How Pretend Play can Support Motor Skill Development for your Toddler

5 ways Pretend Play Supports Motor Development 

Play is essential to your child's learning, development, confidence and wellbeing. Your toddler will learn so much through play. Not only will they learn about language and how to move their bodies, they'll learn about the world around them and how to interact with others too. 

Pretend play is a huge part of the repertoire of play skills for toddlers and young children so welcome to our blog series on the development on pretend play!

If you missed it, last week Chiara Prigmore our Paediatric Speech Pathologist covered what pretend play actually is and the milestones you can expect your toddler to move through at different ages. She also taught us how pretend play supports your toddler's language development, click here to read all that!. 

But today it is all about those "walky" motor skills. Yes pretend play supports your child's physical development too! Keep reading to find out how!

1. Improved Motor Planning Skills

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 pretend play is very busy work and provides lots of opportunities for motor planning, for example; 

• Bedtime play- lying down, covering your body with blankets, jumping up and tucking in other kids or dolls. Organising your body in relation to the pillow and blanket or perhaps organising a doll's body in a cot, pram or carrier. 
• Shopping play- opening and closing jars and containers, taking products in and out of cupboards and baskets, pushing trolleys, carrying objects and bags full of objects and stacking and tidying them. 
• Classroom play- giving instructions relating to body position as a "teacher" and receiving instructions as the "child" for example sitting on the mat, sitting at the table, perhaps making lines and following other "children" in the class. 
• Trucks and building play- stepping on and off ride on toys requires good single leg balance and the ability to "cross the midline". Crashing provides great proprioceptive input helping your toddler feel where they are in space. Building and stacking requires organising the blocks but also your toddler has to organise their body so as not to accidentally knock over the tower. 
• Doctor and nurse (plus allied health, physios and speechies are important too 😂😂) play- identifying and organising body parts in relation to bandages and other medical equipment helps your toddler develop complex motor plans.

Here are some photo examples of all these skills in play at our favourite pretend play venue in Perth, Little Land.  

2. Developing Static and Dynamic Balance

There are 2 types of balance, static balance (staying still in a posture) and dynamic balance (moving along without falling). A big part of pretend play is dressing up and dress ups are a great way to improve both your toddler's static and dynamic balance

• Static- stepping in and out of pants, skirts and shoes. Encourage your toddler to stay standing as they do this (note this is also a great motor planning activity, see above). 
• Dynamic- attempting to walk in large adult shoes or flippers challenges your toddler's balance. 

3. Building Strength 

Is there anything better than watching a toddler deeply engaged in a pretend world of their making? They will often repeat the activity they are engaged in over and over and over and over!! This is where the development of strength comes in, there are countless examples;

• Repeated squatting to tuck in babies, or stack blocks, strengthens the bottom and leg muscles
• Pushing trolleys and carrying bags of groceries strengthens the arms 
• Jumping over volcanic lava builds power (push off) in the legs
• Repeatedly lying down as the patient and jumping up to be the doctor strengthens the whole body

Don't believe me? Join in with your toddler's pretend play, unless you can convince them you are only being the bed ridden patient or the hibernating bear (both great options when you're exhausted)  pretend play is tiring work! 😂

4. Developing Hand Skills ready for school

Pretend Play is all about copying skills that your toddler sees each day and this provides countless opportunities for strengthening little hands ready to carry out the tasks in real life. Think;

• Opening jars and containers
• Squeezing cleaning cloths and scrubbing 
• Cooking using spoons and other cutlery
• Squeezing spray bottles 
• Brushing and combing
• Using tongs and tweezers 
• Pouring and measuring 

5. Increasing Fitness

The World Health Organisation (more here) recommends that to grow up healthy pre school children should engage in 3 hours of active physical play a day. For over 2 years old this should include an hour of moderate to vigorous activity and MORE is better! We have a whole blog on active play here but here are two easy ways to use pretend play to build more active time in your toddler's day

• Animal play- pretending to be different animals is a great way to build fitness; crawl like a bear, jump like a kangaroo, walk like a duck, jump like a kangaroo, flutter like a butterfly... the possibilities are endless! 
• Pretend on wheels!- if your toddler isn't naturally drawn to scooters and ride ons then incorporate some pretend play, scoot to catch the criminals, or maybe the emergency services can arrive on a trike, find a safe open space like a basketball court and make a game of it!

Time to enjoy the wonders of pretend play!

It's so fun when your toddler reaches this stage of play. If you're a parent who has found playtime with your baby a bit....well....boring and monotonous, don't worry, play is about to get a lot more exciting!

If you'd like to learn more about pretend play and HOW to support the development of these skills, come join the Walky Talky Toddler membership.  We have a whole page on Pretend Play with tips for supporting these skills, plus a library of pretend play ideas to set up and spark your toddler's imagination. 

If you're based in Perth, Australia and want a wonderful place to take your young child to inspire their pretend play, we highly recommend Little Land! All these photos were taken there. Little Land offers a scaled down version of the real world - inspiring your child to learn through pretend play. Little Land's play stalls such as a market, café, cosy home setting, doctors' surgery, construction site, school and emergency services area. All play stalls come complete with a wide range of play props and dress ups to get your child's imagination thinking big! Our kids love it! It is perfect for babies through to school aged too so a great spot for siblings or play dates with a range of ages. Head to https://littleland.fun/ for more details.