Article Link: http://exchangepress.com/article/caring-for-the-little-ones-the-play-of-infants-and-toddlers/5011841/
Dumping, filling, pushing, spilling, fitting, bumping, climbing, banging, bouncing, look at them go! Infants and toddlers at play are a study in movement. Our little scientists are busily figuring out how the world works.Object Play
A very descriptive term that is sometimes used to describe the play behavior of infants and toddlers is object hunger. The child fully examines every object she comes across, mouthing it, turning it over, banging it on the floor, throwing it, fitting it inside other things. As the child plays with objects in this seemingly random way, she gains physical knowledge about the object, its shape, where it fits, that it has sides that can't be seen until it is turned. The popularity of playing with pots and pans is an example. This type of play forms the baseline for cognitive development - spaces, places, shapes. The child needs to do this to make sense of the world, to see order and relationships.
When toddlers use art materials like crayons, it is on the physical knowledge level. They scribble, roll the crayon, pound it, and find out everything they can do with it. After they have had plenty of exposure to it, as preschoolers they will move toward ...