Playing house – Playgroup
Having a “home corner” at playgroup provides an important opportunity for children across ages to develop and practice their social skills with their peers.
Did you know?
Having household items that reflect the different cultural backgrounds of your playgroup families can help all children feel they belong, can develop and express their unique identity, and learn about the diversity of cultures and practices in their community.
Add language
Children talking to each other across different ages while they are engaged in collaborative play provides lots of opportunity to hear and practice a variety of language. Younger children get to hear the model of the older children and the older children often modify their talking for very young children.
Other development
Supervise and assist if necessary, though it is valuable for the children to have a chance to choose and negotiate roles, and practice resolving challenges and minor conflicts themselves.
Variations
It can be good to sometimes vary the home corner to create new interest and a chance to act out different scenarios. Move the home corner around or change the props. Put some unusual or surprising thing in the home corner bed or cupboard to be discovered, pondered over and talked about.
Across the ages
All the activities listed on our “Play Ideas” page can be applied across different age groups. See how playing house exploring can be fun for babies, toddlers and children.
Activities listed under “playgroup” are suitable for groups of children of various ages. They provide opportunities for early learning and social play.
Play ideas
Mud pies
Playdough food