Playing games is one of the most important parts of childcare because it helps your child learn in a fun way. This is especially true for toddlers and preschool-aged children. Here’s how you can help them develop the foundational skills they’ll need to succeed in kindergarten and beyond.

How to Help Your Child Learn Through Play

1. Counting Games

One of the simplest counting games is “one for you and one for me,” where you and your child sort several objects into two equal groups one at a time. This helps teach them to share toys and lays a foundation for counting and math skills.

You can increase the difficulty by adding more groups—for example, you might disperse one for you, one for your child, and one for their doll. As they get a firmer grasp of numbers, you can ask them to count the objects in each pile.

2. Finding Games

Games where you have to find things, such as hide and seek and treasure hunts, teach your child several important lessons. These games build problem-solving skills and teach your child to try more than one solution instead of giving up.

Treasure hunts help your child learn to follow directions, and hide and seek can help with separation anxiety by teaching your child that you’ll always come back. This makes it easier to place your toddler in childcare when needed.

3. Sorting Games

“Odd one out” is a simple game that helps your child learn to identify similarities and differences between objects, which they’ll need in order to learn about characteristics like size and color. Start with three blocks, two of one color and one of a second color. Ask your child which is different, or which is the odd one out.

As they get better at this game, you can increase the number of objects, or move on to other characteristics besides color, such as shape. You can also give your child a mixed group of objects and ask them to sort by color, size, and so forth.

To encourage their development, your child needs educational playtime at preschool and at home. For a fun and educational childcare environment, choose Imagination Childcare Academy, Inc. in Rochester, NY. Serving Monroe County since 2012, their certified educators have over 30 years of experience and master's degrees in education. They offer flexible scheduling, with both full- and part-time childcare programs. Call (585) 413-3948, or visit the website to learn more about their curriculum.