Dinosaur Wash

I love it when Bean and I come up with a completely spontaneous activity together.  It can be something so simple but there is such a joy that shines when children invent their own activities that it often absorbs them more completely than any pre-planned ideas you the adult might have had. Bean is seriously into Dinosaurs, and also LOVES any kind of water play. One afternoon whilst we were telling a story with her dinosaur play set, the dinosaurs had been "jumping in muddy puddles" and Bean decided they all needed a bath...So we set up a Dino-Wash!

The key here was allowing Bean to take the lead in initiating and setting up the activity, helping her find something to use as a bath, giving her a plastic jug and step up to the tap so she could fill the bath herself, getting her to squirt in some bubble bath, and going on a hunt around the house to find various scrubbers and sponges we could use for washing.

I find these days that the process of setting up the play area (whatever it is she might want to do) is as important as the play itself for Bean. I also find if she's actively involved in setting up she readily helps with putting away once the activity is over.

With a squirt of bubbles and some warm water away she went giving her dinosaurs a thorough clean! 

Of course a LOT of water ended up on the floor, which is why I chose to do this in the bathroom with some towels down. 

It was simple clean fun, good for sensory, motor, and role play, and it doesn't have to be dinosaurs of course...plastic animals, dolls, little people, my little ponies, or even give them some plastic plates and cutlery for 'washing up'. Every kid likes bubbles and water so you can't really go wrong!

Happy playing!

Dinosaur Jungle

We've had a wooden box full of dirt sitting in the corner of our patio play area for months now, and every so often I look at it and think "I must do something with that...". Sometimes it's just been used for digging for bugs or the occasional mud pie, but mostly it's just sat there looking a rather shabby...until now!

I've been seeing a lots of ideas for outside small worlds on Pinterest lately (yes, I do ocassionally get lost in Pinterest land) and also wanting to find a more permanent home for Beans dinosaurs, so one sunny afternoon we turned our box of dirt into a Dinosaur Jungle! 

Together Bean and I gathered small branches from bushes and trees around the garden and pushed them into the dirt to make trees for the jungle.

Bean found a big rock, some flowers, leaves, and bugs for the dinosaurs to eat...yum! ;-)

It's turned into a peaceful little place for her to play and story tell, and has got me thinking about some more small worlds we could create outside for summer...

Happy Playing!