If you think dolls are just for girls then you’re very sadly mistaken. Men care for babies. Men are dads. Men teach children. Men work in kindergartens. Men are nurses. Men are paediatricians. Men are uncles. Men need to be just as competent and as caring with children as women need to be and it all starts with imaginary play. Get your boys a doll!

Today we role played looking after August’s two dolls. He initiated it, actually. We changed their nappies, put fresh clothes on, gave them a bottle and tucked them into bed. This all requires August to imagine that the dolls are real and need him to care for them. dolls are EXCELLENT for language development because dolls can talk - blocks and cars cant!

LANGUAGE OPPORTUNITIES
💬 We talked about the dolls body parts as we changed and dressed them.
💬 I talked through everything we were doing as we cared for the dolls.
💬 We practiced our own bedtime routine with them, reading them stories and saying nice things like “I love you”, “I’m proud of you” and “I’ll see you in the morning”
💬 We touched on concepts like ‘full/empty’ (the bottle) and ‘hot/cold’ (how the babies felt with clothes)
💬 I pretended the babies were trying to roll at nappy changing time and it made him laugh. He saw how that makes it tricky!!

If you have a little one on the way, this sort of play is invaluable. Having another child in the mix can bring up all sorts of feelings for your child as you just don’t have as much time for them. Practising caring for a newborn and having jobs such as fetching nappies etc can help prepare them for what’s to come!

Does your child have a doll? Why not?! Challenge me!

Watch how Auggie interacts with his dolls here