Creating A Small World - Under The Sea

It was probably 8 months ago when I was reading this post written by a friend of mine on play sets. Now, this was the first time I'd ever heard of them but I was immediately inspired by the creativity and imagination involved in putting them together. For those of you who are new to play sets too, the basic idea to create a scene or 'small world' to facilitate imaginative play and story telling. Sets range vastly from amazingly elaborate to small and minimalist, some use all natural materials like felt and wood, others are put together from found items around the home, whilst some use a mixture of natural and man made products. I went online and drooled over some of the ones for sale on Facebook and Etsy, I even splurged on one (very prematurely!) for Bean's second birthday - which is still up in the closet patiently awaiting its grand debut! But i'm artistic by nature, and so I was also motivated by the challenge of creating something myself. Of course back then Bean was still a little young for the whole idea, so I squirreled the plan away in my mind for a time when she was more ready for this type of imaginative play. And about 3 weeks ago I realized the time had come! :-D

I'm very excited, and also quite proud, to unveil my first play set making attempt - " Under The Sea"

I was surprised at how quick it was to put together, the part that took the most time was sourcing the various components.

The items included in this set are:

Blue satin fabric (Which I already had from my sewing days)
A large rock (From the garden)
Some smaller rocks (From the local park)
Pebbles (Already had from the dollar store)
Glass pebbles (Already had from the dollar store)
Shells (From my vast collection from various beaches)
Plastic sea animals (Ebay)
Aquarium Plants (Ebay)

Because I already had most of the items around the house or in storage the total cost was very low, less than $20.

Needless to say - Bean LOVES it! Waking up most mornings saying "Sea! Sea!"

Happy girl, happy mama ;-)

I'll definitely be making more of these!

B xx

Cloud Dough Sensory Tub

Today I tried my hand at making cloud dough - which is really less like a dough and more like a moldable silky sand. I actually can't believe it's taken me this long to make, because it's SO easy and a really beautiful and interesting play substance. All you need is:

• 4 cups of plain flour
• 1/2 cup of oil (vegetable or baby oil)
• 2-3 tablespoons powder paint
• Glitter (optional)

Literally all you do is put the flour, powder paint, and glitter in a mixing bowel, add the oil and use your hands to mix together until it resembles bread crumbs. Done!

It feels wonderful to touch and can be molded to shapes much like wet sand (but far nicer consistency and no way near as messy!).

Today I decided to make my fist 'Sensory Tub' for Bean, using the cloud dough as a base medium. If you haven't heard the term 'Sensory Tub' before you can read more about the concept here. Our sensory tub is just a plastic storage box at this stage (although I have plans for bigger and better things to come!), and can be filled with all sorts of different substances and items for open ended play that also stimulates the senses.

For my first try at the sensory tub idea I wanted to create a little desert type scene, so I filled my box with:

• Yellow glitter cloud dough
• Coloured plastic shot glasses
• Glass pebbles
• A variety of scoops
• Some toy animals

I also put out some different size containers and a plate for scooping/filling.

I decided the test run for this play substance would be best executed outside, as I wasn't sure how messy it might be and it just so happened to e a beautiful sunny day! It was also the first activity we've done in Bean's newly set up outdoor messy play area (which, at the moment is just a low table I found on eBay with a box full of paints, paper, brushes, chalk, etc underneath - it's a work in progress!).

The first thing Bean picked up were the animals...

...Then Lion and Tiger had a little chat...

...Next she explored the different scoops and containers...

....scooping and pouring...

....touching and tasting...

...of course some of it got poured on the ground, and that was ok (LOVING the outdoor messy area for this reason!)...

...She then decided to 'feed' some of the cloud dough to the chalk animals I had drawn for her on the ground that morning...

...It looks like very pretty pollen on the Bee...

...she also found another scooping implement to use! 

This was a really successful activity, and Bean is still totally excited about playing with it three days later. Definitely will try some more variations on the cloud dough soon...and now i've seen the sensory tub idea in action there will be MANY more to come! Oh yes! Such a simple and creative concept for open ended play, and only limited by your imagination.

B xx

Playing Grown Ups

Earlier this week whilst Bean and I made a sunny day visit to the park (http://onelittlebean1.blogspot.com.au/2012/09/here-comes-sun.html), Jake drove to a far away place to pick up a special surprise for Bean that I found for her on eBay...

A play kitchen!...

...With pots and pans...

...and wooden play food! :-)

I've been looking for one of these for ages (trying to find a wooden one at a reasonable price) and was very excited to stumble across this. I have vivid memories of playing with my own pretend kitchen as a child and how it made me feel so BIG, like I was a grown up too. In fact, as I got to thinking back I remembered that at a certain stage of my childhood "playing grown ups" was one my most frequently enjoyed games, both on my own and with friends. It's a universal truth that children learn the most from us by mimicking our behavior, that's how they learn the workings of things like relationships, roles, social situations, and how to relate to other people. It's also why when we parent with a 'do as I say, not as I do' approach, it often backfires. When my friends and I would play grown ups most of our interpretations of what it involved to be 'a grown up' were centered around performing chores such as sweeping, ironing, cooking, and taking care of our 'babies'.

These are, of course, the stereotypical roles that girls learn from their mothers. But there was also a more complex side to our play at times. For example we would act out how we thought a person would behave in order to get someone to do something for them, which generally involved using basic manipulation or bribery. Other times we might mimic a fight that we heard our parents have the night before, or a scene from an adult TV show (glimpsed surreptitiously from behind the sofa when our parents thought we were in bed).

Remembering this made me more aware of the fact that at even at 17 months old Bean is already picking up so many signals from our behavior, and particularly from how we interact with her, each other, and other people. I must admit I shudder to think what behavioral patterns of mine she might pick up in the future! But, at least being aware of the fact that it's going to happen has renewed my motivation to be the best model I can be for her. And for the moment I'll enjoy the fact that, at least for the time being, Bean's grown up play is as simple as trying to boil an orange... :-) 

B xx