Today Date Triggered Content

Find a comfy place, snuggle up together and read a story. This could be the perfect way to end a busy day, or provide a few moments of quiet at the start of the day.  

Be brave little penguin by Giles Andreae and Guy Parker-Rees 

This week’s ideas all have a festive connection – these play ideas will give you time to talk about all the exciting and different things that are going on at this time of year.  

When we think about regulating emotions, we often think about times when our children are sad, frustrated or angry. But it is also useful to think about emotions such as excitement as needing regulation. Your child might need support to regulate this feeling of excitement too – and playing together can be a great way to do this.  

Your child uses their senses to understand the world around them and to learn about objects. During their first five years they’ll begin to master combining information from their senses, which is an important foundation for learning and well-being.  

We’ve separated our ideas into different senses, but many of the items will stimulate more than one. During sensory play, take a moment to step back and think about which senses your baby, toddler or child is using.  

If you’re wondering how to keep your little one entertained during these longer evenings, we’ve got some ideas for you.  

As always, we’ve separated our ideas into baby, toddler and child – have a look and pick the things you know your child will love. Each of these ideas could be adapted according to your child’s skills – even tummy time, which can be a great way of developing core strength for toddlers and children as well as babies.  

The first United Nations International Play day takes place on 11th June, with this day celebrating the power of play. We know that life with an under-five can be tiring, so we're sharing some ideas for when you're exhausted. 

As the nights draw in, and your child is more likely to have time to enjoy the dark evenings before bedtime, it can feel like the opportunities for play start to vanish. No more evening trips to the park, or walks before bed, and less time to get energy out in the afternoon as the gloom sets in earlier and earlier.... but there is a lot of magic in the dusk and dark!  

We’ve created a list of items we find really useful to have on hand for these dark evenings – as well as the usual play kit objects we shared earlier in the year, which you can find linked at the end of this article, in case you missed out.  

As the evenings are getting darker earlier and earlier, we find it can get harder to fill that time between food and bed... but the darkness doesn’t have to limit the options for play. In fact, with the right bits and pieces at hand it can offer lots of new ways to play together!  

This week we’ve brought together some of our favourite ways to play with shadows. 

Dark nights, crisp leaves and changing weather. Whether you prefer staying cosy inside or getting out and enjoying another season we have Autumn play ideas for you.  

Your first thought when it gets colder (and wetter) might be to stay inside, but with the right clothing, getting out and experiencing rain, wind and cold first-hand is a great way to learn about the changing seasons.  

All our activities use things you’re likely to have at home or just outside your front door, and we shared our summer play kit last month which answered the question, “What do you think I have at home?” This month we thought we’d share some suggestions for a play kit that makes the most of the changing season, with our suggestions for an Autumn play kit.  

If you have any suggestions you’d add to the list, let us know on our Facebook community. 

If someone mentions creativity most of us immediately think about art and craft, but creativity is about much more than paint and glue. And we think lots of the activities that people call creative really aren’t at all, they’re much more about following instructions and conforming. If you’re ready to help your child get their creative juices flowing, we’ve got some ideas for you – and there isn’t any crafting involved! 

The Cambridge dictionary defines creativity as, “The ability to produce or use original and unusual ideas.”^[1]