Early Literacy Blog: Thank You for Attending the Big Playdate! by Chelsea Condren, Early Literacy CoordinatorJune 19, 2019

The Library is beyond grateful to the 684 guests who attended our first-ever Big Playdate event at the Stephen A. Schwarzman Building! Little Lion couldn’t believe his eyes when he saw how many families with little ones came from all five boroughs, plus New Jersey.

NYPL President Anthony Marx playing on the floor with kids at the Big Playdate event
Anthony Marx, President of The NYPL, engaging with a Big Playdate attendee. Photo by Jonathan Blanc.

We appreciate you all waiting patiently in line before the doors opened, and playing and sharing the space so nicely. We had children’s staff from across NYPL on-hand to pull off the big day, and NYPL president Tony Marx even stopped by to play!

In addition to sharing these fantastic snapshots of the big day, we also want to share two ways families can create these same play opportunities at home. Many of the materials we used are inexpensive household items, so you can replicate your child’s favorites at home this summer!

These are two of the play activities featured at the Big Playdate, created by our Big Playdate Committee and the Early Childhood Education department. We hope you have fun trying them out with your little ones!

The Big Playdate logo

Homemade Blocks

PLAY such as building with blocks is open-ended and helps children learn how to problem solve, create, and build fine and gross motor skills.

HOW TO PLAY:
Encourage your child to build their own creation and explore the materials. Recreate this at home using cereal boxes to make blocks, paper cups, or other fun "construction" materials you have at home.

LET’S TALK ABOUT IT!

  • Ask your child "what should we make today?"

  • Encourage your child to build a tall tower! Ask them how many blocks or cups they think they can stack, and then count each together as they stack them as high as they can.

  • Expand their vocabulary by using words like "stack," "balance," "tall," and "short"

Safety tip: Always supervise your child with these materials.

Peek-a-Boo Boxes

PLAY with your baby—even from birth, babies are playing. Babies will enjoy the surprise discovery of colorful scarves hiding in the box. Over time, playing peek-a-boo helps babies make the connection between their actions and what is happening around them.

HOW TO PLAY:
Stuff colorful scarves, socks, or washcloths into an empty tissue box. Let your child reach in and pull out an item. If you have lots of scarves you can tie them together for a colorful scarf chain and create your own baby magic trick!   

LET’S TALK ABOUT IT!    

  • Before your child reaches in the box, ask "What do you think is in the box?" This is great to ask even if your child is not yet verbal. 

  • Narrate you or your child’s actions. "Look, I pulled out the GREEN scarf" or "You’re waving the RED scarf"

  • Talk about the colors of the scarves your child pulls out.  Are they also wearing that color? Can you find it in the room?

  • Ask "What else can we put inside?" Encourage your child to experiment with adding objects to the box.

  • As your child empties and fills the box, count how many scarves fit inside.

Safety tip: Always supervise babies with these objects.

 

View all posts by Chelsea Condren

Comments

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Big Play Date

Submitted by Elisa Gomera (not verified) on October 11, 2019 - 5:47pm

Hello there, I was wondering if the New York Public Library posted the games and lesson plans to the activities that the children played during the event, and If so how can one get access to them?