Den Building....

One day last week, we started the morning off with an invitation to explore some of out outdoor equipment by placing a sheet over the top.

 This led to many a discussion about whether it was a castle or stables. The children settled on it being a castle for horses...perfect solution...! The same group of children then asked for more material and started exploring the boxes we had been saving up that were stacked in the playground.

 This little den got a sheet over the top and was a great 'hidey' hole for the morning session...until the strong wind kept blowing it apart....no amount of stones or securing seemed to help....! Was a good learning experience for the children though - they tried balancing boxes in all different directions and on different surfaces to see if it helped...the wind was just too strong on that day though!

At the weekend, I discovered this fab construction material (Crazy Forts), which the children have spent the last two days exploring and building with. The first day required lots of adult help, but today, two children were able to build a den for themselves almost unaided - great cooperation and fine motor skills!!

This 'house' is on fire so we are very lucky that our Fireman is already on hand and dealing with the situation, walkie talkie in hand... :-)

Homemade Dancing Rings!

Have you seen those beautiful ribbon rings that you can buy? Gorgeous but on the pricey side....

Soooo....we had a go at making our own today! They definitely will not last as long but we had a blast making them and even more fun using them outside - running with them, throwing them like parachutes, playing tag with them etc etc!!!

We used some plastic wheels from our DT area that had been around for a while and threaded them with thin ribbon before setting them out for the kids to experiment threading with....

It was also great for fine motor practice - we encouraged the children to have a go at tying their own strips of crepe paper - and they were so proud of themselves when they achieved it!

Inspiring small world play environments

We love making small world environments for the children to explore. The children love them even more, adding and changing them throughout the day (often coming up with much better ideas than us lol!)  :-D Here are a few individual ones we have made, all to fit in with our current topic, Under the sea!

Creative woodwork - using real tools :-)

Empowering children with the right knowledge to allow them to use their creativity to the max. These 3-5 year olds were shown how to use the tools correctly, given appropriate safety gear to allow them to have a go and were absolutely over the moon with their creations and the results! One girl made a house for her dolls, others made a photo frame for their favourite painting and abstract sculptures. Some just enjoyed the process of cutting and/or gluing and made nothing in particular but gained valuable skills, having fun in the process. Love it!

Fairy Chairs

One Inch World - Fairy Chairs

These gorgeous chairs were made by One Inch World

Aren’t they fantastic? I want to have a go….next stop, forest! :-)