Age-Appropriateness

• Understanding age-appropriate behavior is the first key to a successful learning environment. Give babies plenty of clean toys to explore through mouthing and grabbing. Toddlers need toys to push and pull and ride. Preschoolers love to use their imagination, so providing dress-up clothes, dishes, dolls and other tools of imagined play is important. School-agers like games and cooperative play to practice taking turns and other social skills.
  
  

Play

• Maria Montessori, the child developmental specialist who created the Montessori Method of schooling, first introduced the idea that play is a child's work. She found that the connection between playing and exploring is the key to learning. Today, her teaching model revolves around setting up a play environment to ensure an optimal education atmosphere where the child leads and the adult is there to follow.
  
  

Using the Senses

• A well-rounded exploring environment must utilize all the senses. There must be things to touch, hear, explore through sight and smell, and even eat. Turn meal prep time into science and math lessons, for example.
  
  

Copy Cat

• Children learn what they see quicker than what they are told. We've all experienced that moment when a little one innocently mimics something we don't want them to say. Turn that opportunity to your benefit. Provide plenty of opportunities for children to role play what they see around them---dishes, phones, dress-up clothes and other role-playing toys. Most importantly, model the type of behavior you wish to see in your child. You are her biggest hero.
  
  

Making Learning Relevant

• Caretaker direction is an important component to play-as-work. Guide and give direction in an age-appropriate manner, explaining why things are working the way they do. Avoid turning every play experience into a lecture---keep it short, to the point, in words your child will understand. Be available for questions and guide your child into discovering answers for himself when possible.