Tag Archives: development

Creative Play

Posted in Insights, Teach at Home by

The daily routine of my 16 month old boy includes alot of play.  We use toys, we do role play, we have books and story telling, lots of hugs, affirmation and laughter. We have toys that are battery operated and makes alphabet sounds and music when certain buttons are pressed.  It has helped Joshua understand cause and effect. It also helps him with the mastery of his fingers and hand motor skills. Music also communicates an idea more creatively. Its good to have music and sounds as part of the play.

What amuses me the most, are the “accidental toys”.  These are household items or stuff I intended to throw, but in a surprise has become a valuable toy in the eye of my little boy.
One of the most enjoyed items Joshua has been playing are bottles. Shampoo bottles, lotions bottles, water bottles, and other toiletries are actually fun to arrange and rearrange. Joshua can actually play a while with these items as his imagination takes over.  He stacks them, rearranges them, packs them in boxes and likes to discover the object’s shape and function.

Another one he enjoys is making the monoblock plastic chair his ship.  We make him stand on it and we just push it around the dining area as if he was the captain sailing away.

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Recently, my husband received a gift that has become one of our objects of creative play. Its a wooden set of coffee confectionary. Joshua has made it his imaginary kitchen and role plays that he is cooking up a great dish. We have fun pretending to be chefs and making up recipes. I really enjoy watching him pretend to stir the food and take a taste with the spoon as he says “uhhhmm!”

Another toy that has become cool is just a box. His nanny saw that he would fit inside that box. She puts a ribbon at one end and made Joshua sit inside. With the ribbon we dragged him around the house making the box his make shift car/jeep. Its been a lot of fun!

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Playing does not need expensive toys all the time. We can just look at our closet or pantry and find lots of interesting stuff for our toddlers to play with. What we parents need are just a bit more imagination and creativity…

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Music and intelligence

Even when my son was in my womb, I had sung to him songs. I made him listen to my ipod tunes. They say, if you let your child listen to classical music, they get brain stimulation. For me, any music can stimulate a child.

Maybe its partly genes that my son is just a natural music lover and dancer too! But I am more inclined to believe that exposing a child to music at an early age just helps in their development.

I have never stopped singing to Joshua. I sing songs I know, I have also discovered and reconnected with many childhood songs, and I also put melodies to my own sentences. Music is part of our mother and son relationship.

I also bought him musical toys like a small xylophone. He also liked playing with a baby drum. I also downloaded a baby piano and a baby drum application on my tablet. He started playing with these as early as 4 months.
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A few days after Josh turned one, I decided to take him to a kindermusic class in gymboree. It was there I discovered that Joshua was quite ahead. His exposure to music at home gave him so much confidence. I was a bit embarassed actually. He was getting all teachers attention while the other kids were still figuring music out.

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listening to percussions at a wedding

My son at 15 months can do the actions of several nursery songs (about 8 children’s songs or more). We are constantly exposing him to instruments and music. Its been a wonderful thing to do songs together and affirming him when he gets it right. It is a new level of fun!

As a parent, I can’t stop praising God for the joy I experience with my toddler. Music has been a great blessing to my little intelligent baby too.

“Thank you for the music… the songs Im singing… thanks for all the joy they’re bringing”