This little man started with chicken pox today, but you wouldn’t have known watching this baby role-play. I don’t know who had more fun this morning. My 6 month old loved being fussed over by his temporary ‘Mummy and Daddy’. Plus I got to watch two besotted three year olds try to put a bib on, feed and tuck in a real baby.
Resources
- Dolls and accessories, e.g. baby clothes, bottle and pram
- Real life baby
Method
SAFETY: Always supervise toddlers and preschoolers around babies. We talked about always being careful. I made it clear that they were not to ever try to tie a bib round a baby’s neck without an adult to help. We also discussed keeping babies faces uncovered and making sure that we only tucked them in from the arms down.
I’ve done a previous post called “Boys and their Babies“, which talks about the benefits of children (both girls and boys) playing with dolls. When Finn had his friend round to play, the combination of the dolls and a real life baby, was all they needed for three hours of uninterrupted role play as Mummy and Daddy.
They kept asking Cian to stay still, then getting confused when he didn’t listen!
Cian enjoyed being tucked in
I stopped videoing while she actually put the bib on, so I had my hands free to help.
One of their favourite activities was giving Cian a real bottle of milk.
The baby had a hot water bottle to keep his feet warm. Then they played “peekaboo” with the doll and an orange comforter. Afterwards, we recapped again that you wouldn’t actually put the comforter over a babies face.
DfES Early Learning Goals (2017)
Physical development
ELG 05 – Health and self-care:
Children know the importance for good health of physical exercise, and a healthy diet, and talk about ways to keep healthy and safe. They manage their own basic hygiene and personal needs successfully, including dressing and going to the toilet independently.
Personal, social and emotional development
ELG 06 – Self-confidence and self-awareness:
Children are confident to try new activities, and say why they like some activities more than others. They are confident to speak in a familiar group, will talk about their ideas, and will choose the resources they need for their chosen activities. They say when they do or don’t need help.
ELG 07 – Managing feelings and behaviour:
Children talk about how they and others show feelings, talk about their own and others’ behaviour, and its consequences, and know that some behaviour is unacceptable.
ELG 08 – Making relationships:
Children play co-operatively, taking turns with others. They take account of one another’s ideas about how to organise their activity. They show sensitivity to others’ needs and feelings, and form positive relationships with adults and other children.
Understanding the world
ELG 13 – People and communities:
Children talk about past and present events in their own lives and in the lives of family members. They know that other children don’t always enjoy the same things, and are sensitive to this. They know about similarities and differences between themselves and others, and among families, communities and traditions.
ELG 14 – The world:
Children know about similarities and differences in relation to places, objects, materials and living things. They talk about the features of their own immediate environment and how environments might vary from one another. They make observations of animals and plants and explain why some things occur, and talk about changes.
