Play supports children’s development in all areas including physically, socially, emotionally and cognitively. It also provides opportunities to develop literacy and numeracy skills. Find out how you can support this learning and development at your playgroup.

Fine and gross motor skills

Gross motor skills are large movements such as:

• running
• jumping
• hopping
• climbing
• balancing.

Fine motor skills are little movements that use smaller muscles of the hands and fingers such as:

• drawing
• picking up
• stacking
• manipulating
• experimenting with objects.

Fine and gross motor skills can be supported through activities such as:

• cutting and rolling dough
• painting
• drawing
• writing and mark making
• threading
• building and construction
• climbing and balancing
• digging
• dancing.

Cognitive and executive functioning skills

Cognitive and executive functioning skills include:

• working memory – the ability to hold and use information in your head over a short period of time, for example remember where you left your shoes
• inhibitory control – the ability to self-regulate, not give into impulses, filter out distractions and stay on task
• mental flexibility – the ability to adjust to different scenarios, applying what we already know to new situations or juggling demands and priorities.

Cognitive and executive functioning skills can be supported through activities such as:

Working memory

• storytelling – remembering sequences of a story or acting out a story using props eg Goldilocks and the 3 bears using different size bowls, chairs, beds etc.
• playing a memory game, like matching pairs,  what’s missing from a group of objects when you take one away or remembering items bought in a shopping game – here you can use fruit or vegetable props to help children remember the items bought.
• singing a familiar song or nursery rhyme recalling words, sequences and actions
• playing hide and seek or peekaboo.

Inhibitory control

• stop start games like Musical statues, playing musical instruments and then asking the child to stop and start again, play fast and slow, loud and soft
• taking turns on the trampoline or swing or waiting for your turn on an obstacle course
• copying games like Simon Says, with young children you could use 2 soft toys asking the children to copy 1 toys action but not the other.

Mental flexibility

• jigsaw puzzles
• building with blocks
• pretend play like a tea party or being a bus driver.

Social and emotional skills

Playing with other children helps develop social skills such as sharing, cooperating, taking turns. Children may play on their own, with another child or in a group.

Social skills can be supported through activities such as:

• dramatic and imaginative play, like dressing up and pretend play in the home corner
• building with blocks which might involve working with other children, negotiating ideas, and making choices and decisions
• helping with cleaning or packing up at playgroup which develops self-confidence and lets children experience success and challenges
• playing with musical instruments which helps children to self-regulate, reduce impulsive behaviour, reduce stress and display their emotions.
• group games that involve sharing and turn taking.
• sing songs about feelings like “If your happy and you know it” or
• read stories about feelings like Owl Babies by Martin Waddel, Alexander and the Terrible , Horrible, No Good, Very Bad Day by Judith Viorst, We’re Going on a Bear Hunt by Michael Rosen, Where the Wild Things Are by Maurice Sendak or John Brown, Rose and the Midnight Cat by Jenny Wagner.  You can also make different faces and change your voice to match the characters mood.
• play peekaboo with different emotions on your face each time and name the emotion for your child or baby.
• rough and tumble play, jumping onto a crash mat, big muscle work like digging in the sandpit, raking leaves or wheeling a wheelbarrow full of leaves can help relieve frustration and help with self regulation.

Literacy skills

Literacy is ‘the capacity, confidence and disposition to use language in all its forms’ (AGDE 2022:57).

Children start developing literacy skills at birth through everyday interactions. This might include talking, singing, sharing books, telling stories or pointing out and naming objects (McCain et al 2007:49).

Give children opportunities to explore a variety of communication methods to develop literacy. These include:

• music
• movement
• dance
• story telling
• visual art
• media
• drama
• talking
• listening
• viewing
• reading
• writing.

What literacy at playgroup looks like

Reading, writing, words, symbols and pictures

• When children are read to, they learn that words, symbols and pictures all have meaning.
• Drawing, writing, mark making and creating symbols helps children understand that letters carry meaning.
• Making signs to include in play, for example road or shop signs, teaches children about symbols and environmental print.

Dramatic Play

• Dramatic play fosters the use of language as children create stories and assign roles to characters.

Listening skills

• Singing during group time helps children learn language through rhythm and rhyme.
• Children can hear many sounds through talking, reading or singing in a group or with their parent or carer. They learn that words have beginning, middle and end sounds.
• Making music develops children’s listening and auditory discrimination skills. This occurs when they listen for the rhyme and sound of the beat.

Building vocabulary

• Reading and singing at playgroup helps children hear ‘rare’ words that they may not hear in ‘everyday’ talk.
• When we talk and tell stories, children develop vocabulary and listening skills.
• Sensory experiences, such as gloop, sand or water play, can expand children’s understanding of their world. They provide opportunity to hear and use language describing what they see, taste, smell, hear and feel.

Communication skills

• Children hear when they play and interact with others. This helps them develop language, listening, responding and negotiation skills.
• Dancing and the visual arts allow children to express and share their ideas and knowledge.

Developing fine motor skills

• When children use their hands, they develop their fine motor skills, hand strength and hand-eye co-ordination. These are essential building blocks for learning to write.

Literacy activities

View ideas for language and literacy related activities in the Together activities search.

Supporting numeracy

Numeracy is the ‘capacity, confidence and disposition to use mathematics in daily life’ (AGDE 2022:57).

Children learn numeracy as they start to recognise relationships between objects (like big and small or long and short).

Children also learn the meaning of numbers and cardinality. Cardinality means the last number we count tells us how many objects there are. They do this through experiences such as cooking and singing number songs (McCain et al 2007).

Numeracy includes understanding about:

• numbers
• patterns
• measurement
• spatial awareness
• data
• mathematical thinking and reasoning
• problem solving.

What numeracy at playgroup looks like

Sorting, grouping and classifying objects

• Through activities like treasure hunts, children learn to sort, group, classify and measure objects.

Recognising attributes and patterns

• Children notice the attributes and patterns of objects while looking at collections. They hear and learn to use mathematical language to describe what they see, for example big, small, long, short, heavy, light.
• Physical movement activities such as an obstacle course, provides opportunities for children to explore, hear and use language associated with movement, orientation, location, position and space.

Estimation, prediction, comparison and measurement

• Cooking lets children use number estimation, prediction and measurement.
• Dramatic play, such as playing shops, supports children to explore measurement, money, sorting and grouping, quantifying and ordering objects by weight, height or prices.
• Gardening provides opportunities to measure, make comparisons, record data and watch things grow.

Counting

• Playing games like bean bags toss, soccer or basketball lets children keep scores. They can count who got the most balls in the ring, bucket or goal.
• Friendly races like running, riding a bike or pushing a toy car teach speed, time and place order.

Spatial awareness

• Puzzles are about exploring geometry, 2D and 3D shapes, transformation, symmetry and spatial relations.
• When playing with blocks, children explore concepts of size, shape, number and spatial awareness.

Position, direction, space and measurement

• Singing and following the directions of the lyrics in songs such as 5 Little Ducks or Hokey Pokey helps children learn about position and space, number order, addition and subtraction.
• Reading maps teaches children about direction, space and measurement. This might include weather maps, road maps, street directories or world maps.
• Children and families discuss shapes, patterns and colours when painting. This might include where on the page they’re placing the paint.

Numeracy activities

View ideas for numeracy related activities in the Together activities search.