Healthy Habit Pretend Play
Here's What To Do
1
While you’re playing make-believe with your child, find opportunities to include healthy habits in your role play.
- For example:
- Together, decide on healthy foods to feed the doll.
- Take care of a sick stuffed animal together.
- Take your pretend pets for a walk to get exercise for yourselves and the animals.
2
See how many different kinds of healthy habits you and your child can come up with to include in your play! Expand and add more healthy habits each time you play!
Put PEER Into Action
P
Pause:
- Settle in on the floor with your child and their favorite “pretend” partners to start the game. Is everyone ready? Let’s go!
E
Engage:
- “What healthy food should we feed the doll? Should they have a lot of cake for dinner?”
- “The dogs look a little restless. Should we take them for a walk? Then we can get some exercise too!”
E
Encourage:
- To help your child understand, describe what you are doing and why it is healthy. “The baby doll needs to rest so she can feel better.”
- Throughout the day, be specific when you praise your child for demonstrating healthy habits so they learn different healthy habits and can add them to your pretend play repertoire. For example, “You ate all of your yummy vegetables!”
R
Reflect:
- “What is something healthy that you like to do?”
Not quite ready?
Point out healthy habits throughout the day and why they’re important to help your child develop an understanding of ways to stay healthy.
Ready for more?
With your child, role-play more specific, health-related scenarios. For example, explain to the dinosaur why it’s important to get a check-up at the doctor’s or dentist’s office.
As your child masters this skill...
They will demonstrate and describe healthy habits.