Let's Play and Learn Together - Softcover

Leiderman, Roni; Masi, Wendy S.

Softcover

ISBN 10: 1592334954 ISBN 13: 9781592334957

Publisher: Fair Winds Press, 2012

Synopsis

Playing with your baby is more than fun and games: it's the key to building a strong relationship with your infant and providing important early stimulation that promotes learning and development. Let’s Play and Learn Together provides 100 games, activities, and exercises that parents can do with their baby to foster cognitive, motor, and language skills as well as creativity and relational skills. Let’s Play and Learn Together shows parents how they can use daily caregiving routines such as feeding, diapering, dressing, bathing, and bedtime as opportunities for play, positive emotional attachment, and learning. You'll also find play ideas for each age and stage and for different developmental levels.

About this title

About the Authors

Roni Cohen Leiderman, Ph.D. is a developmental psychologist specializing in emotional development, positive discipline, and play. She has worked with young children for more than 25 years. She is the Dean of the Mailman Segal Center for Human Development at Nova Southeastern University in Florida.

Dr. Wendy S. Masi is a developmental psychologist specializing in early childhood. She has designed and implemented programs for preschools, families with young children, and early childhood professionals for more than 20 years. Dr. Masi is the dean of the Family Center at Nova Southeastern University in Florida. She is the mother of four children.

Excerpt. © Reprinted by permission. All rights reserved.

Games and Activities to Help Your Child Cope with Doctors’ Visits

Facing the Scary Stuff: There are some aspects of visiting the doctor that are just plain scary. Of course, children cannot play with or touch needles, but they can play with tongue depressors, cotton balls, and Band-Aids. These real objects help diffuse the anxiety associated with them. You can incorporate them into your child’s doctor kit or include them with other art materials to make art collages with glue, glitter, paint, and tape on cardboard.

Playing Doctor to Address Fears: Playing out doctors’ visits or medical procedures at home helps your child understand what will happen and provides her with a sense of control. Playing doctor, rather than patient, puts your child in the driver’s seat and helps her feel more powerful. You can pretend to be scared and let your child reassure you that everything will be okay. You can also be an uncooperative patient, playfully refusing to take your medicine and then letting your child coerce you into opening your mouth.

Dolly’s Boo-Boos: Once your child is old enough to enjoy pretend play with his dolls, little people, and stuffed animals, get him a children’s doctor kit to help take away their boo-boos. Not only will playing with the kit help during the times he is ill, but it will also be a way to desensitize him to the scary aspects of going to the doctor.

Picture This: Drawing pictures about their experiences helps children cope with scary feelings. It is also helpful to let your child talk about her picture to further process her emotions.

My Trip to the Doctor: Reading books with your child creates closeness and offers a world of new information. Creating your own storybooks is a more personal way to describe events in her life. Take photographs of your child’s visit to the doctor or hospital, documenting every part of her experience. Paste or tape the photos onto heavy paper and write words underneath to describe each picture. For older children, take dictation and scribe their own words. Staple the pages together and create a real book written by you and your child.

Edition details

• Publisher: Fair Winds Press
• Publication date: 2012
• Language: English
• ISBN 10: 1592334954
• ISBN 13: 9781592334957
• Binding: Paperback
• Number of pages: 176