Between ages 1 and 3, children go from barely being able to walk upright to knowing how to balance on a foot and speaking in sentences, according to KidsHealth.org. Playtime encourages this rapid development, but children’s main focus in the early years is not on playing with their peers as much as it is playing with their parents. Teaching your child how to play easy games will help her learn the ins and outs of game play--such as following organized rules--before she ever steps foot on a school playground.
The Hokey-Pokey
The Hokey-Pokey is a classic game that teaches young children how to follow directions and encourages them to learn the names of different body parts, says the Nemours Foundation. Begin by standing all players in a circle--it may just be you, your toddler and possibly your spouse--and performing the motions to the words in the song. You may sing the song, or consider playing the "Hokey Pokey" song on a set of speakers. The lyrics to the song in the case of using the right foot would go, “You put your right foot in, you put your right foot out, you put your right foot in and you shake it all about. You do the Hokey-Pokey ..."--as you raise your hands up in the air and make wiggling motions with your fingers--"... and you turn yourself around; that’s what it’s all about.” Next, sing the song but replace right foot with other parts, such as left foot, left and right hands and legs, head, backside and whole self. Choose the parts you know your child is familiar with, then throw in different new parts from time to time, recommends Nemours.
Sorting and Counting Games
Give your child a set of items such as buttons or construction paper shapes of various colors and sizes and encourage him to count them and organize them by different qualities, says Preschoolrainbow.org. For example, you may ask him to place all of the red shapes in one pile and all the blue shapes in another, or count the number of objects in two piles in advance and ask him to point to the one that contains more objects. This activity can extend into daily routines, such as counting and sorting socks before placing them in the drawer or sorting silverware into different piles before putting them in their respective places in the drawer. These games teach your child the basic rules of numbers and categorizing.
I Spy
The “I Spy” game, inspired by the game in a popular book, can be played for free if you create it yourself. Play it on-the-go, such as when waiting in lines or on car rides, by announcing to your child, “I spy with my little eyes, something that is round like a ball,” and encourage him to find the object you were looking at. This game encourages your child to become observant and teaches him to take turns as you alternate between who “spies” and who finds. You may also fashion a homemade I Spy game by gluing onto paper some random objects, such as beads, rocks, sticks, toothpicks and paper clips, then taking turns spying them, according to Scholastic.com.
