Kathleen Carvalho likes to dance her daughter, Kahealani, around the apartment. She shakes a toy above her head and makes the 3-month-old giggle.

"I just love her," the new mom coos. "She's really good. I'm lucky."

Actually, if you ask child play expert Stevanne "Dr. Toy" Auerbach, she'd say it's little Kahealani who's fortunate, because her mom is doing all the right things.

"The parent is the child's first big toy," says author Auerbach, who will speak at the New Baby & Kids Expo at the Blaisdell Center this weekend, discussing Top 100 toys and the importance of play. "... Play is the important work of the child, as they say in early-childhood-development circles."

Play is how children learn best, she said: "When they try to learn things rote, or through textbooks alone, it becomes a lot less exciting and they start to tune out."

But play isn't just kid stuff. Auerbach urges: "I think grandparents need to play. Executives need to play."