PLAY ACTIVITIES FOR CHILDREN BIRTH TO NINE YEARS

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Laurie Miller
Program Director
Human Development Laboratory School, Toddler Center
University of Massachusetts at Amherst

Copyright/Access Information

YOU WILL LEARN:

all children need care, support, and developmentally appropriate
activities to help them grow and learn.
many activities are good for many ages.
children learn by doing.

PLANNING ACTIVITIES FOR CHILDREN

Children of different ages have different needs. These needs
are based on each child's stage of growth and development. Remember
that two children of the same age can be similar in some ways
but different in other ways. Try to understand the unique aspects
of each child. This helps children feel good about themselves.
This will also help you plan activities that are developmentally
appropriate for each child. Appropriate activities help children
learn and are lots of fun.

Most children need consistency in their schedules. Planned routines
tend to work best. Try to develop a routine so that children in
your day care program know what to expect each day.

The lists of activities and the sample schedule included in this
fact sheet
will help you:

plan activities that are fun for all the children in your
day care program.
feel good about your own skills.
help children of different ages play and learn together.

ACTIVITIES FOR INFANTS

Hold, rock, and sing to young babies.
Take them outside on nice days.
Explain what you are doing throughout the day when you change
or feed them.
Let young babies lie on a big piece of paper and hear the
crunching noise when they move.
Play different kinds of music on the radio.
Put bright toys near babies.
Give them soft toys (like a stuffed animal or a clean sock)
to hold and feel.
Give babies toys they can move and make noise with (like
a rattle).
Hang up big pictures of people and animals on the wall at
their eye level to look at.
Hang up toys you make yourself for babies to see and hear.
Hang aluminum pie plates on a string. Let a breeze blow them,
or move them with your hand.
Have a clean space for babies to crawl. Put bright toys near
babies so they can reach out or move toward them. Put a big cardboard
box on the floor so the babies can crawl inside and play.
Put some chair cushions on the floor. Babies can bounce and
roll on them.
Read aloud books that have colorful pictures.
Have blankets and scarves for infants to hide under.
Remember that infants put everything in their mouths. Wash
toys, and be sure they cannot be swallowed.

ACTIVITIES FOR TODDLERS

Toddlers like to put things inside of other things and dump
them out. Cut a hole in the middle of the lid of a clean coffee
can or plastic margarine tub. Let the toddlers put clothespins,
thread spools, and big hair curlers through the hole.
Make play dough. Mix 3 cups flour, 1 cup salt, 3 tablespoons
oil, and 1 cup water together. Add food coloring for color. Let
the toddlers use jar lids, clothespins, and popsicle sticks to
cut and shape the play dough.
Children love to play with water. Fill big buckets or tubs
with water. Give the children soap chips, measuring spoons and
cups, plastic bottles, butter tubs, and sponges to play with
in the water. Put towels or newspaper on the floor so the children
will not slip on the wet floor.
Toddlers like goop. Mix cornstarch and water together. Let
toddlers play with it in a bucket or in bowls with cups and spoons.
Make the goop thick or thin.
Ask your local appliance shop for a free refrigerator (or
other large appliance) cardboard box. Cut doors and windows in
the box to make a playhouse. Toddlers can draw on it with crayons
or “paint” it with water and big brushes or sponges.
Toddlers like to draw with short, fat, unwrapped crayons.
Give them paper bags (you can tear them open to make large sheets
of brown paper) or large pieces of heavy paper to draw on. To
help them draw, tape the paper down so it does not move.
Let toddlers tear old wrapping paper. Then have them paste
the pieces to make a collage.
Have toddlers finger paint with shaving cream mixed with
food coloring. They like this mess.
Toddlers like to jump. Put pillows, cushions, or a mattress
on the floor.
They can use some swings and low slides at the playground.
Most toddlers are just learning how to walk and run. Go for
lots of walks.
Let the toddlers practice climbing stairs with your help.
Toddlers also like to play house with dolls and housekeeping
props such as plastic dishes and spoons.

ACTIVITIES FOR PRESCHOOLERS

Preschool children like to jump, ride tricycles, play ball,
use crayons, and do puzzles.
When these children play with water or sand, give them toys
like egg beaters, watering cans, squeeze bottles, and funnels.
Make soap bubbles. Add 3/4 cup of liquid dish soap to 2 quarts
of water. Have the children blow bubbles with small plastic (frozen
juice) containers open at both ends. They can also use straws
or green plastic berry baskets. Also, let the children wash dishes.
Poke holes in the bottoms of plastic margarine tubs. Have
the children fill them with water and watch it dribble out.
Let the children play with sand in buckets. Give them scoops,
muffin tins, funnels, rolling pins, and salt shakers to use.
Almost any containers and utensils are fun to play with in the
sand.
Preschoolers like to pretend. They learn how to share, and
it helps their imaginations grow. Set up a corner of your room
like an ice cream store. You will need a table, clean ice cream
containers, ice cream scoops, and cones made from paper. To make
a pretend beach, you will need bathing suits, towels, sunglasses,
a radio, and beach toys. To make a supermarket, gather empty
food boxes and containers, play money, and shopping carts. You
can also get ideas from the children for pretend playing.
Hygiene routines (washing hands and brushing teeth) should
be a regular part of each day.
Preschoolers like to make things with blocks and Legos(TM).
Check to make sure the wood is smooth and free of splinters.

ACTIVITIES FOR SCHOOL-AGED CHILDREN

These children like many of the same activities toddlers
and preschoolers like. These activities include playing with
water, cooking, and dancing. Make activities more fun for older
children by adding more toys and by letting them do more things
by themselves.
Most school-aged children are very active and like competitive
games like kickball or basketball.
Some school-aged children like to play alone.
Girls tend to like to play with girls, and boys tend to like
to play with boys most of the time.
Help the children make water wave jars. In a jar, mix one
part water with food coloring to two parts oil. Tightly screw
on the lid. Hold the jar sideways. Rock it back and forth to
make waves.
Help them make water clocks. Collect five or six cans of
different sizes. Punch a small hole in the side of each can near
the bottom. Stuff the hole with paper. Fill the cans with water.
Have the children see which will empty first and which will empty
last. Before they try this, ask them to predict which will empty
first.

ACTIVITIES FOR ALL AGES

Take a trip to the playground, park, or basketball court.
Do errands together, or plan field trips to the library, bank,
or newspaper office.
Music is fun for everyone. You can make and play instruments
with preschoolers and elementary school-aged children. To make
shakers, gather some cans with plastic lids. Fill the cans with
buttons, bells, and beads. Glue on the lids. Decorate (or have
the children decorate) the cans if you like. Make drums from
old coffee cans with plastic lids. To make a shoe box guitar,
cut a hole in a shoe box lid. Tape the lid on the box. Stretch
three or four rubber bands across the hole on the lid. The children
can pluck the rubber bands. Have the children play their instruments
for the younger children and infants.

TV WATCHING

In family day care homes, the TV should not be on all day.
The TV should never be on if no children are watching. Good shows
for toddlers and preschoolers are “Sesame Street” and
“Mr. Rogers.” “Electric Company,” “Reading
Rainbow,” and some after school specials are good for school-aged
children. Infants prefer being held to watching TV. Soap operas
are for adults only. Children will learn the most from TV if you
talk about the shows with them. The TV should be used only as
a learning aid. It should not be used for adult entertainment
while children are in your day care program.

ESTABLISHING A ROUTINE

Most children are much happier when they know what to expect.
They like and need daily routines. They also need a balance between
active and quiet time. You can meet these needs by establishing
a routine that is designed to have the balance your day care children
need.

DOCUMENT
USE/COPYRIGHT
National Network for Child Care – NNCC. Part of CYFERNET, the
National Extension Service Children Youth and Family Educational
Research Network. Permission is granted to reproduce these materials
in whole or in part for educational purposes only(not for profit
beyond the cost of reproduction) provided that the author and
Network receive acknowledgment and this notice is included:

Reprinted with permission from the National Network for Child
Care – NNCC.
Miller, L. (1991). *Play activities for children birth to nine
years*.
(Family Day Care Facts series). Amherst, MA: University
of Massachusetts.

Any additions or changes to these materials must be preapproved
by the author .

COMMENTS:: From Carol Seefeldt and Laure L. Dittman (Eds.)
Day Care – 9 – Family Day Care. U.S. Department of Health, Education,
and Welfare Office of Child Development, 1973.

FORMAT AVAILABLE:: Available only on the
Internet
DOCUMENT REVIEW:: Level
2 – Cooperative Extension Systems: Universities of
Massachusetts, Rhode Island and Connecticut
DOCUMENT SIZE:: 18K or 5 pages
ENTRY DATE:: July 1995