Engaging Young Children in Play

Engaging Young Children in Play 

submitted by LeAnn Kruckenberg- Early Childhood Special Education Teacher and KAEYC Board Member

Through the years that I have worked to set up enticing and engaging play environments for young children, I have learned that very small changes in materials and environment can make the biggest impact on the quality of children’s play.  Following are some of my favorite strategies.

Novelty

Young children are excited about exploring materials that they have never encountered or that have previously been off limits to them.  Many times these materials are things that have only been available to adults in the child’s typical environment.  In my classroom, I provide a writing area that is stocked with unlimited access to materials such as a tape dispenser, stapler, scissors, pencils, markers, rulers, plain paper and envelopes.  This area is always very popular with the children.  I also find that adults enjoy using the materials to create things themselves or assist children in being able to accomplish the desired results. Compared to manipulatives purchased from a toy catalogue, these materials are very inexpensive and often much more appealing to everyone.

Making a monstrously exciting creation

 Open-ended Materials

These days, young children are frequently bombarded with toys that do something for them such as making noise, moving or lighting up.  I have often encountered young children who have to be taught to use toys like wooden blocks to build structures or to use pieces of fabric to make a costume.  As you prepare your early childhood environment, be mindful of your choices of materials.  Consider how many different and unique ways a child may use materials when selecting activities for them.

Happy Structure-building buddies

Natural Materials

Providing access to natural materials such as pinecones, acorns, leaves, sticks, or rocks invites young children to explore nature and experiment in their play.  In my experience, I have found that once adults indicate an interest in these materials, the children become very interested in looking for them outside the school and at home.  At school, I offer special containers and special places in the classroom to collect these types of materials.  Once a child’s interest is piqued, he/she immediately engages in the joy of natural collections.

Do you see what I see?

Our Classroom 'Rock' Band

Multi-sensory Materials

Young children respond best to materials that engage multiple senses.  When choosing classroom activities, I try to make sure that they will appeal to at least two senses if not more.  Most common activities will appeal to the visual or auditory senses.  Consider enhancing activities by adding smell, tactile elements, taste or movement.  We often don’t think of movement as a sense.  However, we all gain valuable information from moving our body.  One of my favorite multi-sensory activities is cooking with children because it often appeals to all of their senses. 

The "joy" of cooking

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