{"id":2296,"date":"2022-08-11T16:05:00","date_gmt":"2022-08-11T15:35:00","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.nannyjob.co.uk\/blog\/?p=2296"},"modified":"2022-08-11T16:05:00","modified_gmt":"2022-08-11T15:35:00","slug":"what-is-child-led-play-and-why-is-it-so-important","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.nannyjob.co.uk\/blog\/what-is-child-led-play-and-why-is-it-so-important\/","title":{"rendered":"What is Child-Led Play and Why is it So Important?"},"content":{"rendered":"<p><a href=\"http:\/\/www.nannyjob.co.uk\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/08\/child-1864718_1280.jpg\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"alignnone size-large wp-image-2297\" src=\"http:\/\/www.nannyjob.co.uk\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/08\/child-1864718_1280-1024x682.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"1024\" height=\"682\" srcset=\"https:\/\/www.nannyjob.co.uk\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/08\/child-1864718_1280-1024x682.jpg 1024w, https:\/\/www.nannyjob.co.uk\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/08\/child-1864718_1280-300x200.jpg 300w, https:\/\/www.nannyjob.co.uk\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/08\/child-1864718_1280-768x512.jpg 768w, https:\/\/www.nannyjob.co.uk\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/08\/child-1864718_1280.jpg 1280w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 709px) 85vw, (max-width: 909px) 67vw, (max-width: 1362px) 62vw, 840px\" \/><\/a><\/p>\n<p>Child-led play is exactly what it sounds like; children choose what to play and the adults follow the child\u2019s lead. The sole purpose of this type of play is to allow children to explore and discover independently whilst making their own choices and decisions about what to do.<\/p>\n<p>We\u2019ve put together some tips to help you encourage child-led play whilst also identifying learning opportunities:<\/p>\n<p><!--more--><\/p>\n<ul>\n<li><strong>Be Enthusiastic <\/strong>\u2013 Showing a little enthusiasm can make all the difference to your child\u2019s playtime. Your encouragement and interest in the things they want to explore can help to fuel their curiosity and improve learning.<\/li>\n<li><strong>Ask and Answer Questions <\/strong>\u2013 Encourage your little one to think deeper by asking questions about what they\u2019re doing. Try to choose questions that could lead to other questions. Also, be on hand to answer any questions your child might have and remember that even if you don\u2019t know the answer, discovering it together is a fun learning experience.<\/li>\n<li><strong>Encourage Learning <\/strong>\u2013 There are learning opportunities to be found in almost every activity. If your child is building with blocks, ask them to stack the blocks in a certain pattern, or count the number of blocks they\u2019re using, they could sort blocks based on size or colour and build different structures using different numbers of blocks. Look for opportunities to learn and encourage your child to take them.<\/li>\n<li><strong>Lead by Example<\/strong> \u2013 If your child can see that you are exploring, trying new things and learning, they\u2019ll be more curious and excited to follow your lead.<\/li>\n<li><strong>Celebrate <\/strong>\u2013 Even the smallest of achievements are rewarding for young children, and it\u2019s important to celebrate them. You don\u2019t need to supply treats or physical rewards either, simple verbal praise or maybe a colourful sticker can do wonders for a child\u2019s self-confidence and foster a love of self-led play and learning.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p>Child-led play is a natural way for children to explore, discover and learn about the world around them. Try our top tips and share your thoughts in the comments below!<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Child-led play is exactly what it sounds like; children choose what to play and the adults follow the childs lead. The sole purpose of this type of play is to allow children to explore and discover independently whilst making their own choices and decisions about what to do. Weve put together some tips to help &hellip; <a href=\"https:\/\/www.nannyjob.co.uk\/blog\/what-is-child-led-play-and-why-is-it-so-important\/\" class=\"more-link\">Continue reading<span class=\"screen-reader-text\"> &#8220;What is Child-Led Play and Why is it So Important?&#8221;<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[3,4,5,6,8,16,17,19],"tags":[26,80,87,89,138,143,244,254],"class_list":["post-2296","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-au-pairs","category-babysitters","category-childcare","category-childminders","category-education","category-nannies","category-nurseries","category-parents","tag-activities","tag-child-development","tag-child-led-play","tag-childcare","tag-discovery","tag-early-learning","tag-jobs-in-childcare","tag-learning"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.nannyjob.co.uk\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2296","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.nannyjob.co.uk\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.nannyjob.co.uk\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.nannyjob.co.uk\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.nannyjob.co.uk\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=2296"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.nannyjob.co.uk\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2296\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.nannyjob.co.uk\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=2296"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.nannyjob.co.uk\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=2296"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.nannyjob.co.uk\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=2296"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}