Free Play

[littleblossoms]

I usually have free play a couple times per day. They are all under two years and they can not go play with toys. I rotate i changed up and still. But i do not have much battery toys and no tv.

How is your free play?

What toys do the kds play with?

Do you have toys lay out and they play with it

[melilley]

All my dck's are 2.5 and under. My living room is set up as the main daycare room so all the toys and activities are open and accessible to all. I have an open 9 cubby shelving unit with toys/activities, a kitchen area, a bin storage with toys/puzzles in it, a reading area with books, a block (duplo) and car area.
My kids just go around and play with everything; their attention spans for their age are short so most times it's "I'll play with this, leave it and go play with something else", and it repeats... The most popular toys are the ride on cars and play cars.

We do work on cleaning up, but with this age it's mostly modeling so sometimes there tends to be lots of toys out!

[littleblossoms]

All my dck's are 2.5 and under. My living room is set up as the main daycare room so all the toys and activities are open and accessible to all. I have an open 9 cubby shelving unit with toys/activities, a kitchen area, a bin storage with toys/puzzles in it, a reading area with books, a block (duplo) and car area.
My kids just go around and play with everything; their attention spans for their age are short so most times it's "I'll play with this, leave it and go play with something else", and it repeats... The most popular toys are the ride on cars and play cars.

We do work on cleaning up, but with this age it's mostly modeling so sometimes there tends to be lots of toys out!

My daycare is about the same like yours too.
If i sit and show them i end up playing. Crafts i end up playing, coloring i do it.

They all sit and stare

But if i put music goes on they all dance

[melilley]

My daycare is about the same like yours too.
If i sit and show them i end up playing. Crafts i end up playing, coloring i do it.

They all sit and stare

But if i put music goes on they all dance

My kids will play, it's very open ended play. They do color, but I don't do any coloring books or anything like that. I just give them a piece of paper and they color on it. I do do crafts, but they are process oriented. The only thing I do is cut out a specific shape if needed, but they do the rest..most of the time the craft looks nothing like it's supposed to be, but I love it!

My advice is to give them the materials and let them do what they want, with you intervening when necessary. At this age, they will probably never just sit and do something or do/play with it like it's intended to be done/played with.

Right now my kids are having free play. The room is a disaster, but I don't mind!

[nothingwithoutjoy]

My daycare is about the same like yours too.
If i sit and show them i end up playing. Crafts i end up playing, coloring i do it.

They all sit and stare

But if i put music goes on they all dance

I'd start from there. You know they love music. So put on music, a lot. Offer musical instruments on a low shelf where they can help themselves, or if you can't stand having free access to them, set out instruments regularly. Maybe take the instruments outside. Read rhythmic books w/rhythm instruments available (my kids love doing shaker eggs or tambourines as I read "Hand, Hand, Fingers, Thumb"). Set out scarves or ribbon wands to add to their dance party.

Sit in the midst of the kids and see what they bring to you. Take their lead, rather than leading the play.

Try something other than toys. Some big hits here: peg clothespins and containers (can drop them in or clip them on the sides), pinecones, story stones (rocks w/pictures decoupaged on), overhead projector w/anything on it.

All my toddlers adore dress-up--but not clothes, only accessories: hats, necklaces, scarves. And real dramatic-play props--a real (broken) phone or camera, for example. And cooking play with real (small) dishes and pots and pans. And most especially cooking in the mud kitchen.

And any type of sensory play. Some we love: water, grass seed, paper dots (hole punches from a copy shop), shaving cream, sand. Your music-loving group might love containers with lids and something noisy to put in--gravel, buttons, etc.

I often set up an intriguing invitation to play on our coffee table. It catches their attention and might suggest some new combinations of materials, or they might do something completely different with it. For example, one day this week we had small wooden blocks on a mirror, but one two-year-old brought a mardi-gras necklace over there. He spent a good 20 minutes exploring the beads on the mirror, watching as he set it down, lifted it, replaced it, rearranged it, listened to the sound it made, etc.

[LK5kids]

I have all under 3 except one 5 yr old. For about six months my two's and under played with the grocery carts......filled them up and pushed them around and around. Hardly anything else!

I also have some rocking toys and they loved to rock on those. They used the kitchen center some also. I rotate toys too, but they just didn't play with anything. Oh, they loved my sensory table I had filled with oatmeal. Used puzzles a little.

Now they are almost three now and are beginning to play in the block corner, lots in the kitchen center, with the doll house, etc.

They like my art area that has washable markers, playdoh and oil pastels.