Play is important for language development and imaginative thinking.  There are tremendous opportunities for language and learning to develop through different types of play:

Exploratory Play

Through play with toys and everyday objects, children discover that they can make things happen.  For example, when they shake a rattle it makes a noise.  In the same way, when they make a noise they are quite likely to get some attention. Providing a wide range of household objects as well as toys for children to explore will help them to learn about shapes, sounds, colours and textures. In the early years, children will learn by banging, shaking, clapping and looking at things and putting things in their mouths.  As children discover the similarities and differences between objects, they also learn that different things have different names.

Physical Play

Physical play and rough-and-tumble games will give your child experience of movement and space.  This will help him develop an understanding of the meaning of action words (throw, kick, run, jump, etc.) and prepositions (in, on, under).

Free Play

It is also important for children to play on their own, and to “talk” to themselves.  This gives them a chance to experiment with sounds and language.

Symbolic Play

All words (whether signed or spoken) are symbols. Children have to be able to think in symbols before they can make sense of language.  Pretending to give a doll, teddy or person a drink from a cup is one of the first steps of symbolic play.

Ideas:

Exploratory Play

Newspaper/tissue                  Ribbons
Wooden/metal/spoons          Empty pots/biscuit tins
Shiny paper                         Old kitchen/toilet rolls
Old tights                            Cotton wool
Bells                                   Dried foods, pasta shells, rice, beans
Wool                                   Headscarves
Cellophane                          Ez toys (pound shops)
Scraps of different materials   

•     Put objects in feely boxes and take out one at a time to explore.
•     Crumple up/tear bits of paper to make noises.
•     Banging things together, and take them in and out of empty pots with lids on.
•     Cover things with a scarf and encourage your child to pull it off.
•     Stuff old tights with wool or other objects
•     Fasten ribbons to old kitchen/toilet roll tubes and wave them
•     Put dried foods in toilet rolls, closing both sides, and use as a shaker.
•     Make things disappear down kitchen roll tubes
•     Make a wooden spoon puppet pop up and down a cardboard tube.

Physical Play

•     Ball play
•     Boxes (climb in and out, jump over, run around, make tunnel to climb through, throw things into)
•     Hide and seek (hide behind door, furniture, under table/bed, etc, hide toys the same way).

Symbolic Play

•     Matching objects (collection of familiar objects, including 2 identical.  See if your child can find the z matching objects)
•     Matching objects to pictures (match a collection of objects to picture cards)
•     Tea parties (plastic tea set)
•     Large doll play (using teddies/dolls pretend to dress them, wash them, feed them, wash their clothes and hand them out to     dry, take them for walk in pram, make a bed for cardboard box.)
•     Farm animals (learn animal sounds), match animals to pictures, make animals run/jump, hide animals, give them a ride in a     tractor/trailer.
•     Sing animal songs:

Ducks    -    5 little ducks
Horses -    horsy, horsey, don’t you stop
Pigs-        This little piggy went to market
Cows-        Hey diddle diddle
Sheep-     baa baa black sheep

© Marinet Van Vuren, DSC  2009

All rights reserved. No part of this work can be reproduced in any form, or by any means without the express permission of the author or by Down Syndrome Centre info@downsyndromecentre.ie

Got a question for Marinet vanVuren? If so, drop her an email here.