Indoor Games

Pioneers in Child Education

Pioneers whose work has contributed to how practitioners work with children and young people“ are: Friedrich Froebel, Maria Montessori, Rudolf Steiner, Margaret McMillan, and Susan Isaacs. Their birth years span on a century ranging from 1782 to 1885 included. The paragraphs that follow come from the second unit entitled play for early learning – early years level 3 [Online Learning College]. Before looking at games within their respective paragraph, here is a preview of what children of three different age groups may enjoy.

A PREVIEW

Indoor Games. There is one game that children age six to eighteen months can play together with nurturer or care taker indoors: fun activities that make them discover things and people around them, especially using their senses of sight, smell, and hearing. For instance, an adult can sing the following movement song regularly to the baby. That is a game that would be fun for a child to watch, fun to hear, and fun to discover body parts, say the song is ”head, shoulder, knees, and toes!“ Children aged thirty to fifty months may enjoy role playing the preparation of tea with classmates, other children, and adults. They can also play with imaginary friends, figurines or their dolls as well. Children forty to sixty months old may use edible paint to play finger painting with friends.

Outdoor Games

There is one game that children ages six to eighteen months can play with the help of an adult: seeing one colorful ball (plastic- or cloth-made) roll, bounce, disappear, sought and used again and again, encouraging baby to touch it [i.e., using the sense of touch (to touch them – if playing with more than one]. At the beginning of this age range, the baby may be lying down in the yard (variations on this game can be played indoors, too) on a thick blanket, sitting occasionally to try to catch (sent to baby so he can actually catch, so adult sits close enough). As baby grows up, he can play better and enjoy the game more. Between thirty to fifty months, and because a child can climb and balance confidently, when he goes to the neighborhood park, he can climb the stairs that lead to slides. Can play alone. Forty to sixty months of age lead to the moment a child can jump rope, which is five years old, in teams of at least three players. Two people would turn the rope while one jumps, until the player either misses a jump or steps on the cord, at which time the next person takes a turn.

IN A CHILD CARE SETTING

How to Encourage Creativity. Coloring and cutting paper, those are creative activities that children twenty-two to thirty-six months can perform because they would ”have developed fine motor skills.“ Between thirty to fifty months, a child can ”negotiate hand and eye coordination to build towers accurately using small building blocks.“ Improvement in confidence grows between forty to sixty months, which sees the child making friends and ”concentrating for a reasonable length of time.“ Exploratory play helps with creativity when children are offered the opportunity to use their ideas or to solve problems. Here are a few examples of exploratory play: painting, music, drawing, coloring, playdough, collage, model making, cooking, etc.

How to Encourage Imagination

Because children aged sixteen to twenty-six months have strong emotions, they may enjoy beautiful stories that create a lot of imagery in their mind, unexpected outcomes as well as joyful ones along with sad detours from time to time. Disney’s stories are great examples of plots that children usually love. So are those that make animals the central focus of the tales. Between thirty to fifty months, a child can ”understand the concept of past, present and future.“ Socio-dramatic play encourages imagination, such as enacting interpersonal experiences such as being a teacher; role play to prepare tea; etc.

INDOOR GAMES

By Age. Because between six and nine months, babies recognise people they know, they can play hide and seek by covering one’s face, for instance. 0 to 2 years old children enjoy playing alone, watch others play beyond 2 years old, or play alongside another child until they reach three years old. Between 3 and 4 years old, they form friendships, play with others but really start taking turns and support each other after 4 years old, while at five and over they can be part of a team or understand more complex game rules.

By Stage of Development

When they start enjoying music, babies can be introduced to soft, melodic sounds of music, regularly.

INDOOR ACTIVITIES

By Age. Babies’ sense of sight should be checked with exploratory play (explore and experiment with varied materials) between birth and their eleventh month to see if they notice bright colours and shiny objects. Activities for that age range accommodate safe wooden and plastic forms that children could play with in bed. Books for children 0 to 3 years old should have a large image per page as well as few words, and preferably with textures that babies’ touch can enjoy such as cardboard, plastic for bath time, bright colours that draw attention, and sound, too. Reading for children aged 3 to 5 years old should include activities for reader and listener with spots to find or touch within pictures that are visually inspiring.

By Stage of Development

Between forty to sixty months, a child can count, ask questions and develops interests in things around them. Cooking and helping (weigh, add, and mix ingredients) can lead the child explorer to the visualization of ingredient transformation whether preparing food that do not require cooking (fruit salad, or chocolate Krispie buns, for instance) or anything that should be quickly ready after fifteen minutes at room temperature or in the refrigerator. No young children should be allowed to use knives or ovens. They all should learn proper health, safety, and hygiene requirements before and after handling food or meat.

OUTDOOR GAMES

By Age. Between thirty to fifty months, a child can catch and kick a ball. Playing ball games in teams, that is something children aged 5 years and beyond can do.

By Stage of Development

Exploratory play in the yard and at the beach help children ”understand about volume and capacity through the use of sand and water.“ Physical play often happens outsides where children, depending on their stage of development, can take advantage of open space for movement, gross and fine motor skills, walking, skipping, hopping, running, swimming, ball games, playing in teams, as well as interacting with nature, going places to see other creatures, etc. Finally, imaginative play that can occur may be used to prepare for real-life situations.

OUTDOOR ACTIVITIES

By Age & By Stage of Development. Children aged thirty-six months and older can ride tricycles because they can ”negotiate many methods of movement including traveling forwards, backwards and sideways.“ Between thirty to fifty months, a child can climb and balance confidently.

The Role of the Practitioner

The practitioners has to ensure that the play environment is clean and safe and provides for the developmental needs of the children in different ages. In addition, the practitioner needs to get down to the child’s level to make sure they are on eye level to have regular eye contact. This makes the children feel safer, more connected and in control, thus helping them enjoy the games and achieve the developmental need intended by the play. The eye contact teaches the children social skills, as they will view the practitioner’s facial expressions to understand new things and relationships. The practitioner also needs to show the child that they are listening to them by eye contact and body language like nodding and responding to them. Active listening boosts the child’s confidence as they see the practitioner is interested in what they are saying and the child is able to develop relationships and can express their hopes and challenges even later in life. The practitioner has a duty to introduce new words to the children to develop their vocabulary. The practitioner can do that by describing what they see, hear, taste, feel and smell to help the child learn new words. The practitioner may also expose the children to different environment and games that will need them to use different words, thus developing the child’s vocabulary.

Works Cited

Unknown. 7-month old baby trying to catch a ball. Posted by MLCtheone, 29 December 2017. .

Unknown. Head, shoulders, knees, and toes. Posted by Super Simple Songs - Kids Songs, 24 June 2013. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZanHgPprl-0. Accessed November 15, 2018.