Belinda Butler is the author of one of my favourite play focused blogs Everyday Play. Belinda is a qualified kindergarten teacher and the mother of two young children.
Late last year Belinda posted about a booklet she had written with a friend of hers called “Early Learners Games and Activities“. I love the activities Belinda posts about so I purchased a copy of the booklet and it has been such a great tool to have around.
The activities in the book are all simple and only require objects that you have around the house. The format of the booklet is very much like a recipe book – with each activity having a section on what you will need, what to do, the benefits of the activity and things that you can say to your child whilst they are playing.
Allison Guerrieri is the co-author of the booklet and she is a Paediatric Speech Pathologist with two children as well. I found the “What you can say?” prompts a fantastic way to enhance the repertoire of questions/prompts that I ask my preschooler while he is playing.
And probably my favourite aspect to these activities is that they are the types of activities that once set up, the child can play by themselves. The cotton ball soccer kept my little one amused for nearly an hour and then for even longer when his older siblings came from school because they all wanted to play with him. The booklet didn’t suggest placing tape on the table like we did. My preschooler insisted that he needed some goals, so we marked out some goals and the middle with tape. He extended to mini games with me and then when I finished playing to penalty shoot outs!!
If you would like to read more about the booklet or order a copy you can do so from Belinda’s blog Everyday Play.