“Strive to make everyday the best day of your life, because there is no good reason not to.” Hal Elrod
I have heard people say:
'Children don't need beautiful set ups in their play. This has only been created for the adult.'
My personal belief here is that like most things in life we need balance.
We need reflection.
We must go back to the child.
We can create invitations to play that pay great attention to detail because we are responding to an emerging interest and we want to captivate the child's awe and wonder even more. We want them to be excited about the possibilities of deepening this learning or fascination so we present it to them in an open ended and irresistible way.
I also know that amazing learning happens when things are a bit more rustic and even messy! Exploring the patterns the numicon plates leave in the shaving foam, the changes to the clay when it's been left outside in the rain or the cardboard box that's been transformed into Elsa's frozen castle with little more than the imagination.
Children and their learning needs can be neglected when we lose sight of...
Seeing their own reflection in a mirror is magical and wonderous for babies. Do they recognise themselves? The awe and wonder of what else is reflected in the mirror, perhaps a parent, a favourite toy and their surroundings. Taking mirrors outdoors adds another dimension such as the trees, flora and fauna, the sky and clouds are also all reflected magically in the mirror. Babies will gaze for a long time into a mirror tray for example - trying to touch what they can see.
5 reasons why mirror play is important for babies:
Add some nature to a mirror tray, or droplets of water. This encourages sensory exploration, inviting them to reach out and touch the mirror and the items. Why not put on some music and have a little dance with your baby in front of the mirror. This is a fun way to encourage movement and coordination.
Babies...
What is a tinker tray?
Tinker trays are filled with open ended loose part materials that will spark curiosity, problem solving, critical thinking and imaginative play. The objects in the tray can be used in any way the child chooses and there is no set way that they should be used. It is commonly used in the Reggio Emilia Approach to learning and can be adapted for a range of different ages and stages of development.
Materials for a tinker tray
Any tray with compartments can be used to display and store the loose parts to be used in play. I quite like using trays made out of natural materials like wood and seagrass as i always think we can display our materials in a beautiful way in these.
I love maps and have got quite a collection now at home! As a child my grandparents would also have their maps and travel guides out and I used to be fascinated in looking at them. I would love going on long car journeys and following our route on the AA road map (before the time of Sat navs) and they would always give me such a sense of excitement. These days I love using maps for planning road trips around new places or finding a new Wainwright to walk in the Lake District.
Maps are a great way of creating that sense of Wanderlust in young children and there are many ways we can support this in our homes and learning environment. Perhaps having a world map on the wall with places pinned off that have been visited by someone we know, when visiting a local park with children encourage them to use a map to discover where they would like to go, a collection of maps in a basket in a book corner along with some travel guides and postcards, a globe to explore and lastly going on an...
What is a tinker tray?
Tinker trays are filled with open ended loose part materials that will spark curiosity, problem solving, critical thinking and imaginative play. The objects in the tray can be used in any way the child chooses and there is no set way that they should be used. It is commonly used in the Reggio Emilia Approach to learning and can be adapted for a range of different ages and stages of development.
Materials for a tinker tray
Any tray with compartments can be used to display and store the loose parts to be used in play. I quite like using trays made out of natural materials like wood and seagrass as i always think we can display our materials in a beautiful way in these. Here are some ideas of what you could use or re-use:
Items ideas...
Telling stories always gives me that hygge feeling of joy and being cosy. It's also such a lovely way of celebrating coming together and sharing a love for storying!
With Easter upon us shortly it's easy to get back into the habit of dressing each area of provision for the celebration.
Instead focus on leaving a few hooks in your adult initiated sessions that will grab your children's interest and lead them curious to know more. It could be sharing an Easter story for instance and then having one or two areas of your provision with provocations in linked to this. This then invites the child to explore and learn more. It also means that children that don't want to explore this can still head into the areas of provision to develop their own lines of enquiry or take the lead on their own child led play.
Taking this approach also frees you as an adult up from spending so much time filling every area of provision with resources and instead can really prioritise your time and focus your efforts on the things that will make the biggest impact.
With this in mind I wanted to take the opportunity to share some of the provocations and...
Easter in Scandinavia is a big celebration involving get togethers and marking the start of Spring. Enjoying family time and feasts. With the warmer weather it's also a good time to take a sunrise hike up a mountain and enjoy the fantastic views.
The egg is a symbol of Easter in Norway and the traditional decorated chicken eggs have now been replaced with those filled with sweet treats. A big Easter Sunday breakfast is usually followed by an egg hunt outside.
I managed to pick up these beautiful Scandinavian metal painted eggs by Maileg. I love that these are re-fillable and also add a whimsical storytelling twist for the celebration. They can be filled with sweet treats for a fun easter egg hunt.
We also like to set up Easter Egg hunts with less sugary treats inside too! I thought you might like to see my list of ideas for the Wanderlust Child;
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