Confidence & feelings
Help, please
- Builds: Asking for help
- 10 min
- Ages 1–3
- Calm
- No mess
From the house
- A clear plastic tub with a lid they can’t open yet
- A few favorite toys too big to fit through a toilet-paper roll
How to play
- Put a favorite toy in the tub, close the lid tight, and hand it to them.
- As soon as they struggle or hand it back, say “Help, please?” and open it right away.
- Name what they did: “You asked for help, and now it’s open.”
- Swap: you pretend you can’t open it, and they help you.
Fit it to your child
- Easier: Show a simple help sign (a thumbs-up fist resting on your flat palm, lifted together), and count a reach, a point or the sign as asking.
- Harder: Set up other small puzzles, like a toy on a high shelf or a sock stuck on a doorknob, so they practice the whole sentence: “Can you help me, please?”
Words to use
- help
- please
- open
- stuck
- thank you
Why it helps
Finding out that asking always works makes them braver about trying hard things, because help is one ask away.
Grown-up eyes: Use toys too big to fit through a toilet-paper roll and a plastic tub, never glass.