Caring for babies: Nappy changing

Wednesday 16th May 2018

If a child cannot learn the way we teach, maybe we should teach the way they learn

We can observe that our children enjoy taking on the adult role in order for them to feel a sense of control and power. This makes complete sense because children have very little control over their world (for some necessary and good reasons). Giving a child the chance to have some power and control in play allows them to give it a try in a safe way. 

Today our children focused on dressing their babies particularly putting nappies on and off the dolls. Our intention is that if children are learning to care for infants that this in turn will mean that they are able to care for themselves. We observed that taking nappies off has to assist in toilet training has been a challenge and so a little practice on a few dolls is always beneficial! 

We can see immense learning outcomes associated with this experience such as:

Social/pragmatic skills: Baby dolls can be a tool to use to help teach appropriate social and pragmatic skills. Children can take turns playing with different dolls, and they can practice using language to ask questions about the dolls and what they are doing.

Removing clothes: Though some clothing items are easier to remove than others, children often benefit from trying it out on a doll before doing so for themselves. Taking clothing off is usually mastered before putting it on and includes removing items such as socks (pulling from the top rather than pulling on the toes), shoes, shirt, using a pincer grasp to unzip, pulling down pants, and unbuttoning large buttons.

Putting on clothes: Getting clothes on can be tough and is typically easier when first practiced on a doll. We practiced placing hats and bibs on our dolls. We can observe our children really want to put their own pants up, their jackets on, pulling up zips and buttoning large buttons. Through our routine we allow the children to practice doing these things for themselves. 

Using both hands in midline: This skill that tends to coincide with the development of skills such as zipping/unzipping or holding the doll while pretending to feed it. Through this activity we can observe all the children meeting their hands at the midline as they placed their nappies on their dolls. Crossing the midline of your body helps build pathways in the brain and is an important prerequisite skill required for the appropriate development of various motor and cognitive skills. This is beneficial for future reading, writing, self-dressing and physical activities. We can observe that some of our children have already established a hand preference.  

We observed Wolfe demonstrating how to process emotions such as empathy and compassion. Wolfe was being very responsible as he picked his doll up gently and cradled her “Rock her, she sleeping…goodnight baby” Said Wolfe. Harry was interested in wiping his doll to make sure she was clean before attempting to place a nappy on. We can observe that he understands the sequence of steps associated with nappy change. Penelope observed Milo placing the tape over the nappy to secure it in place. From there she attempted to do this herself and was determined to make sure the nappy was secured on tightly!  

Sophie began by sticking the tape together but realised the bottom wasn’t folded in and the baby fell out of its nappy. On her second attempt she was able to fold the nappy over. Ilaria wanted to try for herself without any assistance to problem solve. She understood the steps of placing the nappy flat under the doll and then wrapping the nappy over. Charlie decided the pirate doll was a better option to practice with and began with placing the bib on his baby “Lunch time…hungry.” Charlie said. He then tried to open up the nappy to place under his doll could master it after our session. Finnley started by wrapping the nappy over the doll but forgot to tape it in place. He then lifted the dolls legs to wrap it around tightly and solved his way through the process by meeting his hands at the midline, placing the tape in towards the middle. Milo was able to confidently follow Jiin’s lead and successfully follow her demonstration step by step.

Just like caring for their doll teaches responsibility, it teaches them to empathise with those around them and allows them to grow up into caring people. We can observe our children communicating between one another to strengthen their vocabulary by filling it with practical language. To extend our experience we may collate our mini lessons together. We will add the wash basin back into the room so that all the steps can be taken together in sequence from bath time -> nappy change -> bed time.