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Hi I'm Maggie Redshaw and I'm the Play Expert for Little Tikes the toy brand.
What makes me an expert? In the first place
I'm a mother of two, and secondly I'm a developmental and health psychologist.
We all know that play is important (no matter how big we get),
it's particularly important for young children, especially in the early years.
All babies are individuals right from the very start,
but to help you recognise key play and learning stages
and show you how to encourage different play types,
Little Tikes and I have worked out four of the most common play personalities,
or ways of playing. First things first -- let's start with one of the youngest; little Learners.
Is your little one always excited to get into everything?
Watching and touching everything you show them?
Your baby is likely to be a 'Little Learner' at the moment. Do you see her watching that
spider?
That's probably the first time she has seen a shape move like that
and she's really paying attention. As well as being colourful
and lots of fun music toys are great for teaching even the littlest learners
about cause and effect, how playing with one thing
can lead to different actions or how hitting keys or
pressing different buttons can make lots of exciting sounds.
Young babies only gradually learn to reach
that, grasp and explore objects and the gym allows your baby
to try out these at their own pace. As your little one
grows they can take in more elements. The Activity Garden
is another great toy for Little Learners. Visually exciting like the Gym
it can go a bit further for slightly older toddlers.
The telephone, shape sorter and telescope
should help pre-schoolers learn as they play.
With lots of room and possibilities for children to play together.
These are just a few ideas for your Little Learners,
but there are lots more options out there.
Whether they manage to get hold of your car keys, your phone or a new toy
they can't wait to get stuck into everything and will learn from everything you show them.
If your little ones are a bit past this stage or have a different preference
then stayed tuned for the next play personality video where we will be talking about Little Movers.
Thanks for watching!