26 Apr Play for survival – an alternative to soft play

Play naturally occurs for survival; this week I noticed the ducklings in the pond outside Tots Town playing chasing games, hiding from mummy duck who is cleverly using play to teach them how to survive.

As a family we spent the morning playing ‘nursery’ (again) with my daughter taking on the role of supervisor of the baby room.  She was using her one year old sister as a key worker to another baby (doll) currently napping.  Children like to play out scenarios they are familiar with but extend, using their imagination taking on the role of other people, becoming the doctor, hairdresser and a recent one for us Andy the dinosaur adventurer!   Putting themselves in the position of others greatly improves a child’s empathy and emotions helping build their social awareness.

Children naturally want to replicate and make sense of the world around and often use you as their role model.  Just like mummy duck, we can put our little ones in a situation to encourage play and let children act out real life.  This is the aim of Tots Town – to be the facilitator for great quality play.

What is Tots Town exactly? A much scaled down version of a typical town, giving young children the chance to play at being the people they love best, you!

You can read more of our blogs at https://tots-town.co.uk/diary/   and discover more about how we work with brilliant people to open and grow their own role play venues here