Creative Play at Home: Independent Play at Home

Every child learns through play, and babies and toddlers thrive when they have safe, engaging spaces to explore. This workshop will support families to create environments at home that spark curiosity, encourage independent play, and promote healthy physical and cognitive development.

You will learn practical strategies to make play easy, fun, and realistic for busy families, including:

• How to set up safe and interesting play spaces that keep children engaged for longer periods
• Affordable and accessible resources that encourage creativity, movement and exploration
• Ways to support your child’s physical development while allowing them to play independently
• Tips to follow your child’s interests and allow their learning to unfold naturally over time
• Strategies to manage daily household tasks while your child plays and learns
• Simple ideas to make everyday items into stimulating play experiences

This session will help you feel confident in supporting your child’s learning at home, while creating space for both play and the practical demands of family life.

Dr Katherine Bussey is an infant and toddler specialist, lecturer, and Pikler® Pedagogue originally from Aotearoa New Zealand, living in Melbourne, Australia.

Katherine is a strong advocate for infants and toddlers, having spent the last 24 years actively engaging in international infant and toddler professional learning and developing practice in early childhood education based on the Pikler® approach.

Katherine mentors, consults and provides professional learning and development to educators and infant and toddler teams by helping them engage in inspiring critical reflection, learning and growth.