Action Words
OVERVIEW
Active babies are thinking babies. Tummy time encourages a 1- to 2-month-old baby to control his head by holding it up to look around. At 3 or 4 months, he will be able to push up with his forearms to get his chest off the floor.
PRACTICE
In the Home
Explain to parents/caregivers that the best place for babies to try tummy time is on a mat or blanket set on the floor. If a baby has not tried tummy time before, suggest to parents/caregivers that they begin slowly, for very short periods of time.
To help him practise, parents/caregivers can get down on the floor and face their baby. Talking to the baby about what is happening, smiling and laughing will help the baby feel comfortable while he tries this new skill. Remind parents/caregivers to be sensitive to their baby’s cues that he has had enough.
Encourage parents/caregivers to notice their baby’s progress. At first, he might want only one or two minutes of tummy time. Later, he might enjoy it for ten minutes or more. Then, he will start to reach for a nearby toy and try to roll over. These little changes are signs that he is getting stronger.
In the Centre
Tummy time is important for developing a baby’s physical strength and providing sensory stimulation. You can practise tummy time in short bursts throughout the day, starting with a couple of minutes at a time and increasing the time as the child’s muscle strength and interest develop. You can use pillows designed for tummy time, nursing pillows or a rolled-up towel to help support the child’s chest. Talk to children while practising tummy time and place toys around them to encourage them to turn their head or reach to grab a toy. Situate children doing tummy time so they are facing each other, allowing them to see and interact with each other. Sing songs together and make tummy time a positive experience. As they get stronger, they may try to reach out for toys or reach toward their friends and try to move or roll over.
REFLECTION
How does the baby react to tummy time?
How do you make sure to enjoy tummy time with the baby?
Are there times of the day when the baby enjoys tummy time and times when he doesn’t?
What can you do to keep the baby interested during tummy time?
OVERVIEW
The more language a child hears, the more she understands and the better she will be at communicating as she gets older. Any type of play—including active play—can provide an opportunity for her to learn language. As parents/caregivers use words to describe what she is doing, she will become more aware of her body. This helps her to understand her abilities. Describing her actions can also help her to become more aware of her successes. Doing a movement while hearing the word for that movement helps her gain a deeper understanding of what that word means.
PRACTICE
In the Home
As parents/caregivers see their child play and move her body, they can describe their child’s actions. Some examples could be run, hop, jump, pull, push, tiptoe, crawl or skip. Parents/caregivers can say the words to her as she is moving, "You’re crawling so fast!”
In everyday situations, suggest to parents/caregivers that they provide their child with descriptions of how she is moving or give her a clear description of how to move in a particular situation. For example, parents/caregivers can say, “Let’s tiptoe to your room so we don’t wake up your sister. Tip ... toe ... tip .... toe.” When parents/caregivers use descriptive words, they can give their child positive feedback about how she is growing, such as, “Last week you were jumping with one foot and now you just used two feet to jump! Can you jump all the way over to me? Jump, jump, jump!”
In the Centre
To introduce children to action words, you can begin by describing what actions you see. If a child is climbing a hill, you can say, “You’re climbing so high!” You can name and demonstrate new and unfamiliar actions for children, to let them build associations between the word and the action. If you are talking about horses, you can say, “Horses gallop, like this” and demonstrate a gallop. Ask the children if they can gallop like a horse. A game like Simon Says is great for this and allows you to use different action words. Model actions the children may be unfamiliar with: “Simon Says hop like a bunny!” or “Simon Says wriggle like a fish!” Children will build new associations to words they may not have heard before and learn to move their bodies in new and interesting ways.
REFLECTION
How does it feel to repeat action words to children?
How can you say the action word in a silly way so that both of you are laughing?
When can you draw children’s attention to the way others are moving?
How can you label your own actions as you are doing them so that the child notices?
DOMAINS OF EXPERIENCE
Language
Physical
BUILDS ON
“Dance Time” (0–12)
“Standing and Bouncing” (0–12)
OVERVIEW
Dramatic play builds on the imitation play that infants and toddlers engage in and has many benefits. It allows children to work through things they are experiencing in their lives. For instance, if a child is adjusting to the arrival of a sibling and her changing role in the family, she might represent this in play.
Pretend play builds children’s literacy skills, social skills and cooperation. As children create play situations, they tend to mimic a storyline with a beginning, middle and end and often even include a conflict to overcome. In pretend play, children have to work together to follow determined rules and imagine the roles and experiences of their characters.
PRACTICE
In the Home
Encourage parents/caregivers to provide props and costumes to inspire their child to be creative in her dramatic play. Even household items—like hats, scarves, gardening tools, pots, pans and dishes—are great for play. These props can encourage their child to think through real-life processes. With a notepad and paper, for instance, she might act out being a server at a restaurant. By mimicking how she has seen these items being used, she will gain insight into how they might be useful in her own life.
Let parents/caregivers know that they can enhance their child’s dramatic play by asking questions that encourage her to think about how things happen and why. For example, “Charlie, we need to go to the store. What do we need? Can you get your baby ready to go out?” Encourage parents/caregivers to think about a storyline their child can act out. They can set up a line of chairs and pretend they’re the seats of a car. They might jump in the passenger seat and say, “Where are we going today?”
In the Centre
You can enhance children’s dramatic play by setting up a dramatic play centre and changing the theme regularly to include things the children are interested in, or to complement other activities going on in the centre. Dress-up clothes, regular clothes, aprons, play dishes, notepads, pencils, cardboard boxes, play food, bags, bandages, cups and stuffed animals are all items children might play with in a dramatic play centre. You can have children help create dramatic play materials themselves; if they like pretending to sell cookies at a stand, you can invite them to make their own paper cookies to sell or help to write a menu for their cookie shop. With a dress shirt, a stuffed animal and some bandages, a child can act out being a doctor or a veterinarian.
If you have recently taken a field trip to the post office or you invited the children to write their own letters to send, you might want to set up a post office for dramatic play. For this, you can prepare a table with paper, envelopes, pencils, crayons, stamps and a mailbox. The children will pretend to send letters and work at the post office.
REFLECTION
What is an example of a real-life situation that the child acts out in her pretend play?
Who does she play with?
What other items around the house or centre can the child use for pretend play?
BUILDS ON
“Imitation Play” (12–24)