Children ages 3-5 love to play and learn and it makes this period of their development so special.  Your child has been very busy playing by herself or with an adult but now she is beginning to learn to play with others.  Providing interesting toys to play with is key for building cooperation skills, listening - language skills, learning and having fun. What better way to interact than setting up a town with roads and buildings.

This is a time you can begin teaching him how to play games which involves waiting his turn. Waiting for you turn is one of the hardest aspects of cooperative play and in life. This is when it begins. Encouraging you child with positive reinforcement,” I like the way you are sharing your toy with Jodie” is a way to teach through positivity rather than discipline. A simple train set is so much fun and an easy toy to share with another. Setting up a “store” and shopping with a shopping cart helps the child use real life situations in play and can foster co-operation. Playing games relies on turn taking and is how we actually learn to wait our turn. 

Building

Building with blocks is the way for a child to expand their world and strengthen their hand- eye coordination and visual perceptual skills.  It is also an immensely creative endeavor.  They can create anything they imagine-a city, a road, a house, a zoo.  A child then learns about weight, size, balance and gravity, will the bigger block balance on the smaller block? How high can the tower be built before it collapses? These are explorations that help the child learn by doing not by being told. Asking them what they are building and ways you can join in the play make them the director of the play giving them while allowing them to be creative

Three and Four year olds are also becoming creative with their language. They are not just imitating what they hear but constructing novel sentences and beginning to explore their ideas and their feelings. Vocabulary is growing by leaps and bounds. If you are there interacting and playing your child is listening and using their language. Always remember that pairing a book with the theme of play enhances and reinforces language. Building a castle while talking about kings and queen, princes and princesses? Pair the play with King Bidgood's in the Bathtub and Won't Get Out by  Audrey Wood.
Playing with a big red barn?
Pair it with the wonderful book The Big Red Barn by Margaret Wise.

These are your child's pre-school years, a time for play and discovery!

As always, grow together and have fun!

About the Author