What do you want to be when you grow up?

What do you want to be when you grow up?” Oh, I had so many answers to this question when I was little. Now, when I ask the girls, it’s so funny hearing their responses. 

Much of the time, Madison has got the very realistic dream of becoming a movie star! Other times, it’s anything from a doctor to a teacher to a hairdresser. She’s nothing if not imaginative! 

Macie would like to be a singer – another realistic choice! – or a mummy, or a cashier. Bless her. 

I love talking to the girls about their future careers – however scary it is that one day they won’t be my little girls anymore! – and recently i learned all about the importance of play during the early years. Keep reading to hear what an expert in childhood development had to say about how toys can play a significant role in your child’s future. Her thoughts will help you understand how to play with your kids in a way that nurtures them and helps them learn. 

The girls have been playing with two amazing new toys with Peppa Pig recently, both of which foster their imaginations for their future careers.

Peppa Medical Mobile Centre, RRP $39 

Madison absolutely loved this one. She was chatting away to her patients and carrying out some rather advanced operations – or at least so she thought. The x-ray machine is so cute, and it comes with extra characters to make your medical centre come to life. I also really loved this because it makes the doctors seem like a really positive and safe space for her – no fearing the doctor in this family!

Product details:

Create your own Peppa Pig adventures with the Mobile Medical Centre. This push along ambulance opens up to reveal a full medical centre inside! Lift the roof off to see a waiting room with seats and a reception desk. Open the sides and there’s an operating theatre, with x-ray machine and a gurney bed! Includes Peppa Pig, Teddy, and exclusive Dr. Brown Bear figure. Available from Target stores in October.

Peppa Pig Sing & Learn Microphone, RRP $25

Ah, for my little starlet Macie. She was howling her favourite tunes into this microphone like there was no tomorrow. Remind me to apologise to the neighbours! Peppa helps you learn the words and sing along to 7 songs, while creating your own moves ready for the big performance. 

Product details:

Choose from two modes of play: Quiz Time, when Peppa will test your child's observation and listening skills; or Sing-Along, where they can pick one of 7 songs from the show to sing along with Peppa; or, music-only version to sing over by themselves. Songs include: Recycling song, Bing Bong song, Birdy Woof Woof, Big Balloon, Train song, Rainbow song and Wheels on the Bus. A stable base means it can stand up as you sing and dance, like a real performer. Available now from Target and independent toy stores.

The Importance of Play with Nicola Yelland 

In early childhood education, play has characteristically been regarded as the main way that young children learn. There are many forms of play including, block play, symbolic play, water play, and so on, each with their specific definitions and association with various different types of materials and activities. There are also other kinds, like ‘pretend’ play, which encapsulates dressing up, taking on a different persona, and creating dramatic scenarios in which the young child enacts actions that s/he has observed in some aspect of their lives. This might also be called dramatic play, role play, or socio-dramatic play, if other children are included in the scenarios.

In pretend play, the young child is not just taking on the ‘role’ of the character that they are playing with, or enacting. For them, they ‘are’ that person, animal or object, and the scenes that they create and perform, are a window into the ways in which they are interpreting the world, and how they are making meaning about the behaviours, actions and ideas that they experience. This is why it is important for young children to experience pretend play. In enacting these scenarios, we realise that pretend play creates learning contexts that are rich and varied. They help children to explore the experiences of others and in doing so, enables them to understand their own identities, and how they ‘fit’ into the world. They do this in a context of their own meaning making where they can engage in risk taking, planning, creating fantasies and examining ‘real world’ scenarios.

Nicola Yelland is the Professor of Early Childhood Studies in the College of Education, Psychology and Social Work at Flinders University in Adelaide, South Australia. Her teaching and research interests have been related to the use of new technologies in school and community contexts. 

How do you include playtime in your child’s early development? Oh, and this is a fun one – what do they want to be when they grow up?! Comment below with the best responses you’ve had from your kids!

Peppa pig toys by Entertainment one- Available Target and independent retailers.