Small World Play - Sylvanian Families Berry Grove School

Small children feel big when playing with minature worlds. It does wonders for their confidence and decision making skills, as well as fine motor skills and control. Role play of this kind helps develop imagination, and can be a good outlet to help children process their own experiences by re-enacting them. When playing with children, let them lead and engage with them by asking open questions about the imaginary world they're playing with - it may seem odd to you but makes perfect sense to them!

Activity Games - Railway Romp

Interactive games are fun for all the family and promote social skills. Let the children take charge - this will exercise their decision making skills and they'll enjoy the role reversal! Grab the opportunity to utilise outside space and play team races in the garden - be inventive, how about a wheelbarrow race or backwards skipping? This can aid physical development, co-ordination and balance.

Logic Puzzles - Rubiks Cube

Logic and concentration are developed with puzzles, and mastery of them through patience and perseverance really improves confidence. The precise movements required for success can aid motor skills and hand-eye co-ordination. Research shows that critical thinking can develop reasoning skills - making a treasure hunt with clues and riddles can be great entertainment and help problem solving.

Puppet - Peter Pan Tellatale Puppets Box Set

Puppets are great for communication and language skills and developing creativity and imagination. Children can feel more confident and able to express their ideas and emotions through the guise of role play. Puppets are a natural and fun extension of pretend play, and research shows they can especially benefit shy children or children with phobias to master the uncomfortable feelings they experience when confronted by a situation. The freedom to make up roles, rules, situations and solutions helps children understand the differences between fantasy and reality.

Dolls - Cicciobello Love n Care Doll

Nurturing skills can be encouraged through playing with dolls, which can also help address sibling rivalry issues for the older child - they can treat their doll as mummy is treating the new baby, which helps them feel a sense of ownership and involvement and not alienated from the new situation. A doll's miniature world provides an opportunity for children to begin to understand the different roles people play, and social skills such as sharing, helping and co-operating are developed. In a similar way to puppets, research shows that doll play can allow children to resolve situations that may be new, mysterious or troubling.

Family Games - Pass the Bomb

Games help bring families together, and what a child most wants and needs is to spend pleasurable time interacting with their parents. Seeing grown-ups being silly and having fun is a lovely bonding experience, and gameplay also helps set a good example - games develop positive attitudes to important social skills such as turn-taking, sportsmanship, following rules and instructions, sharing and playing fairly. Communication and language also benefit with board games, and mathematical concepts such as grouping, counting, and shape and colour recognition can be fostered. Think about how you utilise time as a family and try making one evening a week 'game night'.

Jigsaws - My World My Body Jigsaw Puzzle

Capitalise on children's thirst for knowledge by providing toys that incorporate new facts and information. This can also help confidence and develop interests, and it's great when a puzzle can still be engaged with after it's completed. Understanding how your body works is fascinating for children and key to staying healthy, and learning about animals and dinosaurs is appealing to most children. Try DIY science experiments or recreate an ecological dig in the sandpit.