Five to Thrive: Play

Play is how your baby begins to understand the world and you are their favourite playmate. Even the simplest play helps your baby’s brain grow and supports their emotional development. 

• Face time: Smile, make funny faces, or poke out your tongue. Newborns can’t see very far, and they love looking at you so this will be particularly good for them.  
• Peekaboo: A classic game that helps your baby learn about interaction and attention. 
• Tummy time: Strengthens their neck, back, and shoulders while offering a whole new view of the world. Try putting a toy or child-safe mirror in front of them while they lie on their front. Always supervise, start with short sessions and build up the time. 
• Treasure baskets: Fill a box with safe household items based on different themes such as soft fabrics, shiny objects, wooden spoons, things the same colour or brushes. Make sure they are clean and safe for your child to play with. Let your baby explore with their senses. 
• Messy play: Playing with clean water, or safe food like yogurt once you’ve started weaning, is great for learning about mark-making, a pre-writing skill. 
• Bubbles: Fun to watch, pop, and even try blowing. Great for hand-eye coordination and interaction. 
• Action songs are playful and help your baby tune into rhythm, language, and movement. Try songs like Wind the Bobbin Up, The Grand Old Duke of York, Dingle Dangle Scarecrow. Add gentle movements or use your baby’s hands to follow the actions. If you don’t know them, you can watch them along with lots of other nursery rhymes on the CBeebies website.  
• Hide and seek: Hide objects under cups or pieces of material to teach your baby that things still exist even when they can’t see them, an early brain-building skill called object permanence. 

Always supervise your baby during messy or water play, and never leave them unattended near water, babies can drown in just a few centimetres. 

Understanding play patterns 

As your baby grows, you might notice they’re drawn to certain types of play like spinning wheels, throwing things, or knocking down towers. These are called schemas and they’re how babies naturally explore and learn. 

Some common schemas include: 

• Rotation: Spinning wheels or turning objects. For example, they might start turning toy cars upside down and spinning the wheels. Give them cogs, wheels, taps, and keys to turn to help to support their fascination. 
• Trajectory: Dropping or throwing things. If your child keeps dropping things from their highchair, they may be in a trajectory schema. Giving them a ball to kick or throw will help to support that interest. 
• Connecting/disconnecting: Connecting can be building train tracks, stacking bricks, threading or doing jigsaw puzzles. Disconnecting is knocking down, tearing, taking things apart. So, if every time you build a tower, they knock it down they may be in a disconnection schema.  

Noticing what your baby is interested in helps you offer play that supports their development and what they’ll find interesting.  

Remember play doesn’t have to involve lots of expensive toys. Your baby learns best through interacting with you. Small, joyful moments together help build your baby’s brain and strengthen your bond. 

Toddlers and pre-schoolers learn best through play. It’s how they explore the world, understand their emotions, build relationships, and develop the skills they’ll need for school and life. 

The best kind of play doesn’t have to be structured or expensive, it’s about giving your child the chance to lead, explore, create, and connect with you. 

Let your child take the lead in play and join in with their ideas when you can. If you can let them direct the play it can build their curiosity, independence, and thinking skills, all important foundations for school and life.   

Playing also helps boost their speech and language skills and develop important social skills like turn taking and emotional regulation.  

Here are some ways to support your toddler or pre-schooler's learning through play: 

• Read together: Add props, sensory books, or silly voices to bring stories to life. 
• Creative play: Painting, drawing, or messy play like mixing colours or using yoghurt or shaving foam. Let them enjoy the process, not worry about the outcome. 
• Pretend play: Dressing up and role-playing helps children express ideas and emotions - Who will they be? Where will they go? What will happen? 
• Outdoor play: Run, jump, explore nature. Try cloud-spotting, collecting leaves, or playing simple games like “find a feather” or “how many steps to the tree?” 
• Active movement: Dance together or build an indoor obstacle course. 
• Make daily tasks playful: Spot numbers on doors or count how many dogs you see when you’re out walking, in the supermarket ask them to point to things on your shopping list, or make tidying up a race.  

When you can, follow their interests. If your child loves building, knocking down, or spinning things, they may be exploring a play pattern or schema. These are natural ways children learn so try and notice them and build on what they enjoy.  

As children grow older, the way they play evolves and so does how you can support their play and wellbeing. For older children and teenagers, play often becomes more independent or centred around their friends. It’s important to give them the freedom to invent their own games and enjoy time playing on their own. This independence encourages creativity, problem-solving, and social connection. 

That said, your involvement still makes a difference. Many older kids and teens appreciate when adults are active with them, not to take the lead, but to share in the experience. Whether it’s joining them for a casual bike ride, having a kick about, or exploring nature, these moments create opportunities to bond and show your support without being intrusive. 

Ideas and tips for playing with older children and teenagers 

• Find your local Parkrun: A free, weekly community event held across the UK that invites people of all ages to walk, jog, or run at their own pace. Parkrun offers a 5km route for all ages, the Junior Parkrun is a 2km route designed for 4-14-year-olds. It’s a great opportunity for families to be active together. 
• Sports and games: Try tennis, skateboarding, basketball, cricket or swimming together. Many teens enjoy competitive play or casual matches with friends or family. 
• Outdoor adventures: Go hiking, geocaching, or try an obstacle course. Camping trips or nature walks can be good for your physical and mental health and offer opportunities to learn about the environment. 
• Creative play: Encourage music sessions, dance-offs, drama activities, or collaborative art projects that let teens express themselves and connect with others. 
• Board games and strategy games: Many older kids enjoy complex board games, card games, or strategy video games that challenge their thinking and foster social interaction. 
• Share music: Take it in turns to play each other songs you love. It’s a simple, fun way to connect, spark conversation, and learn more about each other’s tastes. 
• Volunteering or community projects: Participate together in local clean-up days, charity runs, or other community events that combine play with purpose. 
• Mindful movement: Activities like yoga, martial arts, or tai chi can help teens build physical and emotional resilience while having fun. 
• Tech-enabled play: Play video games together that encourage movement, problem-solving, or creativity. 

Tips for success: 

• Respect their interests and choices: If they’re passionate about a particular sport, game, or hobby, show interest and join in occasionally, but don’t pressure them. 
• Encourage social play: Friendships are hugely important in this stage. Support their plans to meet up or play online games with friends, which helps build social skills and a sense of belonging. 
• Use play as a way to talk: Active play can open doors to meaningful conversations. Walking or cycling side by side often makes it easier for teens to open up. 
• Balance screen time with active play: While digital games and social media are a big part of their world, encouraging breaks for physical play or outdoor activities supports their mental and physical health. 

By staying engaged in ways that respect their growing independence, you help your older child or teenager develop resilience, emotional wellbeing, and healthy habits that will last a lifetime.