Nurturing Growth Through Play: Clinicians Transform Early Child Development with Play Groups
In today’s fast-paced world, the importance of early child development often gets overshadowed by the rush of everyday life. However, clinicians across the globe are recognizing the pivotal role of play in nurturing cognitive, emotional, and social growth in young children.
Through innovative playgroups, these healthcare professionals are not only promoting healthy development but also fostering a sense of community and joy among families.
This blog post delves into the inspiring stories of clinicians who are making a difference by integrating play groups and play-based learning in their practices.
The importance of playgroups
Early childhood is a critical period for development, and the power of play in fostering this growth cannot be underestimated. Clinicians in various communities are leveraging play groups as a dynamic tool to support early child development and enhance family engagement.
These playgroups provide a safe and stimulating environment where children can explore, learn, and develop essential skills. From supporting language development to fostering social connections, these initiatives underscore the profound impact that play can have on a child’s developmental trajectory.
Join us as we explore the heartwarming stories of healthcare professionals who are transforming lives through the simple yet powerful act of play.
‘DreamBuilders‘ Playspace
Billi-Jo Lombardo shares about her role as Program Director at DreamBuilders playgroups and playspace in Erie, Pennsylvania:
At DreamBuilders, we are dedicated to protecting the right to play for all children. We offer open play, play based events, classes, and playgroups for all children in our community. The goal is to promote play, family engagement, inclusion and to be a resource to families in our community. We also offer parent training and are getting ready to roll out a parenting book club!
We believe that parents can do their best “parenting” when their needs are also fulfilled, and we know parenting is hard. We have seen just how much play is missing from children’s lives and it is our goal to increase children’s social, emotional and cognitive development through play. The first poster we hung in our playspace was on the importance of play and how the United Nations declared play a human right for all children.
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‘Create! Play! Learn!’ playgroup- Mobile, Alabama
Terri Hadley of Mobile, Alabama shares about her program. “In 2018 I created a playgroup program called ‘Create! Play! Learn!’ which promotes play, while gaining the skills toddlers and preschoolers need in fine motor, gross motor, sensory and writing. It takes place every month at the West Regional Branch of the Mobile, Alabama, Public Library, where they can play and have fun while getting prepared for school.
I constantly research best practices, developmental milestones, play based learning and early literacy and how they all work together. It is so important they get to explore, play, get messy and try new things!”
The Treehouse – Bedford, Ohio
Meet Claire and Lauren, a pediatric occupational and physical therapy team with nearly 20 years of experience in the field:
“We started The Inspired Treehouse in 2013 where we provide developmental playgroups for children of all ability levels. At The Treehouse, our mission is to help kids build healthy bodies and minds through play. Our play groups have supported over 900 children since 2017. They are designed to support skill development through themed activities like sensory bins, art/craft activities, fine motor games, obstacle courses, and group movement games. We serve children with a variety of special needs (autism, ADHD, Down Syndrome, etc.). Further, we support children whose parents have concern about their development, but have not yet received a diagnosis. Our goal is to reach as many children in the Cleveland area as we can with high-quality, affordable play experiences that are designed to enrich kids’ lives and support healthy development.”
The Playhouse Molino
“Here in the Philippines, most of the progressive education is usually situated in the capital of the country. As a former teacher at a playschool in the area, I saw the need to introduce and expose more families in the provinces to playgroups and the beauty of play-based education. Accordingly, I started the Playdate Molino in 2019, gathering groups of children every Saturday for a 1.5 hour playdate. When the pandemic happened, I had to create a way to provide play so I organized online playdates where I provided the materials to help ease the parents’ load.
Further to this, I created a physical playschool called The Playhouse Molino, where we’ve created a community of wonderful parents who believe in the power of play. With over 100 children enrolled, I advocate for play and teaching kids in a fun way. Due to my experiences and inspiration with other known ECE heroes, it has become my desire to advocate for and educate more parents on what play can do for children.”
CFCE: Coordinated Family and Community Engagement Family Programs
Wendy Provencher shares about her move from pre-K teacher to working with playgroups in Massachusetts, spanning twenty five years .
“I have been working with children since 1989. I loved being a Pre-K teacher and director; however, in 1999 I started my new position working with Central Berkshire Regional School District. It is my philosophy that the parents are the first teacher – my job is to model and offer tools and assistance when requested to assist them. Building trust with the families is my very first goal when meeting families. Meeting them where they are at is very important. I see an average of 256 children per month, and 170 families per month. I love offering STEAM to children and cooking with them. My goal is to always model and encourage parents to work on specific skills at home and to advocate for the children when necessary!”
Virtual Playgroups
“As an infant development specialist who has been working in early intervention and play for more than 15 years, I have been running a virtual play group since the beginning of the pandemic. This virtual play date is open to any families with children from 0-5 years old. We focus on play ideas, activities and include parent education. The parent ed. topics include the importance of play, gross and fine motor skills, sleep, communication and self-regulation. Additionally, the groups incorporate opportunities for parents to connect, learn more about the stages of their child’s development. We do songs and activities related to both free play and daily routines and we discuss red flags to be aware of at each age. Altogether, we have probably had close to 75 families join the play group. Additionally, many families have returned to join the next age group up for their kiddos.”
Licking County Health Department, Ohio
Kathy Postle shares a little bit about her experience with play groups and play dates in a different setting:
“I had worked with special needs children for over 20 years, beginning as a Head Start/Early Head Start Home Visitor following the pandemic, primarily serving underprivileged youth and families. At the Health Department where I work, we were able to turn an unused room into a playgroup space for our families. As part of the Head Start program, we have two playgroup meetings a month. Some of these are done at local parks or community programs. My goals are to encourage families to attend our playgroups to expose children to the social benefits of being around other children their age. Subsequently, the playgroups also allow families to make connections with other families in similar social situations.”
The Children’s Center – Suffolk & Franklin, Virginia
“I am a traveling SLP and work in early intervention. I service a large city, a smaller city and two rural areas. Because my families are mostly all low-income, we try to provide books and toys for play that they can chiefly use in their daily life. We also now have a small play group that we run for families. My goal is to expand the play group to each locality – it would be wonderful to send home blocks, bubbles, puzzles, balls and more books to engage their children daily when we’re not there.”
As is evident from all of these play related testimonies, playgroups have so much potential for supporting development. It’s amazing to hear from so many individuals about their unique work in different play spaces and settings across the world. Each one is doing the work of recognizing the pivotal role of play in nurturing cognitive, emotional, and social growth in young children.