Pretend play is one of the most important ‘occupations’ for Little Peas. It is a way for them to establish, build and solidify their developmental skills including self care skills, social skills, cognition, abstract thought, language, emotion regulation, fine and gross motor skills. This Little Pea is 18months old and is learning about opening and closing dollies house, putting dolly to sleep, giving dolly a bottle and watching dolly go to the toilet. All while taking turns, narrating what she is doing, repeating new words her play partner (Rebecca and her Mummy Pea) says, developing her reach and grasp patterns, learning to manipulate small objects, and much much more. Pretend play is an opportunity for Little Peas to impose meaning on what they have seen and allow them to make sense of the world and the every day actions they see. There are many stages of pretend play which develop with age and developmental capacity of the child.
At Little TheraPeas we use play to facilitate meaningful interactions and engagement with our Little Peas and help them to build their skills and reach their therapy goals.
Take a moment to expand your Little Pea’s ideas and see where the play takes you! Perhaps you have a 5year+ old Little Pea who is desperate to take you in their rocket ship to outer space. Or maybe your Little Pea is 2 years old and doing around the house routines and has perfected the perfect cup of coffee and muffin!
Let us know what you did with your Little Pea this weekend and how you expanded on their play or facilitated their sequencing of ideas.
Rebecca Lockyer, Occupational Therapist, Little TheraPeas
(07)53756322
admin@littletherapeas.com.au littletherapeas.com.au
Rebecca Lockyer
Occupational Therapist, Little TheraPeas