Provide your child with wash cloths, soap, baby doll, and a sensory bin (bowl, bath tub, sink) filled with water and let them bathe their baby doll.
Baby dolls are packed with potential for teaching children about themselves and the world around them. As they act out actions, which they have watched their parents or caregivers do with them, they are able to practice vocabulary and life skills. Pretending to care for a doll does more than just expand vocabulary. It also expands practicing good hygiene when they are cleaning the doll, nurturing skills as they take care of the doll, and giving them the power to show connection. Children learn to be responsible for the well-being of their own baby as they practice caring for it, and this lays the foundation for careful, empathetic connections when they are older. Children in an adult world can often feel small and insignificant. Doll play brings that large world down to their size, so they can have some measure of control over it. Doll Play lets children work through strong emotions, practice life skills, and gives them a venue to release their emotions in a safe way.