What Children Do

• Roll
• Explore people
• Listen, explore sounds
• Look, explore color and form
• Touch, explore texture and form
• Smell
• Explore water
• Mouth, ingest
• Reach, hold, drop
• Kick

What Children Need

Materials that:

• Provide a range of interesting things to see, hear, and touch
• Support infant’s developing self-awareness
• Allow infant to produce effects
• Are safe

Appropriate Materials

• Mirrors
• Dolls
• Stuffed animals
• Puppets
• Mobiles (out of reach)
• Grasping toys
• Musical instruments (rattles, wrist and ankle bells)
• Large-movement materials (balls, play gyms)

What Children Do

• Sit alone
• Crawl, creep
• Crawl over, under, through
• Pull up and stand
• Pincer grasp
• Stack objects
• Bang, twist, squeeze, drop, shake, and drag objects
• Kick and splash
• Search for hidden object
• Play peekaboo
• Babble
• Open, shut, push, pull

What Children Need

Materials that:

• Provide a range of interesting things to explore and manipulate
• Allow infant to produce interesting effects
• Reward early attempts at mastery
• Support development of perceptual, fine-motor and gross-motor skills
• Support developing self-awareness, social awareness, and social responsiveness
• Are safe and within a safe play environment

Appropriate Materials

• Mirrors
• Dolls, stuffed toys
• Puppets
• Transportation toys (i.e., one-piece vehicles that can be pushed)
• Grasping toys
• Sand and water play materials
• Construction materials (lightweight, stackable, large)
• Puzzles (simple, two or three pieces, used as grasping toys)
• Skill-development materials like pop-up boxes, texture pads, nesting cups, containers to empty/refill
• Books
• Arts and crafts material (large crayons, paper taped to surface)
• Musical instruments (rattles, shakers, banging materials)
• Push and pull toys
• Balls and sports equipment
• Outdoor and gym equipment (swings, low soft climbing equipment)

What Children Do

• Explore with each sense
• Watch
• Look for
• Inspect
• Go in and out
• Walk up and down
• Go over, under, around
• Climb in, up, over, on top
• Slide
• Swing and hang
• Jump off and tumble
• Take apart and put together
• Stack, pile, knock over
• Collect, gather
• Fill, dump
• Sort, match
• Carry
• Put in, take out
• Hide, discover
• Imitate adult behavior
• Engage in doll play
• Mix, separate
• Pour, sift
• Splash
• Paint, smear
• Draw
• Explore each other
• Carry materials from place to place
• Like multiple small objects
• Enjoy sand and water
• Imitate
• Show affection
• Point to objects
• Play simple games like tag

What Children Need

Materials that:

• Expanding fine- and gross-motor capacities
• Increased interest in active exploration and mastery
• Interest in order and predicting events
• Desire for independence
• Growing awareness and imitation of others
• Beginning pretend play

Appropriate Materials

• Mirrors
• Dolls and accessories like blankets and bottles
• Role-play materials (play phone, housekeeping toys)
• Puppets
• Stuffed toys
• Play scenes (small people, animals, barns, cars)
• Transportation toys (simple toy cars, trains)
• Grasping toys
• Sand and water materials (funnels, colanders, tools)
• Construction materials (unit blocks, plastic bricks)
• Puzzles (three to five pieces)
• Dressing, lacing, stringing materials
• Skill-development materials (pop-up boxes, nesting cups, stacking materials, lock boxes, pegboards)
• Books
• Arts and craft materials
• Musical instruments (cymbals, drums)
• Audiovisual materials (music to dance to)
• Push and pull toys (walkers, doll carriages)
• Balls
• Ride-on equipment
• Outdoor and gym equipment (low, soft climbing equipment, tunnels, swings, stairs)