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As winter approaches I wanted to share some thoughts and inspiration on the different ways you can create enchantment and magic in your play.

I do believe there should be an element of beautifulness in your play. If you don't want to go and play there and learn more than neither will the children. That's why when I set areas up I like to pay attention to the details I create. Adding in mirrors for a different perspective, considering the opportunity to add light, different textures to stimulate the senses and elements of nature. I like to include open ended resources and books that allow the learning to take the direction the child desires. I put the time into creating something that will have impact on the children's learning and development. That's why I don't do reams of forward planning and masses of paperwork and instead put this time into the environment (but that's a whole different blog post!).

Now I think that it's  important to note here that the child matters! For one minu...

How do you resource opportunities for small world play? 

 As an early years teacher I would ensure I had small world opportunities in every area of provision. For instance adding small world creatures and loose parts to my malleable area and observe how children make their own props for imaginative story telling. My maths area would also offer challenges around a small world problem in KS1 provision. ‘Like the pirates have found some coins and have to make a total of 20 for Captain Blackbeard by adding coins together.’

 Here are some of my top ingredients for resources and organisation; 

• Offer small world and block play together.  
• Add collections of loose parts to encourage creativity and imaginative story telling. See right brained mom for ideas.  
• Foliage- real and artificial  
• Add a light element; projectors, light box, rope lights and fairy lights.  
• Take small world outside and use natural settings  
• Mirrors  
• Mark making equipment available  
• -eg people 
• Off
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1. Consider your culture 

• We want to make learning so irresistible that they can’t  wait to start exploring 
• these key skills. The way we set up our learning environment plays an important 
• part in this. It helps to shape the culture we are trying to promote for our children. 
• Take a look at your provision and consider the following questions; 
• Have your Literacy displays turned into wallpaper that goes unnoticed? 
• Do children often struggle to find their favourite book because you have so many 
• out? 
• Have you offered cosy spaces to sit and share books? 
• Are children having to hunt to find a pencil to write their name on their painting? 
• Do you as an adult label children’s work? 
• Are your books often shoved back into the book case and look tatty?

Consider your role when it comes to promoting Literacy skills. 

• Are your guided and focus Literacy sessions only organised inside? Perhaps giving 
• off the message that Literacy only happens inside. 
• Are childre
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