Remembering Your Childhood Toys and Activities

I always love to ask adults what was their favorite toy or activity from their childhood. Their faces usually light up as they remember and they are briefly transported back to a time of carefree fun and adventure. The responses are always so varied but the stories are often filled with joy and happiness.

They might have liked outdoor activities or enjoyed playing with dolls, books, puzzles, toy cars, building with blocks, swimming, etc. Everyone always has different and unique experiences, but what is consistent is that developmental domains were being supported through their play and they (nor their parents) probably never even realized the full impact of what they were learning.

Do you remember the developmental domains we explored from the previous blog post? They were physical, cognitive, social/emotional and language and literacy. Let’s connect them to play…

For example, let’s say you enjoyed playing with baby dolls when you were a young child, here are some of the amazing skills you might gave been learning:

Physical: Pretend feeding the baby, dressing the baby, rocking the baby all use motor skills - both fine and gross motor.

Cognitive: Imagining the baby as real and how to meet its needs - great problem solving and imagination.

Social/Emotional: This is considered dramatic play and family roles and scenarios are being acted out. This helps young children build skills to identify and manage emotions.

Language and Literacy: Singing to the baby, talking to the baby all support language development.

Do you remember your favorite toy or activity from your childhood? Can you identify the developmental domains that might have been being developed?

Take a few moments to observe your child playing today, what developmental domains might they be working in?