Dolls: 5 Ways to Play

Dolls are a toy that definitely last throughout the years AND something that benefit all children, both boys and girls.

There's so many ways to play with dolls and they are simply a MUST have when it comes to toys for your little one. They are an important part of your child's development of their pretend play skills as they can use the doll to re-enact scenes they have observed and experienced.A good doll is a great investment for your little one as it will be played with over and over.

Here are our favourite ways to play with a doll... that support development too!  

1. Model sounds and actions-  Imitating actions and sounds is an important pre-language skill. In order to imitate words, a child must first be able to imitate actions and sounds too!

When playing with a doll, you can model actions such as patting the doll on the back and model simple sounds such as 'shh shh shh'. Pause after your actions and sounds to see if your little one will copy you! If not, repeat it again. Repetition is the key to language learning.

This is also a great one to model if you have a real life baby and your toddler is a big brother/sister! Like Chiara is doing in the photo below, model the actions and sounds with baby, whilst your child copies with their doll. 

2. Add verbs to your play - You can add so many verbs to doll play to talk about what the doll is doing. Why are verbs so important??

Because they are powerful words that your little one can use in many different contexts throughout their day. Plus they can be used to join words together to make little sentences!

Whilst playing with their doll, use verbs to talk about what your little one and the doll are doing. 

Eat, drink, sleep, pat, sit, lie.....and so many more!

3. Talk about feelings - Dolls are a great way to model words associated with feelings in play. Feelings are such an abstract concept and hard for your little one to learn and understand. Yet they are such powerful words to learn too as the skill of being able to describe how you feel is such a game changer for your little one. 

Using words to talk about feelings when playing with your doll is a great way for your little one to hear these words and start to understand what they mean.

"Dolly hurt her knee - she's sad"

"Dolly is hungry - she needs some food"

"Dolly is tired - she needs to sleep".

As always, keep your language simple and use lots of repetition!

4. Practise Dressing skills- zips, buttons, velcro, wrapping and unwrapping, doll play offers lots of opportunities to practise mastering dressing skills and in the process strengthen little hands! 

Fasteners are really difficult to master and your little one will find it easier on dolly where they can see clearly and reach easily, rather than their own body.

For younger toddlers removing clothes comes first (yes there is a distinct phase where every stuffed toy and doll in your house will be nudie). Putting elastic or stretchy clothes on comes next, along with velcro. Buttons, zips and finally laces will be mastered between 3 and 6 years of age. 

Not only will your toddler learn the skills to dress themselves but they will also be building their hand strength and dexterity, important for other hand skills like drawing and cutting. 

5. Challenge Motor Planning- Motor Planning is your toddler's ability to decide on a movement they want to do, develop a motor plan for that movement and carry out the movement smoothly. It requires your toddler to remember previous movement attempts and organise their body to do the movement again in a co-ordinated way.

This all happens subconsciously of course, and though we all use motor planning skills all day every day, we may only notice it when we see our toddler do something awkward or clumsy that indicates that their motor planning for that task is still developing. 

Motor Planning is improved with practise and doll play is often very busy work and provides lots of opportunities for motor planning, for example; 

• Bedtime for Dolly- covering and uncovering dolly, lying down with dolly and getting back up again, organising dolly's body in relation to their own. 
• Dolly hits the shops- putting Dolly in and out of the trolley or pram or carrier, strapping in and out, putting a doll carrier on and off, organising dolly's legs to fit in a seat etc
• Dinner for Dolly- putting Dolly in a high chair, finding the features of her face, "cooking" her food, carrying food to her and arranging it on the table. 

All these games challenge your toddler's developing motor planning skills and just by repeating over and over they become more coordinated and organised in their movements. 

That's it! That is 5 ways we love to support development through doll play. If you liked this blog and would like to read the rest of our 5 ways to play blog series click here!

If your'e looking for a good quality doll for your little one that will last, we love the dolls stocked at U.Me Play. They stock the beautiful Paola Reina Gordis Dolls. Gordis dolls are entirely handcrafted in Spain using only the finest European materials, designed with the heart and made with love and are great children’s gifts. The high-quality phthalate-free vinyl dolls are soft to the touch, yet durable allowing the dolls to withstand all the love and adoration given to them. 

U,Me Play stocks these dolls plus many other beautiful toys that we love. Follow them on instagram here!