At the Peoria PlayHouse Children’s Museum, our mission is to help children become “explorers and creators of the world.” We believe that through imaginative and open-ended play children not only learn to respond to the world around them – they also learn to shape it.
Children are playing and exploring all the time, and sometimes all they need from us is the safety of a nearby adult. But it’s useful to have a few tricks up your sleeve for when children need a little encouragement. Below are a few “PlayHouse Play Tips” for children of different ages.
Ages 1-3
Bang two things together. What sound do they make? Bang different things together. Make an orchestra of homemade instruments.
Put on music and dance to it. Put on a different type of music and dance to it. Do you move differently? Do you like one music better than the other?
Become a footprint expert. Make a footprint in sand. Use water to make a footprint on the floor. Make a footprint with paint on paper. How else can you make a footprint?
Get three big buckets and lots of stuff. Which stuff do you want to put in which bucket? Pour stuff between buckets. Dump stuff out. Sort stuff.
Ages 4-6
Rescue three clean, non-breakable things from a recycling pile and combine them using masking tape and your imagination. Cover the entire sculpture with masking tape. What strange creature have you invented?
Gather ten small things from inside or outside. Sort your collection by size, color, and shape. What other ways can you think of to sort these objects?
Sing Twinkle Twinkle and the ABC song – same tune, different words! Make up your own song to this tune.
Ages 7-10
Draw five random lines on a piece of paper – all types of lines, all over the paper. Then use all five lines, and anything else you want to add, to make a picture.
What games can you play with a ball? Make up your own ball games. What’s the simplest game you can invent? What’s the most fun?
Invent a secret, silent language. Teach your language to someone else, so you can have secret, silent conversations.
Try these PlayHouse Play Tips and let us know what you think on Facebook! Or make up your own and share it with us, via social media or email!
