the growth of their speech and language development. In this blog post, we will look at construction toys and how you may use them in your day-to-day play with useful vocabulary for your baby, toddler or preschooler. Construction toys can be anything from toy cars, diggers, haulers, dump trucks, tractors, bulldozers, cranes, road graders, construction clothing to many more. Construction toys are fun and can be played by anyone (boy or girl) of any age. All you need is a bit of imagination and creative energy.

Let's look at how we played with our construction equipment toys:

First of all, we discussed the topics/questions below:

What is construction? The words construction means to build something or to put something together (construct it).
Where do we see it? We normally see construction going on in new parts of the city or in areas where something was destroyed or needs to be rebuilt.
What is the purpose of construction equipment? It is important to have construction going on in the city or country, for its growth and progress. For example, if a city has a lot of people that migrated from another city or country, then they will need more houses for everyone to live in. Or if a building collapsed due to an earthquake, we need to clean the old mess and build a new one in its place.
Who is allowed to use real-life construction equipment? Only an adult (18 or older) can operate a construction equipment. Most construction companies require their workers to write tests or pass certifications to operate a construction equipment.
What are some construction jobs? Heavy Equipment Operator, Construction equipment Mechanic, Laborers, Traffic Controller, etc.

Next, examine each equipment and talk about what it does? You can also demonstrate actions that go along with each construction equipment. Say:

A Digger/Excavator will dig a large hole in the ground; it is a powerful electronic shovel.
A Tractor will carry heavy loads in the front or the back depending on the type of tractor; front-end or back-end. It is sometimes used to carry a certain piece of equipment to the construction site.
A Bulldozer will push large amounts of dirt or rocks.
A Dump truck is used to carry heavy loads of sand, dirt, or rocks to a construction site that is in need of it.
A Crane is a very large construction equipment used to pick up or lift heavy things from one place to another.

Finally it is time to play by making "beep beep" sounds for warning that the construction equipment is on the move. Here are some play suggestions:

Move the toys back and forth and say: push or pull.
When an equipment moves, say: Vroom, Vroom!
Whenever you move a toy, say: beep...beep...beep. This gives others working on the construction site a warning; that an equipment is on the move. Beep means CAUTION.
Use hand signals to show going forward or backwards. Similar to a traffic police officer.
Make STOP, SLOW DOWN, PROCEED WITH CAUTION, UNDER CONSTRUCTION signs on a yellow/orange/red diamond. Talk about how to use them on a construction site. Then play with the construction toys and take turns using the made-up signs.
Set up obstacles around the house and have your child maneuver the obstacles by taking their construction equipment for a ride. Avoid hitting the obstacles.
Set up cushions around the house in a line (in likeness of speed bumps) and have your child go over them slowly. Say: whenever there is a speed bump, we slow down.
Set up blocks or toys around, then have your child push the toys using a Bulldozer.
With a Dump Truck, pretend to load it up with little toys, move/drive it to another place and then dump it. Say: load it, drive it, and dump it.
Look at construction signs on the internet and talk about what each one means. For example, whenever you drive by a construction zone, talk about the low speed sign. Most construction sites tell drivers to slow down. This is for the safety of the construction workers on site who may work close to the road.
Discuss why majority of the construction equipment or signs on the construction site are either orange, yellow or red. All these colors means Please Proceed with Caution.

These activities can be done with intervals to avoid information overload! :) Overall, it was a fun learning experience and we love to play with construction toys all the time. How about you?

Annie

Sunday, 22 December 2013

Series of Themed Play - Pets (Dogs)

This is the first set of instructions in the Series of Themed play that teach your child about related vocabulary and actions that go along with each scenario. The following activities will target many life skills and is a great learning experience for babies, toddlers, and/or preschoolers.

The play below is directed towards pretend play with pets (dog). It is important to have a plush puppy/dog in the house for you to try out the following activities. For all other items, you can use old or unused items lying around your home. Your job is to say the vocabulary out loud/clear and demonstrate a sample action that goes along with each activity. Then you will let your child try it out for a few minutes, until they get bored or lose interest. This way you don't overdo it and it will only last a few minutes. Little kids have very little attention spans and lose interest quickly, so it's important to set up the materials before starting the activity. I had all the things gathered in a basket before we got started. I also jotted down what I wanted to do or language that I wanted to target, on a piece of paper. I purchased all of the dog play things at a dollar store and all together they cost around $5.

Let's look at how we used each play thing during the themed play:

First, we pretend that our toy pet is a real pet by naming him as we invite him into our home. In our case, we named him "Rider". Say "What is your pet's name?"
Next, talk about self-care and ask your child; "How are some ways that we can care for our pet?" Show your child how to:

Feed the animal by looking at various dog foods while you visit the grocery store (wet or dry varieties). "What does a puppy/dog eat?" or "How do we serve doggy food?"
Talk about other things that dogs or puppies do, like sleeping or going to the bathroom. Say "Dogs sleep in a basket" or "Dogs go outside to relieve themselves."
Talk about what happens when your pet gets sick? "We take him to the vet."

Look at the pet and examine the various body parts such ears, eyes, tail, paws, nose, mouth, and legs. "Where is the puppy's ears?" or "How many legs does a dog have?" Point to the dog's body parts as you say them out loud.
Talk about the sounds that pets make when they are trying to get your attention. Use words like "whimpering", "barking", "growling", "whining", or "howling".
Look at various pet owners around the neighborhood and talk to your child about how they behave with their pets while taking them for a walk. Tie a ribbon or string around the plush dog's neck and take him for a walk around the house. Use words like "running" or "walking".

Overall, I found this play to be very productive as I showed my kids some ways that they can play. Kids need role models in life and they watch you and learn from you. We repeated this exercise where I just let my kids lead and they did well by themselves.

Have fun playing,
Annie