
Let’s Play Ideas
Here is another good piece from the Government website Let’s Play Ireland https://www.gov.ie/en/campaigns/lets-play-ireland/
Published: 24 April 2020
From: Department of Children and Youth Affairs
Here are some ideas for play that cost very little:
- take out frustration by squashing pillows or stamping cardboard boxes until they are flat
- draw pictures on card and cut them into jigsaw puzzles
- set up pretend shops, schools, kitchens, banks, post offices, beauty salons, hospitals and cafes
- collect and sort things to play with in water, supervising young children
- make dens, shelters and cubby holes
- play at dressing up, put on shows, make up soap operas and dramas
- reuse old/dead plant pots to make a small indoor garden, planting seeds and watching them grow
- invent new board games
There are lots of things around most people’s homes that can be played with. Although you might think play means games and toys, children can play with lots of things that encourage their imagination and ingenuity. For example, things like cardboard boxes or old sheets can be played with in different ways.
Here are some ideas of things you can find around the house for your child to play with:
- sheets, duvets, pillows, old clothes
- chairs, tables, cardboard boxes
- pots, pans, wooden spoons
- papers, chalk, balloons, paint
- string, elastic bands, pegs, paper clips
- tins and cans from the cupboard
You can also offer your child some of the things that are often thrown away or recycled.
Here’s a link to the First 5 parents page for ideas on play and learning for younger children.
Here’s a link to the NCN Play Hub on Facebook for daily ideas on play and activities.
You might want to record this time in your family using the COVID-19 Time Capsule.
Here are great resources from our friends in Play Scotland:
Messy Play Book 1
Messy Play Book 2
Loose Parts
Experimental Play