Rough and tumble play is when children do things like climb over each other, roll around and take risks. Rough play is a basic toddler instinct that helps them to develop many skills – but toddlers like this kind of play because its fun!
Rough play develops strength, movement and social skills. It’s so fun! The toddlers smile and laugh even when keeping the play safe for all. We provide safety rules which prevent them from getting hurt.
Rough play helps toddlers to understand the limits of their strength and explore their changing positions in the space. It shows what other children will and won’t let them do, works out social relationships as they play roles, take turns and sort out personal boundaries, and most importantly it assists in burning energy and releases tension.
Toddlers enjoy exciting movements, as long as they feel safe. Toddlers love to spin around and dance. Some toddlers like active play such as taking risks which works best when children are in a large play space with lots of structural elements to climb, swing, crawl, jump, etc.
Recently, we pulled out the blue couch from within the book nook area to engage in rough and tumble play. The children loved crawling across, rolling around, running on top, doing somersaults and practicing Yoga. We don’t often play this way, and it was an exciting moment for the children to explore the couch in a different way. As the temperatures of winter become colder and we have to stay indoors as we follow our outdoor weather guidelines, we will be inviting the toddlers to engage in this type of gross-motor play again.
Rough and tumble play is usually high energy – The key thing is that everyone is having fun. Sometimes children can get hurt, but no – one is actually trying to hurt anyone else.
