User login
Investigates items and activities 
Description:
These activities aim to provide opportunities to investigate items and activities.
| Early years skill: | not specified |
| Early years typical range: | not specified |
| P-scales/Curriculum skill: | not specified |
| P-scales/Curriculum level: | not specified |
| TAP skill: | not specified |
| TAP level: | not specified |
| Pre/Nat. Curriculum Area: | not specified |
| Pre/Nat. Curiculum Standard: | not specified |
| Phoenix Area: | Learning and Engagement |
| Phoenix Step: | Step 9 |
| Section: | Early Years (0-5yrs) info; Primary (5-11yrs) info; Secondary (11-16yrs) info |
| Activity/strategy name and materials required | How to do the activity | Key principles for doing the activity and comments |
|---|---|---|
| Sound-Making Toy Exploration Toys that make sounds (rattle, bell, crinkle toy) | 1. Briefly activate the toy to gain interest, then pause. 2. Let your child explore by shaking, tapping, or squeezing. 3. Use single-word comments linked to your child’s actions or sounds. 4. Continue while your child remains engaged. | Follow your child's lead Avoid over modelling and asking questions |
| Object Exploration Basket Basket with a variety of everyday objects (spoon, cup, ball, soft toy, lid) Objects should be safe and easy for the child to manipulate | 1. Place the basket within reach and wait for your child to choose an item. 2. Allow your child to handle, turn, bang, mouth, or visually inspect the object. 3. Observe and follow the child’s lead, positioning objects so they are easy to see and reach. 4. If child loses interest, take another object out of the box, showing excitement to try to regain attention. | Allow your child to explore the objects any way that is safe. Don't ask questions and allow them to spend as much or as little time on each object. |
| Household Object Play Safe household objects (cups, spoons, lids, boxes) | Let the child control which object is explored and for how long. Avoid showing the “correct” use of the item too quickly. Pause and wait to allow independent investigation before introducing a new object. | |
| Cause-and-Effect Toy Play Simple cause-and-effect toys (pop-up toy, push-button toy, spinning toy) | Give the child time to experiment through trial and error. Do not overprompt; investigation is more important than success. Repeat actions only if the child shows continued interest. | |
| Sensory Tray Investigation Tray or bin with sand, rice, water, or jelly Small objects hidden inside (cups, animals, blocks) | Allow messy, hands-on exploration. Follow your child’s preferred sensory actions. Avoid rushing your child to find all objects. | |
| Container Play Containers with lids, boxes, bags Small toys or objects to place inside | Exploration is more important than completing the task. Let the child attempt problem-solving independently. Keep language simple and responsive. |
Support Commtap to keep it online
Thank you for visiting Commtap.
Please read this message as it is extremely important.
- Visitor donations mean we can continue to host over 1,000 free activities to support speech, language, and communication development.
- Visitor donations mean we can continue to provide free resources to address a wide range of communication needs, including limited speech or language, interaction challenges, and needs associated with conditions such as developmental language disorder, autism, and cerebral palsy.
- Visitor donations mean we can continue to provide resources to support the work of speech and language therapists, teachers, teaching assistants, parents, and carers.
- Visitor donations mean we can continue to provide the free key word sign dictionary (bks.org.uk) which has over 2,000 Makaton and Signalong signs.
We know that not everyone is able to afford to pay to access these resources, however, if you can, please make a donation to keep the site going.
Thank you
Google ads on this page are provided by Google Adsense - and their presence does not imply any endorsement by Commtap. Report a problem with an ad on this page. Log in (for free) to avoid seeing Google ads.