Social interaction skills
A young infant participates in responsive interactions with a caregiver using a toy car.
[Place the infant on his/her tummy on a blanket or mat in front of you. Sit on the floor very close to the infant so he/she can see your face and hear your voice.]
[Smile and begin talking with the infant. Example: “Hello, Catalina! I am happy you are here today. You look ready to play! Acknowledge the infant’s reactions, including vocalizations, facial expressions, or gestures.]
[Place the toy car in front of the infant.]
Here is a car. Look, the car has wheels that move.
[Pause for the infant to respond.
Slowly drive the car back and forth in front of the infant.]
Our car can drive. Vroom, vroom.
Would you like to touch the car?
[Encourage the infant to touch and explore the car. Describe the infant’s reactions to the toy. Examples: “Your eyes got wide when you saw the car. Your eyes are following the driving car!” “You reached for the car, Leon. I moved it closer. Now you are holding it!” “You are holding the car. You are touching the wheels on our car. There are four wheels. The wheels turn around and around! You are looking at the wheels go around.”
Continue interacting with the infant as he/she explores the car. Wrap up the activity when the infant begins to show signs of disinterest.]
[Offer a brief description of the interaction. Example: “We had fun with our toy car today! You watched me drive the car. Then you reached for the car! You touched the wheels. Thank you for sharing time with me, Elizabeth!”]
Social interaction skills
An infant participates in open-ended toy car play with a caregiver, with opportunities to imitate each other’s actions with the toys.
Invite an infant to join you in playing with toy cars. Introduce the cars and give one to the infant to hold and explore. Example: “I have two cars for us to play with! Which car would you like to play with?”
Describe the infant’s actions with the car. Look for opportunities to imitate the actions of the infant. Example: “You are driving the car in the air, Liam. I am driving my car in the air too! Where are the cars going?”
If the infant pauses to watch your actions with a car, demonstrate a way to interact with the toy that has not been part of the current play. Example: Pull the car back and then gently push it forward. Encourage the infant to imitate your actions. Example: “Look at my car go! Let’s pull our cars back, like this. Watch! Vroom, vroom! There go our cars!”
Continue to encourage imitation (yours and/or the infant’s) with car play. Remember to pause for the infant to respond to your words and to the activity itself.
Social interaction skills
Older infants participate together in open-ended play with toy cars, with opportunities to notice and imitate the actions of others.
Invite several infants to play on the floor with you. Place the toy cars in front of the infants and invite each to select a car to play with. You may wish to provide more cars than infants to avoid conflict over specific cars. Keep a car for you to play with. Encourage infants to interact with the cars. As the infants play, watch for opportunities to draw attention to infants’ actions and to suggest imitation. Examples: “Look, Jada is driving her car on the floor. Vroom, vroom goes Jada’s car! Let’s all drive our cars on the floor like Jada. Vroom, vroom!”
Continue to describe the infants’ actions with the cars, encouraging imitation behaviors. Acknowledge efforts to imitate your actions or those of another.
Infants will differ in their awareness of your attention and the actions of others with a toy car. Some may enjoy exploring a toy car independent of you or others, whereas other infants may watch and perhaps imitate another. In Option 3, some infants may enjoy holding a car while watching you or their peers play. Remain flexible about the type and length of infant participation. The toy car is simply a means toward connections with others. Use a different type of toy if a car is of limited interest to an infant(s).
Extra support
Enrichment
Materials Needed: assortment of toy cars
Provide opportunities for infants to explore the cars during floor time. Play alongside the infants and describe their actions with the cars, as well as your own. Encourage imitation as the infants play by imitating their actions and inviting them to imitate yours. Invite infants to imitate the actions of a peer.
Materials Needed: assortment of toy cars—1 per child
Invite older children in your care to participate in an imitation game with toy cars or other types of desirable toys. Invite one child at a time to be the leader of the game. Invite the leader to drive his/her car on different appropriate surfaces. Encourage others to follow the leader. Infants may enjoy holding a car and being held while watching others.
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