Play

Is your child always calm and fully engaged in her play? Or does she flit from one toy to the next, rarely focusing for long? Have you ever considered that she might have too many toys? In a recent study, researchers at the University of Toledo discovered that too many toys can be distracting. At first […]

Is your child bored of her toys? Are you tempted to buy something new to add some excitement to the toy box? Before you take out the credit card, take a look at what you’ve already got. Can you help your child to see her toys in a new light, to see new combinations and

I’m watching my 3 year old daughter build a tower out of blocks. She’s totally absorbed in the repetitive process of selecting, stacking and balancing them to make the tallest structure she can. With no interruptions she narrates to herself as she plays within her own little bubble. I often wonder how this scene might

How does your child play? If you ever have the chance to sit down and observe, have you noticed the kinds of play they engage in? There are lots of theories about play and, like relativity and quantum mechanics, they make sense on their own but no-one has yet come up with a way to

Do you ever find yourself scouring the internet, searching for ways to fill an afternoon? Did any of it work? Google ‘activities for toddlers’ and here’s what you’ll get: You spend hours finding the resources, buying just the right-sized tray from IKEA, making it look beautiful and then presenting it to your toddler. Cue squeals

How many toys does your child have? How did they end up in your home? Were they wanted or are they stowaways? However many you have, I’m willing to bet you have too many. And that’s bad. Bad because children don’t need them and because it’s impossible to store them. Fortunately, it’s easier to cut

How much of your child’s playtime do you control? Do you spend lots of time together, making collages or working on interesting projects? Or does your child come and go as she pleases? Free-flow play is something you’ll encounter in many nurseries and is considered good practice. But it’s hard to get right. The idea

“ So all we could do was to sit sit sit sit And we did not like it, not one little bit. ” The Cat in the Hat, Dr. Seuss ‘Only boring people get bored’ – we’ve all said it, or heard other parents saying it to their children, when they complain of having nothing to

As a child, you remember sitting for hours, making your own fun, without the constant supervision or attention of your parents. You recall a sense of deep absorption in your games and how powerful and vivid your imagination had been during these hours spent happily at home or in the garden. But your own children

Here is a toddler and here is a cardboard box. Curious, the little boy crawls inside. He peers out, like a fox from his den, pleased with his work. He tugs at one of the flaps. Now you see me, now you don’t. It’s a discovery that amuses him greatly and he repeats the action