12+ months

• Introduce your child to the First Friends play set by letting the characters and bed be handled and explored independently - if required, help them to discover the moving, clicking and squeaking parts
• Encourage your child to move the characters into different positions and lie the patient on the bed
• Ask your child simple questions such as 'can you make the head move?'
• Encourage your child to talk about his/her new friends - eg. what is wrong with the little boy?
• Encourage independent play time



18+ months

• Encourage your child to explore the characters independently and discover which features move and make a sound - if necessary point out all the moving, clicking and squeaking parts.
• Talk about the characters - what does a nurse do? where might you find one? what might be the matter with the little boy?
• Introduce simple vocabulary to younger children such as ‘sick’, ‘injured’, ‘hospital’, ‘doctor’, ‘help’, ‘kind’ etc
• Talk with your child about the characters - encourage your child to assign personalities to the nurse and her patient by asking questions about them
• Encourage lots of pretend play with the characters. You may like to bring in other First Friends characters to help create more elaborate scenes. Help to devise scenarios if necessary but also let your child take the lead with their ideas as much as possible.

Write a review