Preparing toddlers for a baby

Thursday 3rd May 2018

Dolls are some of the oldest toys that children have ever played with. There’s good reason for these toys to be so long lasting through human history. They are a representation of the child themselves, and allow for a child to gain a greater understanding of themselves as well as those around them.

The baby doll is such a fantastic learning tool that we hope all children will have the opportunity to own and play with. This is because baby dolls are packed with potential for teaching children about themselves and the world around them. Such props offer children with lots of opportunities for developing their cognitive, fine motor, and self-help skills. Children often find it easier to practice these skills on someone (or something) else before they can apply them to themselves. Because boys often develop some of their fine motor and self-dressing skills later than girls, it’s important for them to be exposed to more opportunities for practice. Learning outcomes for this topic include: 

+ Social skills: Playing with dolls solidifies social skills that are gained in a child’s early developmental years. When children play house, they learn to communicate with one another kindly and cooperate. By taking care of a doll, they learn how to take care of one another.

+ Responsibility: By learning important social skills at an early age, children are learning responsibility as well. They learn how to take care of a doll by playing with it. Learning this skill can help children learn to care for their pets, or older siblings more readily and understand how to care of their younger siblings,

+ Emotional wellbeing / empathy: Another important social skill that children learn when playing with dolls is how to process emotions such as empathy and compassion. 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.

+ Creative thinking: Dramatic play, the kind of play that happens when children play with dolls, helps develop our children’s imagination as they encounter creative, imagined scenarios with their dolls and other children.

+ Language Skills: Our children run into new and unique situations for their games. Communicating between one another can strengthen their vocabulary by filling it with practical language. By communicating in this way with their friends, our children gain insight into home routines that may be different from their own. In this way they discover the world around them.

Today we practiced some basic concepts by pairing our babies with toys such as cradles, a bed, wash cloths, a wash tub and blankets to teach prepositions e.g. (baby in the bed, baby under the blanket), colours, and size concepts (using different sized dolls). We used an array of questions to work on the children’s understanding asking “wh” questions, (Where is baby?” “Where is baby’s nose/fingers/belly button?” “What does the baby want to eat?” “Why is the baby crying?”)

We observed many social and emotional skills emerge as the children assisted each other with each step in rocking, dressing, wrapping and washing their babies. Finnley used a bowl when washing his baby and poured the soapy water over the baby’s head while trying to support its head, Olivia was able to use the washcloth to take the soap out of her baby’s eyes. “You need to get the bubbles from her eyes…wipe it away.” Said Olivia. Harry made sure the baby’s feet; arms and legs were well washed using the cloth to scrub his baby clean. Sophie and Milo assisted one another to rock their tired babies to sleep as they sung a lullaby. Wolfe cradled his baby around protectively “My baby at home…cuddle.” Said Wolfe. Penelope loved wrapping her doll into a cloth with Jiin’s guidance. “My baby is cold…she had no clothes on…we put this on.” Pointed Penelope to her doll after she had finished wrapping it up. She placed her doll into a bassinette and took it for a walk.

We can see that our children used play to understand their world, to practice nurturing and caring (socio-emotional), re-enact interactions with their own educators, family, and friends (cognitive reframing) and being prepared to care for their siblings (rehearsal). Being able to have their own activity…but still feel connected to their parents can help our children ease into having an additional member in the family.