Importance of play for early learning

Task 1-The importance of creativity

1.1 Describe how creativity and imagination is

important for the development of a child
Having an imagination is the ability of the mind to be creative and
resourceful.

Creativity is children’s unique response to all that they see, hear, feel and
experience. A child’s individual responses to materials, experiences and
ideas inspire their creativity and imagination.

Children’s responses can be physical, emotional, social, cultural or a

combination. Younger children might respond in verbal and non verbal
ways, for example, a toddler swaying to music.

For young children to have an individual response it’s important you do not
have a set goal. Children need their contributions to be noticed and valued so
they build confidence and resilience. Give children enough space and time to
experience and explore. Help and encourage them to develop their own
curiosity and creativity. A child’s imagination and creativity are enriched
through their awareness of art and other children around them. All of these
creative experiences build powerful connections within the brain, Creativity
is associated with focus, independence, a willingness to explore and
ingenuity.

As children develop in imagination and creativity they are able to tell a

story, relate to other people, keep themselves emotionally grounded and
enter their imaginary worlds.
The development of children’s artistic and cultural awareness supports their
imagination and creativity. It is important that children have regular
opportunities to engage with the arts, enabling them to explore and play with
a wide range of media and materials.
To support children’s creativity and imagination you will need to consider
the range of what you offer.

Use a wide range of interesting and beautiful found materials, like wallpaper
and fabric. Fabrics, fastenings and accessories for roleplay can have more
potential than dressing-up costumes. Exploring materials and media inspires
children to think flexibly and creatively.

Stimulate children by using different materials for exploration. Give them

plenty of multi-sensory experiences and the opportunity to see images of art
works. Eventually children will offer their own thoughts about their
experiences. ‘This feels like a cuddle’ (a 3 year old exploring a strip of
velvet).

You need to be confident and give children time to respond to the things
they see, hear and experience at their own individual level. This is as
relevant to babies as it is to older children.

Focus on the experience rather than have a defined outcome. Children’s

responses or representation may be different to what you expected, you
should welcome this.

All children have their own creative and imaginative responses. Encourage
and notice the children’s responses. Knowledge of the children can help you
plan ahead.

Suggested activities
Have a musical ‘JAM ‘session

You’ll need:

trays, colanders, different sized plastic containers or pans that can be

beaten with a wooden spoon

whisks in saucepans

shakers made from small plastic containers filled with rice, lentils or
pasta

pan lids for banging together like cymbals

straws to blow bubbles in glasses of water

corrugated cardboard

paper bags for scrunching up

 metal tongues for clicking together like castanets

Let the children explore sounds that can be made from ordinary household
objects. Encourage links with parents or carers and ask them to help their
child choose things from their kitchen cupboards at home. Challenge the
children to make sounds from all the objects and utensils.

Bring in similar objects from home to compare and contrast with any
traditional instruments you have, for example, drums, maracas or bells.

You might want to use music to help you carry out the activity. For example,
use a favourite song, nursery rhyme or action song. You could ask the
children to play to the beat of the song.

Introduce children to language to describe the sounds they are making. Talk
with the children about how the sound is being made and show interest in
how many sounds they can make from one instrument. Can they change the
sound of the instrument by playing it in a different way?

Use strips of paper or white boards and pens to allow the children to
experiment with making marks to represent each sound. They could also
represent sounds in the form of movements too.

How this activity links to the other areas of learning

Physical development is supported by moving and handling objects and toys

and moving to music. Literacy is encouraged by writing making marks.
Musical activities are good for communication skills in speaking, listening
and understanding and personal social and emotional development.
Imagination and creativity are children’s unique response to what they
see, hear and experience around them.
 Children have a natural curiosity to explore experiences. Non-verbal
and verbal creative expression must be valued and noticed.
Repetition allows children to explore and make sense of their
experiences and to respond in their own unique way.

1.2 Describe how different activities can contribute to a

child’s creative and imaginative development.
Children learn and develop in a wide range of ways. We are all different, but
in general, children pick up information through their senses and then ‘make
sense’ of it in their growing and developing brain.

There are a wide range of benefits for a child to be involved in creative

activities. Educationalists say that the benefits include fine motor skills,
neural development, problem-solving, concentration skills and an effective
tool to help the development of key essential learning skills such as reading,
writing and understanding their world. Child Psychologists say the benefits
of creative activities can help children to express, process and understand
their emotions. Parents tell us that their children develop self-esteem and
that it is an activity that they can also share and be involved in. Toddlers and
children tell us they love being creative because it's fun and they are allowed
to do it in their own way. Business owners and leaders tell us creativity is
the foundation for innovation and for our communities, economic and
countries success. As you can see, there are many wider ranging benefits
when you involve your child in creative activities.
Creative activities like drama, music, dance, art and craft are great for
learning and development in these years. They can help preschoolers:
develop imagination and creativity.
 build confidence understand and express emotions
learn about the world and their place in it
communicate thoughts, experiences or ideas
practise and improve social skills
practise and improve fine motor skills, gross motor skills and hand-
eye coordination
build vocabulary and memory
practise decision-making, problem-solving and critical thinking.

1. Creative activities help kids with managing emotions.

Expressing how you feel can be difficult for your child. They may
experience new feelings and not know what these feelings are. By allowing
your child to express how they feel, you will be helping them make sense
and understand these feelings. This also helps to build children’s self-
confidence in managing their feelings and knowing that you are OK when
they are learning how to express different emotions.

Activities that can help include; describing different emotions and situations
through role-playing, storytelling, dressing up, drawing, modelling and
painting.

2. Creative activities help kids develop social skills.

Understanding that other people are different from us is a big learning stage
for children. Creative activities help show children that others can do things
differently to us even with the same resources. It also enables a way of
showing that it’s ok to be different to others.
Sharing a creative activity is also a great way to help build friendships, and
strengthen bonds between you and your child as well as with friends.

Activities including singing, dancing, acting, drawing, creating models,

nature trails together are all great ways to help friendship and bonding.

3. Creatives activities help kids with their physical development

There are a wide range of skills involved when being creative. With dancing,
drama and movement, there are many gross motor skills including balance
and spatial awareness. With art and crafts, the activities help support fine
gross motor skills and hand and eye co-ordination.
Creative activities help your child’s intellectual and cognitive
development.

Creative activities help your child to develop many thinking skills. These
skills include- problem-solving, developing their imagination, concentration
and critical thinking. By exploring different materials and tools, discovering
new concepts and techniques, children can develop their ideas and their
understanding of the world.

Creative activities can also help to develop basic mathematics and science
skills. Practising and developing these skills, during your child’s early years,
will help them transfer these skills to other areas of their life which will
benefit them as they grow older.

We all know that children love to ask ‘Why?’ Creative activities such as
drama and arts and crafts will help children think for themselves more and
work out answers for themselves.
Creative activities also help the child wellbeing
Task 2 - Indoor and outdoor games

• Describe a range of indoor and outdoor

games which are age and stage appropriate

Children learn best through play and games are a great way to work on
building foundational skills.Some of these are active indoor games for
preschoolers, while others are quiet, calming games to play indoors.
Active games are great for building gross motor skills and quiet ones also
have many benefits – improving concentration, listening skills, problem-
solving abilities, etc.

Play is a remarkably important activity for children of all ages. Choosing

age-appropriate play activities isn’t only about safety, it’s vital for their early
year’s development. The right age-appropriate play exercises give children
the chance to express and enjoy themselves, explore their imaginations, and
develop crucial skills.
The type of play that’s appropriate for a child changes as they grow older.
For each age range a child goes through, parents and teachers should offer
different activities. This will help support children’s physical, social, and
cognitive skills
 Play ideas for newborns

 Sing, chat, tickle, cuddle, count toes, blow raspberries – simple things
are best for newborns. Newborns also love nursery rhymes that
involve touch, like ‘Round and round the garden’. Sharing nursery
rhymes or traditional songs from your own culture and language is
great too.
 Make faces, smile, laugh, roll your eyes or poke out your tongue.
Your baby loves watching your face and playing peekaboo games.
Nappy-changing is a great time for face-to-face play.
 Give your baby different objects to feel – soft toys, rattles or cloth
books with pages of different textures are fun. Feeling different things
helps your baby learn about the world.
 Give your baby different things to look at – outside, inside, different
people or different rooms.
 Give your baby tummy time each day using a playmat or blanket on
the ground or floor. This encourages your baby to move and roll,
gives your baby practice holding up their head and lets them see
things from a different perspective. Always watch your baby during
tummy time and put your baby on their back to sleep.
 Talk or make sounds with your baby, and wait for them to respond.
Make sure your baby can see your face when you talk. This shows
your baby that conversations are about taking turns, listening and
responding to social cues. You might be surprised at how much your
baby has to ‘say’.
  Try reading with your baby. It’s never too early to start, but remember
to hold the book close – newborns can see only about 20-30 cm in
front of their eyes.

Toddlers are keen to explore the world around them and test out their
growing physical skills. Outdoor play for your toddler might include:
 throwing and chasing balls
 Pretend play with dolls
 Fish catching game
 Tower block game
 Connect 4
 Toy hammer game
 Twister game
 Play clothing
 Drawing and coloring books
 wheeling, pushing or pulling different toys and objects
 walking, running or jumping around trees, over stones or cracks in the
footpath, into puddles or towards favourite objects
 blowing bubbles and chasing them as they float away
 playing in sand, mud or small amounts of water
 Games played in lines or circles

Preschoolers are learning to play with other children. They also like make-
believe. You can help your child make the most of this stage with outdoor
and indoor play ideas like:
 playing games of chasey, hide-and-seek or kick-to-kick
 Simon Says: is a classic game that can be altered to fit your particular
needs. the person who is chosen as Simon gives a set of commands
and the children must follow them.It can be an indoor game or an
outdoor game.
 Broken telephone: where children sit in a circle and whispers
sentences into the ear of child sitting next to them once it reaches the
last person in the
circle she says the sentence loud. This game is great for learning and
listening skills.
Story time clap :
Another great quiet game to play with preschoolers includes some
clapping. Choose to either tell a story or read a book. Then, whenever
you say a particular word or phrase throughout the story, the children
must clap each time they hear it.
Musical chair game
 crawling through tunnels or climbing over fallen trees
 moving in different ways with colourful leaves, flowers, scarves or
streamers
 Dance
 making mud pies with dirt and old cooking utensils
 Simple puzzles
 going on a nature walk together and naming all of the different sounds
you hear
 looking for birds, insects and new plants, and trying to name them
 building a cubbyhouse out of boxes, clothes baskets or outdoor play
equipment or furniture.
 Roller skates with a helmet
  Three and four wheel riding toys with a helmet

• Assess the value and appropriateness of non-

competitive/competitive games and activities

Children learn about themselves and the world around them through play.
Providing a stimulating, challenging and safe environment allows children to
explore, discover and grow in their abilities. An environment that allows
children to make choices, and reflects their diversity, interests and abilities
will enhance their play and leisure time.

Benefits of Competitive games

Prepares children for adult life :

Allowing child to become accustomed to wins, but more importantly, losses
too can help them significantly in the future. Competition is found in
many aspects of life, so it can be useful for them to grasp it while they are
young.

Helps children develop vital skills:

Taking part in competitive activities can help them to develop vital skills
such as determination, perseverance and resilience. Your child can also
improve the understanding of taking turns, encouraging others and even
begin to show empathy.

Expands Children’s Comfort Zones:

It can be seen as a positive to broaden your child’s experiences and push
them out of their comfort zone. Coaches believe that children must get used to
the frustration that comes with competing; it can help them avoid the desire to
quit or give up when things become challenging.

Children Can Learn About Failure:

A child needs to understand that failure isn’t necessarily a bad thing. By
partaking in competitive activities, your child can learn from failure and
begin to see the losses as a way to evaluate how they can improve for next
time

Aside from preparing them for wins and losses later in their adult life, competitive
activities help kids develop important skills like resilience, perseverance, and tenacity.
They also learn how to take turns, encourage others, and develop empathy.

Non competitive games benefits

Learning Together
Many of the best non-competitive games offer the opportunity to learn as
well as have fun.
Cooperative games encourage children to help each other and look at
“winning” as a group effort. If the goal is merely to help each other and have
fun, then everyone goes away happy.
Game Ideas
Circle Stories
Children create a story together, one line at a time.
One child offers the opening sentence (“One upon a time there was a boy
who wanted a puppy.”) and then one by one, each child adds a line to build
the story, making the rounds through the group as many times as needed.
Since there are many storytellers, the tale often takes some unexpected
twists and turns, which is enjoyable for all. Expect lots of giggles as this
game progresses!
Copy Cats
Gather the children outside or inside where there is plenty of room for
movement.
Play some lively music and encourage the children to dance freely. One by
one, the children take turns being the leader.
Whatever movements are made by the leader should be mimicked by the
other players.
This game allows the children to enjoy some healthy exercise while having a
lot of fun.
Quack, Oink, Moo!
This is a fun game for a large group of children and is well suited for the
classroom as well as for children’s parties.
Think of animals that make distinct noises, such as dogs, cats, ducks, pigs,
cows, and horses.
Whisper the name of one of these animals to each child, being sure that each
animal is mentioned to at least two children.
Instruct the children to go about making the sound of their assigned animal
and then try to find the other children who are representing the same one.
Beware — this game can get pretty noisy!
Freeze Up
Play music for a group of children and tell them that they are to dance while
the music is going, but must freeze and hold their position as soon as the
music stops.
Each time you stop the music, wait for a moment before you restart it to give
the children a chance to see each other in silly poses.
Modern Musical Chairs
This game is played in much the same manner as the traditional version, but
no one is out of the game.
Instead, as each chair is removed, the children sit on each others laps on the
remaining chairs until the end, when all children are piled in one giggling
heap on the last remaining chair.
Stop-n-Go
Instruct a group of children to hold hands and form a circle. To begin the
game, the adult supervisor yells, “Go!” The children then walk around in a
circle until on of them yells, “Stop!”
The child who yelled stop then says something nice about the child located
to their right. The adult again yells, “Go!” and the game continues until each
child has had a turn.
Everybody Wins
As children age, they will certainly be exposed to competition in games,
athletics, and academics.
For older children, this competition can encourage them to give their best
effort and strive for success.
Younger children, however, are best suited for games that are designed
merely for fun.
Participating in cooperative games increases a sense of teamwork as well
individual self-esteem. Everybody wins!

Review a selection of appropriate table top

games for children
Table top games offer opportunities for early learning.
Even simple games help young players identify colors, count spaces, and develop
hand-eye coordination and dexterity in moving cards and pieces around the board.
Plus, learning to wait your turn and follow the rules are important lessons that
serve kids far beyond the living room floor. Children also develop language skills
with table top games.

Dominoes is a versatile and timeless game for all ages. This set from Melissa
and Doug is super-sturdy and gets kids recognizing standard dot formations of
numbers 1 through 6.
Heads talk tales walk

In this matching game with a twist, the fun comes when you turn over cards
that don’t match! When this happens, players must move like the animal body card
and make the sound of the animal head card. Stomping like an elephant while
clucking like a chicken is hilarious when you’re a preschooler

Connect 4
This is another perfect game for the older preschoolers in the class. The
students will have to use their critical-thinking skills in order to outsmart
their opponent get 4 in a row.

Coloradan

Players roll two dice to get a color and a shape and must locate a matching
spot on the board. There are multiple levels of play for different groups
Snail’s pace race

It’s often the simplest games that are best. Players take turns rolling color
dice to see which snails to move in this cooperative game. Which snail will
win? Oh, the suspense! Swap out one die with a regular die if you want to
speed up the game and encourage number recognition.
Alphabet Bingo

Is there a more classic game than Bingo? It definitely deserves a spot on any
list of the best board games for preschoolers. This updated version can help
kids improve letter recognition, letter and object association, and
concentration skills. It’s also a great opportunity for social-skills
development and cooperative play.
Task-3 Cooking with young children

• Plan a cooking activity for children

-I have attached the activity planning template

Task 4 -Enjoy music with young children

4.1 Identify appropriate creative activities and their
accompanying resources for use with children
Music activities for kids should be engaging first and teach a musical element
second. They should be appropriate to the age level, use quality musical material,
and use different modes of play such as dance, instrument, songs, and more. Some
of the musical activities include:

Freeze Dance
Freeze dance is always a blast and simple to play. It’s often great fun for
younger kids, but older ones like it too.

The basics of the game are as follows:

When you press play on a music player of some kind, the students move or
dance to the music. Then, you click stop on the music player randomly, and
the children have to freeze. That’s it!
This game is great for providing exposure to classical pieces and other kinds of music
they may not be interested in listening to otherwise.

Draw What You Hear

For this activity, all you need is a music player, pieces of paper, classical
music, and a library of other contrasting songs or pieces

This activity may be as simple as playing the music and asking students to draw what
they hear.

We can ask them to draw what they feel or what they imagine the story is the music is
telling them. Then have the students fold the paper in half and draw four pictures based
on contrasting pieces.

Also take a break between each piece on the music player to show off what students have
drawn.

Keeping in mind that music should not be that would be on somewhere as background
music. It needs to have a clear feeling for it to work with this activity. Background music
is usually a little too passive for this.

This one really builds music appreciation of all types of music.

Mystery Song Puzzle

Take a song that kids know or have heard pretty well.

Now, print it off measure by measure on sheets of paper. Each measure gets its own little
card.

Mix up the cards and give them to the kids. They have to rearrange the cards back into
the right order and figure out which song it is.
Build An Instrument Crafts

Here are some materials we can provide:

Rubber bands

Bottle

Tissue boxes

Beads

String

Plastic tubs

Coffee containers

Glue

Tape

Scissors (keeping age in mind and keeping an eye on kids while using)

Markers

Kids will come up with awesome things, but they do usually gravitate toward the tissue
boxes and rubber bands to make guitars as It is one of their favorite instruments.

With soda bottles and water, another idea is to make a soda bottle organ. Kids love the
soda bottle organ,

With beads inside a taped-over cup become a great egg shaker.

Musical Chairs
Its an all time favorite game and everybody loves musical chairs. We just need few chairs
and god music which kids will enjoy.

Below are few creative activities that will creativity in kids.

1. DOODLE ART

Paper and drawing materials (markers, pencil crayons, crayons) are all we need for this
activity where kids simply draw some lines with a marker on paper and then fill in the
blank spaces with colours.Or, kids can take it one step further and find hidden monsters
and critters in their drawings.Doodling is great because you never know what might
develop

2. HAND PUPPETS

It always amazes me how much kids (even older kids) LOVE making puppets, putting on
puppet shows and talking to puppets.
Creating hand puppets like these ones the one I have posted picture earlier is easy. All we
need are some bits of felt and yarn, scissors, googly eyes and glue.

There are lots of kits out there that make crafting puppets super easy and all the supplies
needed

3. BEAD JEWELLERY

I have yet to meet a kid who doesn’t love beads.Kids adore them.

If we give a kid a container of beads and some yarn or pipe cleaners, they will
automatically start stringing.It’s like magic.

The key is to set out a variety of beads, rather than just one little bag. Grab a shallow
plastic (lidded) container and fill it with beads.

4. ROCK MONSTERS

To make rock monsters we will need rocks, googly eyes, paint and glue. We can use
paints or markers.

We can also provide your kids with some bits of yarn and other crafty items to
glue on their rocks.

CLAY AND DOUGH

Whether we buy Play-Doh from the store or make our own play dough at home, kids will
have hours of fun shaping it into blobs, flowers, fruit, pizzas, or whatever comes to mind.

We can also make home made dough

• Plan a creative activity

• Identify how the planned activity could enhance a
child’s learning and development.

I have attached the template for the above questions.

Task 5 – Books and stories

5.1 Describe how books and stories can promote
the learning and development of children
Children learn to love the sound of language before they actually start to
learn how to read printed words on a page. Reading books aloud to children
not only stimulates their imagination but also help expand their
understanding of the world. It helps them develop language and listening
skills and prepares them to understand the written word.
1. Children develop their language skills when they read books and
stories

Children are exposed to new words and their vocabulary increases. The
more words they know the better. Reading stories and books in different
languages enhances their fluency.
2. Reading books and stories exercises the child’s brain

Reading to children affects their brain activity, while supporting and

promoting their early reading skills. Specific areas of the brain are affected
and stimulated from an early age. These areas are very important for a
child’s linguistic development.
3. Reading enhances a child’s concentration
By consistently reading to the children every day, the children will learn to
concentrate and sit still for longer periods of time, which can help later on
when they go to higher school.
4. Reading develops ‘Imagination’ and ‘creativity’

Children are easily mesmerized with colorful pictures and interesting

stories. Reading books and stories helps the children use their imagination to
recreate what they are hearing. Seeing the excitement on a child’s eyes when
they know what is going to be on the next page, or having them guess what
is going to happen is one of the most fun things to experience.
5. A range of books teaches children about different topics

Reading different types of books on different topics, or even in different

languages, gives them a wide range of information for children to learn.
There are informative books on topics such as different animals, places or
objects etc, and there are also different books to help teach children about
important life skills such as sharing, being kind, and diversity.
6. Books and stories help children to develop empathy and resilience

Children learn to identify with characters, their feelings, or the situation.

They begin to understand and relate to emotions as well making them more
empathetic and resilient.
7. Books and stories are a great way of entertaining children

Good books can really keep children entertained for quite some time. Babies
and toddlers also like to see pictorial stories and this can keep them occupied
for a while. Many a times they tend to reach out to stories which they like.
This also helps children relax and calm down.
8. Reading sets young children up to succeed
The more you read to children, the more knowledge they absorb, and
knowledge and life skills are very important in all aspects of life!

5.2 Describe criteria you could refer to when

choosing books for young children
Babies and Toddlers: - Children so small are not expected to read, so for
them oral language is very important.
Infants learn that picture have meanings. Books with simple words
and pictures are enjoyed by them.
Very young children are attracted by brightly colored pictures of
simple objects.
They are listeners, and respond well to books with simple texts and
good rhythms. Young children are delighted when they listen to
rhymes and rhythmic poems.

Toddlers: - Toddlers are also on the constant move and may not sit in one
place for a long time. Hence, it is very important to select books which are
ideal for their age and can get their attention
 Wordless books stimulate them both visually and mentally, and
encourage them to create their own stories.
They are delighted with board books and cloth books, which also help
them develop their sensory skills.
Toddlers enjoy books like ‘lift-the-flap’, ’touch and feel’, interactive
and sensory exploration books.
Books with songs, repetitive texts and poetry are easy for toddlers to
remember, read or sing along.
It is also a good idea to choose books about familiar settings like meal
time, good habits and other routine activities as children can easily
associate with the stories.

Preschool and Kindergarten: Books for preschooler’s should have simple

stories with basic plots, engaging illustrations and a fun text. Books and
stories can have a slightly more complex composition which also has
repetitive phrases and sounds that young children can repeat and remember.
Mother Goose, nursery stories, and other books depicting familiar
objects and experiences are enjoyable to children in this age group.
Books that encourage imagination and problem-solving are a great
buy! Children enjoy books about real-life circumstances. Stories about
 going to school, playing with friends, sharing and caring are some of
the good stories that can be introduced to preschoolers.
These children like listening to slightly complex texts with good
rhythm and effective word repetition.
They are also coordinated enough to have constructive fun with toy-
like books that may pop up, move, or provide other astonishments.
Predictable books are also a great way of challenging children to fill
in the blanks, or guess what comes next, or make simple predictions.
Children can also be introduced to books from other cultures and parts
of the world, as these books provide a wider range of acceptance as
the children prepare to step into big school.

Early School Years (Ages 5-8): Children at this age are far more
independent and most of them are able to read higher books with ease.
Interesting and captivating stories play an important role in engaging the
young minds.
For reading to or with children, select picture books with strong
storylines and character development.
“Easy readers” books are a good choice for independent readers. The
vocabulary should be relatively familiar while including some
challenging words.
 A lot of informational books have been published for the early grades.
These non-fiction books encourage children to read about topics that
interest them and to satisfy their curiosity about complex subjects.

5.3 List a range of age and stage appropriate

books for children.
Age/Stage: INFANTS
Appropriate Books for Infants
a. Everywhere babies – Susan Meyers
b. Where is baby’s belly button? – Karen Katz
c. Indestructible series – baby faces, baby peek-a-boo, baby let’s eat,
baby night-night, baby animals
d. Baby’s very first bus book – Fiona Watt
e. See, touch, feel – Priddy books

Age/Stage: TODDLERS
Appropriate Books for Toddlers
a. Eric Carle's ABC - Eric Carle
b. Green eggs and ham - Dr Seuss
 c. Are you my mother? - P.D. Eastman
d. I love you because you’re you – Liza Baker
e. Look, Listen, Taste, Touch, and Smell: Learning About Your Five
Senses - Pamela Hill

Age/Stage: PRE-SCHOOLERS
Appropriate Books for Preschoolers
a. The very hungry caterpillar – Eric Carle
b. It’s okay to be different – Todd Parr
c. Where’s Spot? – Eric Hill
d. Goldilocks and the three bears – James Marshall
e. Curious George series – H.A. Rey

Age/Stage: 5-8 years old

Appropriate Books for 5-8 years old
a. books by Julia Donaldson – The Gruffalo, Room on the broom,
monkey puzzle, the gruffalo’s child, etc.
b. books by Dr Suess - The cat in the hat, oh,the places you’ll go, I can
read with my eyes shut, etc.
c. Have you filled a bucket today? – Carol McCloud
d. The giving tree – Shel Silverstein
e. Roald Dahl books – Charlie and the Chocolate factory, BFG, James
and the Giant Peach, etc.
TASK 6 - Games which include Talking & Listening
6.1 Describe appropriate talking and listening
games
Talking and listening are important skills for children to learn.
Language development is achieved through talking and listening.
Below in the table are some of the age appropriate taking and
listening games:
Appropriate Talking & Description of the Game
Listening Game
I spy with my little eye The most beloved classic listening and
talking game among the
Pre-schoolers or children of 3 - 4 years of
age. Children closely listen to the 3 clues
and in return children ask questions until
they guess it. For example, to describe a
ball, we might say, “I spy something with
my little eye, something round, and filled
with air, that bounces.”
Sound Lotto This is a game where children listen to
sounds. They have to match the sounds to
a picture. It works well with children 3
years old.
The Alphabet Game Someone first decides on a theme, such
 as “food.” Then,
members of the group take turns reciting
foods in an alphabetical order like
avocado, biscuits, chocolate, etc. the old
school kids usually enjoys this game.
Action Nursery Rhymes Read rhymes with actions such as
Humpty Dumpty to help babies and
toddlers to listen and then practice saying
them together. They love reciting them.

6.2 List factors which may enhance talking and

listening activities.
1. By saying words slowly and clearly and facing towards the child.
2. Understandable words and sentences.
3. Should use easy symbolic words like “moo” for a cow.
4. Motivate through playing sound games like “ready….steady….GO”.
5. Lesser their screen time and try to avoid giving them the
pacifier/dummy.
6. Exposure to books.
7. Sing songs and nursery rhymes.

6.3 Explain why talking and listening are

important for children’s learning and
development.
Talking and listening is a key component in a child's development.
They can make relationships through communication and is
essential for learning, play and social interaction.
Through talking and listening, babies develop a bond or attachment
with their parents. By being responsive to their signal, helps
children to thrive as it will directly affect their learning and
development.
By means of communication, children get to know and make their
relationship and get to know about the world.
It helps a child to learn at school for instance, imagine a child
trying to learn and understand new information without the ability
to listen, understand and talk.
Their level of confidence and self-esteem is affected. If they have
good communication skills, they'll feel more confident. Children
with speech and language needs are likely to struggle with reading,
writing and spelling. With good communication skills, they'll
easily make friendships. In addition, children with communication
difficulties are more likely to have behavior difficulties.
By considering the points discussed above, we can easily conclude
that talking and listening aids in the social development, emotional
development, cognitive development and as well the specific areas
of development like literacy, maths and understanding the world
around them.
6.4 Describe the role of the adult when talking
and listening to children.
An adult needs to make sure that they should listen when a child is
talking to them and also helps them to talk. We can help children
by actively listening to them by simply smiling and nodding,
making an eye contact while they are talking, replying immediately
if a child asks a question, show them that we are listening - sit
down and listen to them, 3make comments to show that we have
listened to them and by repeating back what a child has said which
will in return help in a child's hearing sense. For instance, we can
help the babies by smiling when a baby babbles, making an eye
contact as we talk to a baby, pointing out things to a baby, talking
back to a baby even if we do not understand them and talk while
we are doing things with the baby. An adult is expected to make
the listening and talking activities interesting and in which they
should have fun. For example, let us consider sharing picture
books with 2 year olds. Toddlers like looking at books, so choose a
book with a simple story with lots of good pictures in it. Talk to
the toddler about the story and let the toddler take their time
looking at the book. By doing this, we can join the toddler by
letting him talk about the pictures, let him/her turn pages, pointing
at the pictures.
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