Playing with Infants and Toddlers - Suggested Websites for Adults to Promote Physical Activity and Engagement
By: Carrie Portrie, EC-SEAT Project Coordinator Play is an important activity in children's (and adults' lives). Through play, we often make sense of the world around us and find connections to others. Adults and children play together to find understanding and to learn. The first moments of play can begin when babies are born. Babies can benefit from feeling different fabrics on their feet, seeing their reflection in a mirror, hearing books which label objects in their world, and watching their caregiver's face while they coo and talk with animated loving. Toddlers will enjoy crawling through bought or constructed tunnels, dumping loud and soft items out of containers and beginnings of pretend play with baby dolls and stuffed animals. The ZERO TO THREE National Center for Infants, Toddlers and Families provides a practical and simple lists of ways to play with children from birth to three years old. A few of the resources provide clear and simple ways to initiate play...