Play to Boost Your Child's Early Development

Playing can be your child’s first learning experience, it is how your little one gears up for all milestones you're waiting to document with wonderful photos: sitting up, taking those first steps, or saying their much anticipated first word.

The Secret to Your Child’s Development

Playing is the secret to your child's development; every parent has once read it or heard it, but how can play help your child’s development?

At Micki we have collaborated with Speech and Language Therapist, Jenny Hillier to better understand how playing can help little ones’ development. Jenny is a Speech and Language Therapist and is the Clinical Director of Jenny Hillier Speech Therapy Services, in Co. Kildare, Ireland. She has extensive experience in working with children to help develop their speech, language, and communication skills. Jenny tells us how play is instrumental in every child's development, from the very first months. 

Using dolls in play is a fantastic tool that every child, boy or girl, will benefit from at an early age to develop cognitive and communication skills. Introducing dolls to children at an early age and using them for pretend play helps them learn so many new things. Hearing words many times over as parents play with their children develops the building blocks for language, from simple words like “doll”, “hair”, “tummy” to action words like “brush”, “drink”, “sleep”, and everything in between.  

"Introducing soft dolls at an early age for children is an excellent way to encourage pretend play which begins to emerge at around 18 months of age. Pretend play is incredibly important for developing a child’s imagination, creative thinking, problem-solving, language skills and social communication", says Jenny.

Play to Learn and Explore

Babies love to touch and feel new textures, and they begin to differentiate between the different colours, sizes, and textures of the world around them so early. That's why soft dolls are a perfect way for them to explore and feel new things.⁠ Introducing dolls to babies is also a great start to building and developing body awareness. "Building body awareness is important for recognising where your body is in space and understanding how it feels. In order to communicate how their body feels, a child must understand the names of body parts and have a way to communicate them, either by pointing to them or naming them", says Jenny.  

Engaging children at an early age in pretend play is a great start to teaching them the names of different body parts, as are daily routines like dressing and bathing. Dressing up a soft doll while parents name body parts on the doll and the child, makes the learning experience more playful and relevant to them. Play with dolls is a great way to engage the senses and encourages curiosity. "Using sensations in the body, like feeling warmth or cooling, is an excellent way to support your child in learning the names of body parts and there is no better way, than through play!", says Jenny.