Games recommended for children aged 1 to 5 years
By playing the child discovers the world and learns to live. This is why playing is structured for the child
The psychomotor therapist and clinical psychologist Anne Vachez-Gatecel, recommends 5 types of play corresponding to the development of the child.
1 year :
nesting boxes, round or square, that the child can nest or stack, and with which he builds towers. It's jubilant for the child, because he erects something while he tries to stand up and sometimes falls ... In addition, he can make his piles collapse, so he has a force on the object, he is an actor! And if he breaks everything, it is neither serious nor dangerous, he rebuilds ... and can start over and over, which the child really likes because he is very sensitive to repetition.
2 years :
the Duclos. With the Duclos, the child begins to build things, shapes it is not only a motor activity, we feel that it is the beginning of the narration even if the language is not understandable.
3 years old:
dolls, garages, Ninette games ... with these simple games, the child reproduces situations that he experiences . He also begins to invent stories, small scenarios.
Four years :
figurines, small characters, knights, princesses, monsters, fairies, super heroes ... With these characters, the child has the opportunity to tell and invent stories with bad guys and good guys. He tames the emotions of life (fear, sadness, jealousy, love, hatred), stages the conflict between good and evil.
From 4-5 years old:
disguises. By disguising himself as a princess, a knight, the child does more than tell stories, he plays a character. He speaks like a princess, he moves like a knight, he lives in a character as in the theater! On an emotional level, there is more distance with a figurine.
For parents, it is also interesting even if for some it is not easy to dress up to play with your child. Many parents are afraid to play with their child, because they wonder how then to have authority over him if they play like him, with him? Yet I can reassure them, children know very well when they play "for pretense". They go easily from "for real" to "for false".
From 5 years old:
Cooperation games. They are very interesting games because children play together and have to help each other to reach the last goal. There is not a single winner, it is together that we build and win. I really like games where there is co-construction. To discover cooperation games.
