Benefits of Indoor Play Centres for Children

1 – Literacy

Reading is an excellent way to enhance a toddler’s literacy skills. At our Tiny Town play centre we have created cosy and comfortable reading areas that contain a range of Usborne books for you and your child to share! Our reading spaces are located in our forest areas and have soft pillows and cushions, woodland teddies and cushioned rugs for your baby or toddler to sit and lay on while they engage in story times. This will enhance a child’s communication & language and literacy skills.

2 – Maths

A child’s mathematical skills can also be developed at an early age at our Tiny Town play centre. Children in reception will be learning to compare number by using vocabulary such as ‘more than’, ‘less than’, ‘fewer’, ‘the same’. This can be practiced in our mini-market shop as children can distribute food items into the baskets, shopping bags and trolleys. Toddlers can build on their mathematical skills by sorting the different fruit & vegetables, and grouping them into baskets based on their colours, even counting them as they go. This enhances sorting and matching skills. Our tinned vegetables grouped into three as children stack them on our shelves in the mini market shop.

3 – Physical Development

Physical activity is vital in a child development. Fine and gross motor skills develop through early childhood and can be enhanced through role playing in our play centre.

Fine motor skills involve the coordination of the small muscles in a child’s hands & fingers, babies and toddler will be learning to use these. We have dressing up clothes in our Theatre with zips, buttons and velcro so children can practice their fine motor skills as they dress themselves independently. In our Salon we have tools such as hair straighteners, hair and makeup brushes and pretend scissors that can be gripped by little hands and fingers to develop a child’s fine motor skills as they role play being a hairdresser.

Gross motor skills require while body movement using the muscles in the arms, legs and torso. They are important for everyday activities such as running, walking, jumping and sitting upright. These can be demonstrated in areas of our Tiny Town play centre. Small chairs and tables in our Café and House help children use their core strength to sit upright and achieve a good posture, reinforcing their physical development and gross motor skills. We have lots of vehicles for children to ride on, strengthening the muscles in their legs as they push themselves along our road. Balancing skills can be enhanced when building a tower of foam bricks in our Construction Site.

4 – Communication & language

Children’s back and forth interactions from an early age, form the foundations for language development. Conversations can be encouraged through role play as children interact with each other in pretend play scenarios – for example, a police officer and prisoner. Children may experiment with language and learn new vocabulary as they engage in role playing, acting out real-life situations. Conversations can be sparked about real places they might’ve visited before that are at our Tiny Town Play Centre, e.g. the beach, the shops, the forest. We have created an environment where children will feel confident and comfortable communicating with others.

Reading is a great way to build on a child’s communication and language skills. Reading to children and engaging in story times will give children the opportunity to thrive through conversation, storytelling and role play. Children will interact with you as you read the story, and practice ‘turn-taking’ in conversations. Babies will listen to simple stories and try to understand what is happening with the help of pictures! This can help encourage conversations. Little ones will be promoted to start conversations about the story and what they have read/learnt from the story. Children can also build on their communication and language skills by using the musical instruments we have in our forest areas to make and explore different sounds.

5 – Personal, Social, Emotional Development (PSED)

Personal, social and emotional development (PSED) is fundamental to a child’s cognitive development and creates the foundations of a happy and positive life. It’s all about helping young children develop a positive sense and belief in themselves, as well as respect for others and the ability to manage their feelings and behaviour. At our Tiny Town play centre children have the freedom to build on their independence and confidence. There are opportunities to make decisions through play, and reflect on the consequences of those and how they might affect others. Toddlers will be learning to play with confidence, either on their own or with other children. Relationships can be created with others as they interact with other children and express their feelings. Tiny Town can offer new experiences that they might not have encountered at home, creating opportunities for children to be independent, make decisions and develop self-confidence.

6 – Understanding the World

Understanding the World is one of the 7 main areas of learning in early years. It helps develop a child’s familiarity with real life experiences, people and different communities. At our Tiny Town play centre there are many opportunities for children to develop their ‘Understanding of the World’. Children can role play as a builder in a builders yard, using the his-vis vests, tool belts and hard hats. This encourages narratives to do with building and mending, allowing children to understand real-life situations and the world around them. Young children will be learning to identify an describe people who are familiar to them and people in their community. Children can demonstrate this by role playing, pretending to be a post person in our Post Office, a veterinary doctor in our Vets, a Fire fighter or an officer in our Police Station. In pretend play children can talk about the role of these people within their community, sparking conversations that are similar to real-world situations.

7 – Expressive Arts & Design

Expressive Arts & Design is part of the 7 areas of the early years foundation stage and is used to develop a child’s imagination and creativity! Children and toddlers do this in many ways such as singing, dancing, playing with different colours, textures and materials etc. We have a range of musical toys children can use to explore different sounds, beats and rhythms. This can be by using a rattler or a shaker or banging on a drum. Children can experiment and explore different materials to enhance the expressive arts & design segment of the EYFS. In our beach we have treasure baskets filled with shells of different shapes and sizes. Little ones can explore the natural materials, compare the different textures and surfaces of each shell and describe how they look and feel. We have a collection of organic materials in our forest area such as wooden bark, leaves, pebbles and rocks. Toddlers can use their senses in a hands-on exploration of these materials to stimulate their senses. Our theatre provides a stimulus for imagination by having atmospheric features such as the stage, a mirror, colourful spotlights and red curtains to set a stage scene. This is also reinforced by the dressing up materials such as crowns, hats, wands and musical instruments to stimulate imaginative play.

Learning through imaginative play is the ethos of our Tiny Town play centre. In every single area of our indoor play centre, children can use imaginative play to grow and discover the world around them. We are a space where ideas know no limits and imagination comes to life!