- Reading, talking, telling stories and singing to your baby will help them learn about language, words, and sounds.
- Have fun making funny noises, squealing and babbling together (an early form of talk).
- Tummy time strengthens your baby’s head, neck and upper body muscles. This will help them develop movement control. Try to do supervised tummy time every day.
- Toys and objects in different shapes, textures, colours and sizes can help your baby reach and grasp. Soft blocks, balls, stuffed toys and plastic rings are good options.
- Listening to music can help your baby’s hearing development. Try listening to nursery rhymes together or make your own music with items around the home. Plastic bottles filled with rice make fun shakers and you can use wooden spoons and pots and pans to make drums.
- Sitting your baby near sturdy furniture can encourage them to pull themselves up and stand. You can encourage crawling by making tunnels out of cardboard boxes or chairs.
Educational resources to use at home
Some fun educational activities you and your child can try at home. Plus, information on how learning through play can help your child's development.
What is learning through play?
Children are naturally curious about the world around them. They experience and come to understand the world and their place in it through play. Creating opportunities for children to explore, experiment, question and discover new concepts about the world in playful ways is central to their learning, development and wellbeing.
Learning through play doesn’t need to happen in formal settings like pre-school for children to get the benefits. When children are young they play and learn in the home, making parents and caregivers their first teachers. Families can support children’s learning and development by creating opportunities for play in the home.
Play can happen both inside and outdoors. You don’t need expensive toys or equipment. Learning through play can build on everyday activities in the home and make use of common household items. Cardboard rolls and boxes, plastic cups and buckets, wooden spoons, food packaging, old clothes and pots and pans are just some of the items you can use. Feel free to get creative!
Ideas for learning through play in the home
Babies
Download a printable version of the above activities - Learning through play (PDF 1.1MB)
Other online resources for families
The online resources below offer further activities you and your child can try at home.
Toddlers
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| Stories PodcastExternal link |
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