Play Starters
Play Ideas for You and Your Child
Each Play Starter is a new play idea to help your child learn and grow, whether toys are part of the magic or not. Sharing great ideas is one way moms help other moms in our community. Why not post your own Play Starters to our Facebook wall? Share yours! 
Elefun Ball Popper Color 'n Count
Best for ages:18 months & up
What you'll need: Elefun Ball Popper
How to play: The Elefun Ball Popper isn't just fun, it's a great way to teach colors and counting. Try these playtime ideas ...
Color Recognition
1. Line up the balls by color. Say the ball's color as you pop it into Elefun.
2. Ask your child to catch just the yellow ball (or the red ball, or blue) as it pops out.
3. Ask your child to say the balls' colors as they pop out.
RESCUE BOTS Adventure Camp
Best for Ages: 3-6 years
What You'll Need:
• RESCUE BOTS action figures
• A timer (optional)
How to Play: RESCUE BOTS toys are great for a little hero who wants to be like the big kids. Help your child dream big -- try these games:
1. Calling all RESCUE BOTS! Create a code word -- like "RESCUE BOTS Rollout!" -- to call out the figures. Each time the code word is called, it's time to convert the toys for action!
2. Quick change! The RESCUE BOTS have to be ready for anything, so they practice quick changes. Set a timer for 30 seconds or a minute (or just count the numbers aloud), and see how many times your child can convert a toy from one shape to another. Start again -- see if he can do it faster.
3. Midnight rescue! Sometimes, RESCUE BOTS figures get the call late at night. Have your child close his eyes (or blindfold him) so he learns to convert toys by touch. Even harder: have him transform the toys behind his back!
Play Skills: Fine Motor Skills: Manipulating RESCUE BOTS toys helps little fingers develop the muscle strength and coordination they'll need for drawing and writing. Sensory Development: Blindfold games help children develop their other senses.
RESCUE BOTS to the Rescue!
Best for Ages: 3-6 years
What You'll Need:
• Household items to build a simple indoor or outdoor obstacle course
• A teddy bear or other favorite toy
How to Play: Walk like RESCUE BOTS figures! Robots have a special way of moving. Ask your child to show you how RESCUE BOTS figures prep for action. How do they walk? Run? Jump? Hug?
Talk like RESCUE BOTS figures! What do RESCUE BOTS figures sounds like? What are their favorite words? Do they make special noises?
RESCUE BOTS figures to the rescue! Set up an obstacle course with a teddy bear or other favorite toy at the end of it. Uh-oh! The bear is in trouble -- and it's time for RESCUE BOTS figures to take action! Have your child go through the obstacle course the way RESCUE BOTS figures do to save the bear!
Change modes! Next, have your child do the course again in "vehicle mode" -- crawling on all fours or his belly, just like a fire engine or police car. Vroom vroom!
Play Skills: Role Play: :Preschoolers love to use their imaginations and pretend. Encouraging them to imagine how a robot sounds and acts helps develop creativity and abstract thinking. Gross Motor Development: Acting like someone or something else challenges children to use their muscles in new ways. And that can help make developing strength and coordination fun!
I Am A Robot Just Like ALPHIE!
For Ages: 3 & Up
What You'll Need: ALPHIE, ALPHIE Learning Cards
How to Play: After playing your Alphie toy for a while, offer a suggestion or two to spark their imagination...
• I wonder what robots look like when they walk? Run? Jump in the air?
• I wonder what robots look like when they dance?
• I wonder what robots like to play?
Of course, as soon as your little robot goes into action, step back and watch where he takes the play.
And when it's time wrap up the fun, you might ask your child to show you what it looks like when a robot's battery gets low.
Play Skills: CHARACTER ROLE PLAY. Pretending to walk, talk, or act like someone else is a great way for little children to understand that everyone has different qualities and abilities -- a terrific foundation for building social awareness and empathy for others.
Huff ‘n’ Puff for Fun & Coordination!
For Ages: 12 Months & Up
What You'll Need: BUSY BALL POPPER toy
How to Play: Children love the feel of the wind as a BUSY BALL POPPER toy ejects the balls from the chute. Show your little one that people can huff and puff too.
Here's how: Instead of picking up the balls with your hands, get down on the floor and blow them back to the toy. Then encourage your child to do the same. It's fun, especially when you're both down on the floor blowing the ball back and forth.
Be careful not to stand up too quickly, because you might feel a little dizzy.
Play Skills: Speech development. To pronounce words clearly, mouth muscles have to be well-developed and finely tuned. That's why simple activities like smiling, giggling, puckering up for a kiss, and blowing through pursed lips all offer great preparation for learning to speak.
Mr. Potato Head's Tater Tales
Best for ages:
2 & up
What you'll need:
MR. POTATO HEAD
MRS. POTATO HEAD (optional)
How to play: Let Mr. and Mrs. Potato Head turn playtime into story time!
Next time you're playing with Mr. and Mrs. Potato Head, encourage your child to make up a story about them. Here are a few ideas to get started, but let your child's imagination take you both on a great adventure! You might say ...
• I wonder where Mr. Potato Head is going today?
• How do you think he'll get there?
• Who will he meet along the way?
• Which parts do you think he'll need to have with him?
• What's going to happen next?
Play skills: Children love listening to stories, but it's even better when they make up their own. Storytelling is one way a child can put the world in understandable terms.
A Week at the WEEBLES Treehouse!
Best for Ages: 18 Months & Up
Submitted By: Gill C. (Mom of three grown women and grandmother of a 2-year-old)
What You'll Need: WEEBLES figures, WEEBLES Treehouse
How to Play: It's a week's worth of daily enrichment activities, all inspired by a single toy!
Making Friends Monday -- Talk about which of the WEEBLES characters is your favorite. Watch as that one climbs the ramp, and encourage your child to recognize that one when it's at the top.
Play Skills: Visual discrimination, or identifying "favorites" helps build up the ability to see detailed differences in things that look alike, such as WEEBLES characters.
Tuesday Treehouse Tales -- Have your child make up stories about what's happening around the Treehouse. Invent names for your WEEBLES characters, and ask your child to tell you all about them and what they're up to.
Play Skills: Making up names and stories is a great way to develop kids' creativity.
Wobble Which Way Wednesday -- Talk about directions, such as "The WEEBLES are at the bottom." "Now they're halfway up!" "They're at the top!"
Play Skills: Learning directional language such as "top" and "bottom" helps children learn to navigate the world and the objects in it.
Thursday Switcheroo -- When your child uses the crank, encourage her to switch hands. Talk about how it feels to make her hands go around and change directions.
Play Skills: Using both hands fosters mid-line development and overall coordination.
Friday Fun Dance -- As the WEEBLES song plays, jump up and do the "WEEBLES Wobble Dance." Ask your child to make up any wobbly dance, and dance with him or her.
Play Skills: Dancing is always fun, and it's great for building coordination, fitness, and stamina.
Go WEEBLES Bowling Anywhere!
Best for ages: 18 months & up
What you'll need:
WEEBLES figures
A soft ball (not a softball!)
How to play: Line up all your WEEBLES figures in an open space on a smooth floor. Show your child how to roll a soft ball toward them, and see which ones wobble! Count the wobblers and start again!
Next, change it up a little ...
• Have your child switch hands to roll the ball.
• Have your child roll the ball between her legs.
• Choose different figures as targets.
• Use a smaller ball.
• Space the figures out.
Play skills: Learning to aim is a great way to help build eye-hand coordination! Using a soft ball (such as a NERF ball) makes it easy for small hands, and easy on furniture too.
STEP START Here, There & Everywhere!
Best for ages: 2 & Up
What you'll need: STEP START WALK 'N RIDE toyHow to play: Kids love wheels, and wheels present a great tool to help kids learn how to move here, there, and everywhere in many different ways. Try this game with the STEP START WALK 'N RIDE toy in walker and rider modes. Toddlers love to show off, so help them do so. For example, ask: Can you show me how you ...
• Go backwards? In circles? Around the couch? Through the door? Into the living room?
• Go fast? Go slow? Slower? Even slower? Go fast and stop?
• Drive to me and give me a hug?
If your child has difficulty with any of these ideas, provide coaching and guidance, and don’t let frustration take hold. With time, kids master all of these skills.
Play skills: Directionality. Children begin to understand concepts such as "backwards," "around," and "through" when your gentle coaching and verbal cues help them experience moving around in different ways.
Ride the Wheel Pals Home Funway
Best for Ages: 2 & Up
What You'll Need: WHEEL PALS vehicles, WHEEL PALS Playsets, pillows, blankets, cushions, boxes
How to Play: Using the pillows and other soft items in your home, create a pathway around the floor that lets kids crawl through, under, over, and around. The more obstacles the better -- kids love different kinds of physical challenges.
• Set up the start and finish lines
• Use your Wheel Pals playsets as "stations" to stop at and play with along the race.
• Have kids create Wheel Pals parades -- they work together to push and pull them through the course.
• Be part of the Home Funway! Stand so your legs are a gateway to crawl through.
• Everyone makes silly car or animal sounds: Mooo! Vroom! Baaa! Woof!
Play Skills: Even if they're already walking, crawling is still a great activity for helping children build their sense of space, while promoting overall fitness.
