Rocking and Rolling. Planning Guided Play Experiences with Babies and Toddlers
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Damaris (9 months) is lying on his back on a soft, firm carpet. He is mouthing a rubber spatula—one of the objects his teacher, Leticia, placed on the floor for babies to explore. He occasionally takes it out of his mouth and lifts it into the air, gazes at it, then mouths it a bit more. After another minute, he drops it and rolls to his side. He gazes at the whisk and the spoon. He touches the whisk and runs his fingers along the metal wires. He picks it up, rolls onto his back, and holds the whisk up in the air. He shakes it and smiles.
Next, he places it in his mouth—or tries to. He finds the whisk doesn’t fit! He can only put his lips around one of the metal wires. He quickly drops it to his side. Leticia holds up the spoon and asks, “Would you like to try the spoon next?” He reaches for it and begins to explore.
When we watch children playing, we learn three important things: What they find fun; what they know; and what they are thinking about (Lifter et al. 2011). Even though Damaris, from the opening vignette, is very young, his play is intentional. He enjoys exploring the sensory aspects of the tools Leticia provided and is actively learning about them through his hands and mouth. While he knows these objects are things he can hold, he is discovering how they differ in appearance and texture. He is demonstrating agency: Because Leticia offered a variety of different tools to explore, Damaris has an opportunity to act independently and choose what to play with.
All children, and especially infants and toddlers, have the right to play and to use play as the primary way to learn about their world and themselves (Manyukhina & Wyse 2021; IPA 2024). Yet early childhood educators must find a balance between the two ends of the play spectrum, which spans from free, or self-directed, play to direct instruction (Zosh et al. 2022a).
What is the “Goldilocks balance” for educators? Guided play is one approach to offering a balance of child-directed play coupled with educator scaffolding toward developmental or learning goals. Play experiences can be individualized to help children learn and construct meaning (Zosh et al. 2022b). Teachers view children—even infants and toddlers—as active participants in their own learning who bring prior knowledge and experiences to the moment and who are motivated and curious about the world around them (Toub et al. 2016; Zosh et al. 2016).
Infant-toddler educators can use a variety of strategies to facilitate guided play for the young children in their care. Here, we (the authors) explore four approaches: Using relationships to nurture agency and learning; using questions intentionally; aligning hands-on experiences with children’s development; and considering power dynamics in early education settings.
Using Relationships to Nurture Agency and Learning
Infant-toddler educators are important to a young child’s life. Research shows that very young children build strong secondary attachments to their early educators when
- The educator meets the child’s physical and emotional needs.
- The educator’s presence in the child’s life is consistent.
- The educator is emotionally invested in the relationship and builds a bond with the child (Macagno & Molina 2024).
A strong educator-child relationship offers many benefits; most importantly, a secure base children can return to for comfort during stressful situations and a base from which they can explore their environments (Nivison et al. 2023). Research shows that once children develop positive relationships with early educators, their exploratory behaviors significantly increase (Macagno & Molina 2024).
Infant-toddler educators foster new learning when they scaffold a child’s ability to learn, practice, and master a new skill. They can do this through modeling, asking open-ended questions to guide a child’s thinking, temporarily reducing the difficulty of a task, or offering opportunities for guided practice. Scaffolding depends on relationships where children can rely on the teacher as a model from which they can learn new skills and as a steady, consistent emotional presence when they encounter difficulties.
For example, consider a toddler classroom where children have shown an interest in pouring from a pitcher. After observing how they play with toy pitchers in the dramatic play area and their interest in filling and pouring in the sandbox, the teacher introduces a small plastic pitcher at mealtime. Joining them as a learning partner, she models and describes how to use it: “Now I’m going to hold the handle and tip it just a little bit over my bowl of cereal.” She then offers children an opportunity to pour. In some cases, she may ask a question, such as when milk spills (“What can we do to clean up the milk?”). She might reduce the difficulty of the task for some children by choosing a spill-proof pitcher and later introducing an open pitcher once children’s dexterity has increased.
This guided practice reflects the individual relationship the teacher has built with each child as she adjusts her approaches based on their needs, interests, and abilities. Children look to her, and depend on her, as a model from which they can see, practice, and master new skills. At the same time, she is noticing, reflecting on, and supporting each child’s choices and efforts.
Using Questions Intentionally
Guided play offers children the opportunity to direct their play and exercise autonomy (Cekaite & Simonsson 2025). The adult’s role is to guide and support this play while considering existing and potential opportunities for learning. They can do this in two ways: Actively engaging in play with children, which can create opportunities to implement learning goals while following a child’s lead, or actively observing a child’s play and describing, commenting on, and asking questions about what they see and hear (Weisberg et al. 2016).
Infants and toddlers move through the world acting on a host of unspoken questions: “What will happen if I throw this food off my high chair?”; “Does the rattle make a sound every time I shake it?”; “What can I do with this marker?” When educators notice and respond to these unspoken queries rather than issuing commands, statements, or instructions, children explore more freely and discover more on their own (Yu et al. 2018). Open-ended questions can serve as provocations that get children’s “wheels turning” and support them in the space between what they can do on their own and what they can do with coaching or support (Vygotsky 1978).
The toddlers in Mr. Kevin’s class are playing in the dramatic play area, near a bin of kitchen equipment they haven’t yet noticed. “We have a pot here on the stove," Kevin says. “What else do we have to play with?” This question directs children’s attention to new props and materials that can enrich the quality of their play. Kevin uses follow-up questions to suggest new actions or to spark connections to the children’s existing funds of knowledge. “What about putting some salt and pepper in that soup?” he asks. “Do you eat soup at home? What’s your favorite kind?”
* * *
Ms. Alicia observes two 30-month-olds playing veterinarian with a stuffed dog. They’ve used a toy thermometer to take the dog’s temperature, but they seem a little stuck about what to do next. Alicia decides to use both open-ended and yes/no questions to help the children develop their play in a direction that interests them. “Is the dog hurt?” she asks. “Should we make an X-ray machine or use this scarf like a bandage? What do doctors do to make you feel better when you are sick?” By asking questions slowly, Alicia taps into children’s experiences and sparks their thoughts and decisions about the direction of their play.
* * *
Isabelle notices 18-month-old Carolina standing alone, watching peers play with trains. “Carolina, would you like to play with Dennis and Carlos? Do you want to ask, ‘Can I play?’” Isabelle is careful to ensure that Carolina has the agency to say no; playing with peers is a question, not a directive. Isabelle wants to be sure that Carolina retains some choice in how and what type of play she engages in.
In these vignettes, educators used questions to help children understand and initiate play sequences, elicit children’s opinions, and scaffold their social and emotional behavior (Cekaite & Simonsson 2025). As they ask questions, teachers can recognize, incorporate, and offer support for deeper, more complex periods of play that align with learning goals (Pursi 2019).
Aligning Experiences with Children’s Development
Children’s explorations are driven by their desire to learn and master the challenges found in the world around them (Bass & Bonawitz 2024). While relationships provide the emotional foundation for these explorations, opportunities for age-appropriate discovery unfold within environments that invite infants and toddlers to actively engage and learn. These include during repeated daily routines (for example, singing the same song during diapering so that children become familiar with it) and during guided play experiences.
As infant-toddler educators plan for meaningful guided play, they must consider individual contexts and differences to support specific areas of growth. Imagine a baby who is walking at 9 months in a peer group with five non-walking infants. The teacher must create learning experiences that nurture this walker while supporting the others in developing the skills necessary for walking (all while keeping everyone safe!). The teacher might choose to position interesting objects (a stuffed animal, a soft ball, fabrics with different textures) along a railing installed on the wall of the room. These objects, within reach if the child stands up and walks, create an authentic opportunity for their exploration. Non-walking peers may find a similar discovery path of interesting objects on the floor, each one far enough from the next to invite crawling or creeping. This type of guided play is developmentally appropriate because it addresses each child’s emerging skills and abilities while providing an overarching goal for all of the children.
Considering Power Dynamics
Between 8 and 10 months, infants’ reflexive actions transition to more goal-oriented and intentional communication (Lally & Valentine-French 2026). They begin to seek opportunities to impact and learn from their environments, including the people and things they find within them. Infants and toddlers exercise these independence-seeking behaviors when they decide what to play, who to play with, what explorations to undertake, what risks to act on, and what preferences they express. These are the “foundational experiences of agency” in early childhood (Thomson 2025).
Supporting this autonomy means “offering guidance without removing choice” (Thomson 2025). While it is sometimes necessary for adults to step in to ensure safety and to guide learning, it is equally necessary for them to know when to step back and allow children to test, explore, problem solve, make mistakes (safely), and learn from their social and physical environments. Finding the balance between action and interaction requires educators to examine how power is shared in the early education setting (Curtis et al. 2013).
Reggie and Ja’Von, 12 months old, are seated in front of a floor mirror with a selection of chunky toy cars for them to explore. They are both beginning to scoot and crawl. Their teacher, Michelle, is observing nearby. She notices that they are each holding a car, mouthing it, and occasionally rolling it on the floor.
Reggie scoots closer to Ja’Von and pulls his car away; Reggie is now holding both cars. Ja’Von looks toward Reggie, then begins to mouth his fingers. After a while, he starts to scoot toward another car.
Michelle decides to narrate what she is observing: “I see Reggie pulled the car out of your hand. Now he’s holding it. It looks like you are finding another car.” Ja’Von grabs a car and scoots back to Reggie. They continue to play.
Some early childhood educators’ first impulse might be to tell Reggie, “We have to share,” and then give the car back to Ja’Von. Yet pausing before reacting is critical: Michelle sees that Ja’Von is not distressed. She shares the power in this situation by honoring the growing relationship between these infants and recognizing that even very young children can resolve some peer differences on their own.
When children are given the opportunity to act intentionally on their environments, their learning deepens, and their confidence grows. Educators play an important role in this process by thinking through how and why they are sharing power with children (see “Adults’ Use of Power in Early Childhood Education” below). When adults are intentional about providing children with meaningful agency over their world, they help children build an early understanding of themselves as capable and contributing members of their learning communities. This is a powerful foundation that children take with them on their journey to “formal” schooling (Jones et al. 2023).
Adults’ Use of Power in Early Childhood Education
Even very young children seek, need, and deserve a sense of agency over their world. Consider the following types of power (Curtis et al. 2013), and reflect on the ones you use.
- Power on: Using adult authority to make a child comply with adult wants and demands. (“I can’t help you open your fruit cup until you sit down.”)
- Power for: Using adult authority to support a child’s learning and growth. (“I see you three are very interested in making rivers in the sandbox. What can I do to help? Would you like me to bring the hose over or get another shovel? What tools would you like to try?”)
- Power with: The adult recognizes a child’s personhood and autonomy. They use their authority to collaborate and to share power and decision making. For example, as a group of toddlers plants grass seeds, one child walks over to a cup of dried pumpkin seeds left over from a fall science activity. She takes out several. “Haven,” her teacher says, “are you wondering if the sunflower seeds will grow just like our grass seeds here? Let’s find out together! Go ahead and plant some in this cup, and we'll make a label for your experiment.”
Final Thoughts on Guided Play with Infants and Toddlers
Because children during their first three years are learning almost exclusively through play, daily routines, and everyday interactions, guided play is an important strategy for infant-toddler educators. When adults take a guiding role during play and create the social and material environments that allow for enriching, play-led learning to unfold, they support—and expand—children’s access to learning opportunities. Done well, these moments are joyful, organic, and driven by children’s curiosities and questions. As observed by Thomson (2025), this process offers adults an opportunity: “To listen deeply, to hold space with care, and to reflect often. It’s not just about letting go, it’s about holding hands while we step forward together.”
Putting These Strategies to Work
Think About It
- What was your experience of play as a child? Did adults play with children in your family and culture? What values or beliefs do you hold about playful learning that may be rooted in your own experiences?
- Notice how you feel when you pause before intervening in a peer conflict. Does this pause bring up feelings of discomfort? Why might that be?
- Think about a new skill, like pouring, that you might want to introduce to children. What playful experiences can give them opportunities to practice? How can you invite children to guide and shape this learning?
Try It
- Observe children while they are playing. Think about some questions you might ask that would invite children to explore new materials. Try some of these questions during a future play period.
- What are children interested in right now? What skills are they working hard on? How might these emerging skills and interests be used to design play-based learning experiences that align with the overarching goals you have? What form might that play-based learning take?
- Take time to play yourself. What skills are you learning or practicing? How do you feel as you play: Are you challenged, having fun, joyful? What can you take from this experience into your work with children at play?
Rocking and Rolling
Rocking and Rolling is written by infant and toddler specialists and contributed by ZERO TO THREE, a nonprofit organization working to promote the health and development of infants and toddlers by translating research and knowledge into a range of practical tools and resources for use by the adults who influence the lives of young children.
References
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Photograph: © Getty Images. Copyright © 2026 by the National Association for the Education of Young Children. See permissions and reprints online at NAEYC.org/resources/permissions.
Rebecca Parlakian, MA, EdD, is senior director of programs at ZERO TO THREE, a nonprofit focused on promoting healthy development for children from birth to 3, where she directs a portfolio of projects related to child development, parenting, and high-quality teaching and caregiving. [email protected]
Ijumaa Jordan, MA, is an early childhood education consultant with over 30 years’ experience as a classroom teacher, mentor teacher, resource and referral staff, adjunct instructor, director, and professional development provider. Her work mainly focuses on anti-racist educational practices, abolition, equitable play experience, reflective teaching and supervision, culturally relevant teaching, and developing anti-bias curriculum for young children and adults. [email protected]