How to Create Positive Attachment through Play?
Play is an important part of child development which goes beyond working toward age-appropriate skills. Through engaging children in play in early years, children bond with their caregiver. When positive and loving connections are formed, children develop security in future relationships. Here are some activities that you might want to try with your family:
Bubbles
Instead of using the bubble machine, let’s go old school. Take out the bubble wand, blow and catch a bubble on the wand, pop the bubble with different parts of our body together.
Drawing around our hands and feet
This engaging activity allow caregivers to nurture children about how strong their fingers and toes are growing to be. Use a crayon to outline their hands or feet, then help them to draw around the adult’s. This is a perfect time to talk about your love and care for the child.
Lotion (slippery slippery fall)
Let’s turn lotioning into a fun activity for the family. While a parent sits across from the child putting lotion on, have the other sitting behind child. We can start by putting lotion on hand and trying to catch the child as they might be slipping away. The other parent supports the game by saying “I’ve got you” sitting behind. You may also try to catch their legs too!
Stick together
This game encourages the family sticking together. Choose an item that needs to be moved from one place to another, then each person decide which body part they will ‘stick together’ to move the item around the house. The rest of the family can cheer for them as they move around.
All these activities involve the whole family to take part. Remember to tuck away your electronics and engage in the fun and games. For further readings and interests, you may read about the work of John Bowlby, Mary Ainsworth, Dan Siegel and Aletha Solter.