Adjectives and Play

He thinks that this is a “cute pig”, then goes to kiss the piggy bank right on its pink nose.

He also lets me know if he likes the book. Usually it comes with a nod of approval and he will say “nice book”.

K has discovered the usefulness of adjectives…and sure isn’t shy to express how he feels about things.

As for his symbolic play experiences. At certain times, he seems to be able to use objects that are different in form and function from the object represented in play. I have found it quite amusing to watch him indulge in pretend play. Some examples;

– Playing make believe car, running around the house, with both hands on an imaginative steering wheel and making ‘zoom’ ‘zoom’ sounds. And he will ‘drive’ to destinations like the zoo, birdpark and Nana’s house.
– Using his rubber mat as a ‘swimming pool’, jumping into the water and tossing his beach ball around. Then using his wooden stick as the shower head and puts it over his head, accompanied by the ‘Swish swish’ sound. Then he proceeds to use the remote control as the hair dryer.
– Holding the bell, shaking it vigorously and says aloud “Sell food”. Then pulls out his kitchen set and starts dishing out ‘food’. When I ask him how much, he tells me ‘6’. When I say it is too expensive, he answers ‘2’.
– Choosing a book from his home library, bringing it to the piano, makes a ‘beep’ sound and then says, ‘Auntie, how much.’

Most of the time he does not like to play by himself, he will always says ‘Mama do…’, and I will have to assume a role in his dramatic play. K can get pretty demanding; I have to jump in the ‘pool’ with him to ‘swim’ together, follow him in his ‘car’, buy ‘food’ from him and be the cashier ‘Auntie’.

He has been spending alot of time in functional play as well. Some of the activities that he enjoys :

1. His one man band. He loves the sound of the drum and will always say ‘Boom, tac tac tac’ after the word ‘Drum’

2. He is still extremely found of his trucks and has started creating scenarios with his trucks

3. He likes to clean up. This ‘jeep’ was a hand me down from Uncle Nick (probably has been around for more than 15 years) and been left in his room to collect dust. When I pointed out the dust in the jeep, he was curious and wanted to clean it up. I passed him a cotton bud and he got very engrossed the next 10 mins cleaning out the dirt in the jeep.

4. He loves spending time at his water table. I think it is probably one of the best ‘toy’ that I have got for K. There are endless ideas to how this table can be used for water play. In this instance, I threw in some bottle caps and handle K a wire mesh ladle. And he told me that he wanted to ‘catch fish’.

5. The ‘fishing activity’ managed to keep him busy for almost 45 minutes. Then it is back to typical toddler behaviour; splashing in the water and getting himself all soaked from head to toe

Despite getting all wet, he was only too pleased to show me how happy he was with the morning’s water play

Needless to say, every water play activity always ends up with K helping to clean up.

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