Sunday, August 19, 2012

Play Across the Age Groups

Today's post is an observational musing on play across ages.

When we were holidaying in our home town my children loved playing with their older cousins.

At first I took photo's and cooed over how cute it was too see such sweet interactions. Then something dawned on me about what I was seeing.

During that game of tea parties my little 8 month old girls simply stared and then after a few minutes started to pick up the cups and pretend to drink, bang it back down, repeat...

When younger children play with older children it is a great learning experience through play for both.

The older children get to show how things work, they get a sense of accomplishment, they learn how to communicate and show patience as the younger children get the hang of the game or toy.

Younger children practice their mimicking skills as they copy what they see and begin to realize how play is a give and take not just parallel as the older child wants to actively play.

So perhaps you can try to find children of various ages to gather together for a play date and have fun learning and playing.

Happy Play Times :-)

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