Dolly Bedtime

Star light, star bright, first star I see tonight, I wish I may, I wish I might, have this wish I wish tonight…

As challenging as bedtime can be at times, it is a beautiful moment shared between mom, dad, granny or grandpa and our children.

It’s equally special to see your little ones role-playing and putting their ‘babies’ down to rest and sleep. 

Not only is this precious to witness, it also has incredible benefits for our children!

We’re sure you know by now our absolute love, passion and admiration for pretend play, and all of the undeniable goodness that comes with it. From providing magical worlds of escapism, to enriching our children with social emotional skills, physical development and language & communication skills…

In this blog, we’re zoning in on Dolly Bedtime and the marvellous benefits it has on our boys and girls. There are so many, we could write on this subject for days! But for now, we’ll stick to just a few.

Encouraging our children’s natural wish to take care of their dolls and teddies, whether it stems from watching their parents or caregivers attend to their younger siblings, the media, from their own experience, our children’s desire to care for their babies is a beautiful thing! Babies, toddlers and children learn from watching and doing, and the act of preparing and tucking in their dolls for bedtime is an important cog in their social, emotional and physical development wheels. 

It provides them with opportunity to put into practice what they’ve witnessed, or what they’ve experienced. Having their dolls take a bath, changing them into pyjamas, swaddling or rocking them, singing them to sleep and tucking them in are all important role play activities where they practice looking after ‘someone’/something else. By putting these skills into practice in an imaginative play role, they are learning responsibility and self-help skills; both which contribute to their understanding of how to take care of their pets, siblings, friends, and even themselves! 

In addition to growing and developing responsibility as a skill, bedtime dolly role play contributes to the development of their sense of empathy, compassion as well as nurturing behaviour. These social and emotional skills are crucial for your child’s development.

All of the preparation that goes into dolly bedtime is also fantastic for fine motor skills. When changing their baby dolls into pyjamas for a sweet nights sleep, they are growing their pincer strength and development – the strength and accuracy of the thumb and index fingers – along with other fine motor skills and hand-eye coordination. The process of dressing the dolls, and then tucking them in, teaches them necessary skills in steps and sequencing. The best part? As they grow older, they’ll be able to apply these steps to their own bedtime routine! 

For both our daughters and sons, dolly bedtime roleplay is so important for such a broad range of reasons: self-help skills, responsibility, personal grooming and hygiene are only a few. Kindness, compassion, care, understanding and empathy are qualities and characters we all want to see our children embracing and practicing in their everyday lives from the time they are toddlers and beyond…enriching their lives with all of this inner beauty.

Begin early, and encourage dolly bedtime role play!

 

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