Tons of messy play ideas for every season and a variety of holidays, as well as messy play FAQ and materials to get started.
Small world play fuels the imagination. For both children, and parents. When I start to think about a world I want to create for Q I start by asking myself these questions, what inspires me, what brings me joy, and what can I share with Q? This post I dive deep into small world play,Continue reading "20 Amazing and Fun Small World Play Ideas"View post to subscribe to site newsletter.
Small world play fuels the imagination. For both children, and parents. When I start to think about a world I want to create for Q I start by asking myself these questions, what inspires me, what brings me joy, and what can I share with Q? This post I dive deep into small world play,Continue reading "20 Amazing and Fun Small World Play Ideas"View post to subscribe to site newsletter.
Mum's Memory Box have put together this all Natural Tinker Tray set. Loose parts play with natural materials is a great way for children to learn about the world around them. They can discover and explore the different textures and imprints they make on play dough as well as using the items for small world play and tinkering! The items can be used for making patterns and mandalas for mindful, open ended play. Using the Tinker Tray set as part of heuristic play has many benefits, including stimulating a child's imagination and creativity, building gross motor skills and providing a wonderful sensory experience. Whats included - -Cinnamon Sticks -Dried Fruit Slices -Pine Cone -Star Anise -Acorn -Dried Black Turtle Beans -Dried Butter Beans -Dried Pinto Beans -Dried Cannellini Beans -Branded Cotton Muslin Drawstring Bag - Optional to add our Natural Sensory Sand Play Dough (made using real sand) WARNING ⚠ Not suitable for children under 3 years as small parts can cause a choking hazard. Supervise during use at all times. This item contains all natural parts and is not meant for consumption. If you have a custom request please message us ☺️
Set up an easy, mess-free ice cream parlor dramatic play for toddlers using common household items. Teach colors, counting, and work on fine motor skills.
Laura @inspiremyplay Founder of @inspiremyplay, Early Years teacher for 11 years and mummy to three gorgeous girls. I'm passionate about about the benefits of play in early childhood. This post may contain affiliate links. This means that if you click on a link and go on to make a purchase, I may receive a small commission (at no additional cost to you). Please read my disclosure policy for more details. Today I'm talking small world sensory bases! Basically that's the stuff you create your small world on! Whether you're setting up a farm, seashore or dinosaur land there are so many great options to bring small world play to life and ignite children's senses at the same time! I share some of our favourites here. There are numerous benefits to small world play. Nurturing imagination, exploring new materials, acting out scenarios from real life, building language and developing social skills are just some that come to mind! In my previous post in the Resources for Play series I talked about some of the key resources needed to set up small worlds. Today I wanted to give you some inspiration of the types of sensory bases that you can use alongside these to set up amazing small worlds! Some of the sensory bases I've included are edible or taste safe, which are perfect for little ones who are still mouthing. Others are brilliant quick fixes on those days when you haven't got a lot of time to set something up. And there are several options that offer amazing sensory experiences, but are on the messier side! Whatever you're looking for I hope it sparks some ideas and encourages you to incorporate more small world play into your day! Wherever relevant I've included recipes so you can try it out for yourself. You can find links to all of the supplies mentioned in this post via the buttons below. Buy Sensory Play Supplies (Amazon US) Buy Sensory Play Supplies (Amazon UK) 1. Water Nothing beats play involving water! It takes minutes to set up and is guaranteed to keep little one's entertained. We often add blue food colouring to our water to enhance the look. Plastic animals, sea creatures, shells and pebbles are great additions to these play set ups. Buy Small World Play Supplies (Amazon US) Buy Small World Play Supplies (Amazon UK) Freezing water is another option and great for setting up polar small worlds. Or make an ice rink like we did for these penguins! 2. Bubble Foam As an alternative to water why not make up some bubble foam? It's great fun and makes a wonderful base for some ocean play. To make bubble foam put 1 part tear free bubble bath (or washing up liquid) to 2 parts water into a bowl. We usually do 1/2 cup of bubble bath and 1 cup of water at a time. If you'd like to colour your bubble foam add a little food colouring at this stage. Mix it up using an electric hand mixer until you start to get stiff peaks and then scoop it out into a tray for play. We usually make 3 or 4 batches of different colours to fill a tray. Get your FREE ebook For more simple DIY recipes & ideas for sensory play at home download your Beginner's Guide to Sensory Play by subscribing to Inspire My Play today. Get Yours Now 3. Play Dough It's no secret that we absolutely love play dough set ups in our house. I can't think of a more versatile resource! It also makes a great base for children to make their own small worlds. Homemade play dough takes a matter of minutes to make and you can easily change the colour to suit your small world theme! You can find our play dough recipe on this post 4. Sand Sand is great to incorporate into small world set ups. I especially like using kinetic sand because you can mould it and shape it easily without needing to get it wet. Because kinetic sand clumps together it also tends to create less mess than real sand! 5. Soil, Mud & Grass Small world play doesn't need to be indoors! You have a whole host of ready made sensory bases in your garden! A flowerbed, plant pot, pile of stones, collection of bark or garden lawn are great places for small world play. You could also collect up a selection of these resources and set them up in a tray inside. For indoor play a length of artificial grass is an easy option to have at your finger tips! We have a roll of artificial grass under our sofa, which gets used with our train track, building blocks and all sorts of small world set ups. 6. Cloud Dough This is one of the messier bases on this list but is such a great, sensory experience! Cloud dough is powdery but can also be moulded into shapes. It keeps for up to 6 months when stored in an air tight container, which means you can get lots of use out of the same batch. To make basic cloud dough simply combine 4 cups of flour with 1/2 cup of oil. If you're intending to use the cloud dough with a child who is still mouthing, cook the flour on a baking tray first at a temperature of 160F/70C for 5 minutes, in order to ensure any bacteria is killed. You can make brown or 'soil' cloud dough by substituting one cup of flour for a cup of cocoa powder. This is one of our favourite ways to use cloud dough! For some really messy play you can turn soil cloud dough into mud by adding a few spoonfuls of water, like we did for this farm small world above. Cloud dough can also be coloured by adding powder paint or grated chalk to the mixture, but be aware that this won't be taste-safe. To make this space scene I grated some charcoal into the flour and oil mixture. I also added a bit of bio glitter to give it a sparkle! 7. Artificial Snow It's not often that we get a chance to play in real snow in the South of England so I love to use it as a base for small world set ups. The quickest and easiest method is to buy some instant snow. Instant snow comes as a powder and all you need to do is add a bit of water and it expands in size. It's great fun and a good one to have in the cupboard for small world and sensory play. If you have time for a bit of DIY you can also make your own artificial snow. To make ours we used 4 cups of shaving foam mixed with 4 cups of cornflour (cornstartch). This should make a powdery snow that's also mouldable- a bit like cloud dough. It's not an exact art so just keep adding a bit more shaving foam until you get the desired consistency. 8. Rice Coloured rice is such a fun base for sensory play but it can also be used very effectively in small world play. Green rice works especially well as grass or use brown rice to emulate soil. Learn how to colour rice on this post here. 9. Spaghetti I just love the colours in this spaghetti ocean! And spaghetti is a great way of adding an interesting sensory element to small world play. To colour spaghetti simply cook the spaghetti as usual and then add a few drops of food colouring. Use tongs to toss the spaghetti in the food colouring and then remove any excess by rinsing the spaghetti. To make this spaghetti ocean I divided the spaghetti up and coloured some green and some blue. 10. Cereals If you're looking to set up small worlds for a toddler, sensory bases made of cereal are a great place to start. Because these are edible you can be confident that little ones can play safely and it won't matter if they have a little nibble too! Crushed up shreaded wheat, cornflakes or porridge oats all work really well. We love this type of base for farmyard play, diggers or a dinosaur themed set up. Looking for resources to pair with your small world bases? Do check out our post on the best resources for small world play.
Easy Play Dough Activities
Laura @inspiremyplay Founder of @inspiremyplay, Early Years teacher for 11 years and mummy to three gorgeous girls. I'm passionate about about the benefits of play in early childhood. This post may contain affiliate links. This means that if you click on a link and go on to make a purchase, I may receive a small commission (at no additional cost to you). Please read my disclosure policy for more details. Today I'm talking small world sensory bases! Basically that's the stuff you create your small world on! Whether you're setting up a farm, seashore or dinosaur land there are so many great options to bring small world play to life and ignite children's senses at the same time! I share some of our favourites here. There are numerous benefits to small world play. Nurturing imagination, exploring new materials, acting out scenarios from real life, building language and developing social skills are just some that come to mind! In my previous post in the Resources for Play series I talked about some of the key resources needed to set up small worlds. Today I wanted to give you some inspiration of the types of sensory bases that you can use alongside these to set up amazing small worlds! Some of the sensory bases I've included are edible or taste safe, which are perfect for little ones who are still mouthing. Others are brilliant quick fixes on those days when you haven't got a lot of time to set something up. And there are several options that offer amazing sensory experiences, but are on the messier side! Whatever you're looking for I hope it sparks some ideas and encourages you to incorporate more small world play into your day! Wherever relevant I've included recipes so you can try it out for yourself. You can find links to all of the supplies mentioned in this post via the buttons below. Buy Sensory Play Supplies (Amazon US) Buy Sensory Play Supplies (Amazon UK) 1. Water Nothing beats play involving water! It takes minutes to set up and is guaranteed to keep little one's entertained. We often add blue food colouring to our water to enhance the look. Plastic animals, sea creatures, shells and pebbles are great additions to these play set ups. Buy Small World Play Supplies (Amazon US) Buy Small World Play Supplies (Amazon UK) Freezing water is another option and great for setting up polar small worlds. Or make an ice rink like we did for these penguins! 2. Bubble Foam As an alternative to water why not make up some bubble foam? It's great fun and makes a wonderful base for some ocean play. To make bubble foam put 1 part tear free bubble bath (or washing up liquid) to 2 parts water into a bowl. We usually do 1/2 cup of bubble bath and 1 cup of water at a time. If you'd like to colour your bubble foam add a little food colouring at this stage. Mix it up using an electric hand mixer until you start to get stiff peaks and then scoop it out into a tray for play. We usually make 3 or 4 batches of different colours to fill a tray. Get your FREE ebook For more simple DIY recipes & ideas for sensory play at home download your Beginner's Guide to Sensory Play by subscribing to Inspire My Play today. Get Yours Now 3. Play Dough It's no secret that we absolutely love play dough set ups in our house. I can't think of a more versatile resource! It also makes a great base for children to make their own small worlds. Homemade play dough takes a matter of minutes to make and you can easily change the colour to suit your small world theme! You can find our play dough recipe on this post 4. Sand Sand is great to incorporate into small world set ups. I especially like using kinetic sand because you can mould it and shape it easily without needing to get it wet. Because kinetic sand clumps together it also tends to create less mess than real sand! 5. Soil, Mud & Grass Small world play doesn't need to be indoors! You have a whole host of ready made sensory bases in your garden! A flowerbed, plant pot, pile of stones, collection of bark or garden lawn are great places for small world play. You could also collect up a selection of these resources and set them up in a tray inside. For indoor play a length of artificial grass is an easy option to have at your finger tips! We have a roll of artificial grass under our sofa, which gets used with our train track, building blocks and all sorts of small world set ups. 6. Cloud Dough This is one of the messier bases on this list but is such a great, sensory experience! Cloud dough is powdery but can also be moulded into shapes. It keeps for up to 6 months when stored in an air tight container, which means you can get lots of use out of the same batch. To make basic cloud dough simply combine 4 cups of flour with 1/2 cup of oil. If you're intending to use the cloud dough with a child who is still mouthing, cook the flour on a baking tray first at a temperature of 160F/70C for 5 minutes, in order to ensure any bacteria is killed. You can make brown or 'soil' cloud dough by substituting one cup of flour for a cup of cocoa powder. This is one of our favourite ways to use cloud dough! For some really messy play you can turn soil cloud dough into mud by adding a few spoonfuls of water, like we did for this farm small world above. Cloud dough can also be coloured by adding powder paint or grated chalk to the mixture, but be aware that this won't be taste-safe. To make this space scene I grated some charcoal into the flour and oil mixture. I also added a bit of bio glitter to give it a sparkle! 7. Artificial Snow It's not often that we get a chance to play in real snow in the South of England so I love to use it as a base for small world set ups. The quickest and easiest method is to buy some instant snow. Instant snow comes as a powder and all you need to do is add a bit of water and it expands in size. It's great fun and a good one to have in the cupboard for small world and sensory play. If you have time for a bit of DIY you can also make your own artificial snow. To make ours we used 4 cups of shaving foam mixed with 4 cups of cornflour (cornstartch). This should make a powdery snow that's also mouldable- a bit like cloud dough. It's not an exact art so just keep adding a bit more shaving foam until you get the desired consistency. 8. Rice Coloured rice is such a fun base for sensory play but it can also be used very effectively in small world play. Green rice works especially well as grass or use brown rice to emulate soil. Learn how to colour rice on this post here. 9. Spaghetti I just love the colours in this spaghetti ocean! And spaghetti is a great way of adding an interesting sensory element to small world play. To colour spaghetti simply cook the spaghetti as usual and then add a few drops of food colouring. Use tongs to toss the spaghetti in the food colouring and then remove any excess by rinsing the spaghetti. To make this spaghetti ocean I divided the spaghetti up and coloured some green and some blue. 10. Cereals If you're looking to set up small worlds for a toddler, sensory bases made of cereal are a great place to start. Because these are edible you can be confident that little ones can play safely and it won't matter if they have a little nibble too! Crushed up shreaded wheat, cornflakes or porridge oats all work really well. We love this type of base for farmyard play, diggers or a dinosaur themed set up. Looking for resources to pair with your small world bases? Do check out our post on the best resources for small world play.
My children LOVE this! The cutest 2 in 1 ice cream counting and color matching hair gel sensory bag. This makes a great travel activity too!
Set up a rolling pin activity for your preschooler for a fun sensory experience. Watch and listen as the crackers crumble and the cereals crunch!
If you want to add more opportunities for nature play to your early learning environments, start with these simple ideas from educators!
Laura @inspiremyplay Founder of @inspiremyplay, Early Years teacher for 11 years and mummy to three gorgeous girls. I'm passionate about about the benefits of play in early childhood. This post may contain affiliate links. This means that if you click on a link and go on to make a purchase, I may receive a small commission (at no additional cost to you). Please read my disclosure policy for more details. Ocean themed activities seem to be a big hit in our house! I realised the other day just how many ocean and beach themed activities I've shared on Instagram over the past 18 months and thought it would be great to collate them all in one place to share with you. Many are sensory play based, with a few STEM activities and art & craft thrown in too. I hope you find some inspiration! Spaghetti Ocean We love a bit of spaghetti play! It's such a fun sensory experience and makes a brilliant ocean/seaweed base to play alongside ocean animals. To make coloured spaghetti cook it according to the packet instructions (or use leftover spaghetti). Add a few drops of food colouring and use tongs to toss the spaghetti in the food colouring. Once it has soaked for a few minutes, remove any excess food colouring by rinsing it under water. To make this ocean I divided the spaghetti into two and coloured one half green and one half blue. Ocean & Beach Clean-up Explore the problem of ocean pollution with kids in a hands-on way! I allowed the girls to have fun playing with a lovely clean beach before I sent them away for a few minutes and added the rubbish. They were shocked and saddened by the mess! It was a really powerful way to highlight the issue. The girls then used their fine motor tools to remove the rubbish and restore the beach. Sticky Fish We love the possibilities of sticky back plastic (otherwise known as contact paper)! For this activity cut out a fish shape from cardboard and add a piece of sticky back plastic to the back so that the sticky side is facing upwards. Draw lines over the fish and provide pom-poms or other craft materials to decorate. This activity is great for fine motor skills and can be used many times over as the pom-poms come off easily and can be re-stuck. Jelly Ocean Jelly is a great sensory play option for little ones who are still mouthing. I found this blue jelly in the supermarket, but if you can't find some you could use a packet of gelatine with some blue food colouring. Add the sea creatures before leaving the jelly to set. Then provide spoons and other tools so that the kids can enjoy digging them out and 'rescuing them' from the jelly. View this post on Instagram A post shared by Laura | Inspire My Play ® (@inspiremyplay) Under the Sea Salt Painting We love salt painting! It is such a fun and effective art technique that just uses salt, glue and watercolours. You can learn about the whole process on this Instagram post. View this post on Instagram A post shared by Laura | Inspire My Play ® (@inspiremyplay) Shaving Foam Ocean I made this Arctic Ocean using shaving foam with a few drops of food colouring swirled in. To make the ice I used freezer frost! But if you're better than me at keeping your freezer in check you could use blocks of ice frozen in packaging or bits of polystyrene. Layers of the Ocean This liquid density activity is a brilliant way of exploring the layers or 'zones' of the ocean and uses everyday liquids that you should be able to find at home. Find out all the details on this Instagram post. Rock Pool Play Tray We may not be able to go to the beach at the moment but you can bring the beach to the kids by creating your very own rock pool! Set it up in a large tray or tub so they can get their feet in and get the whole experience! Salt Water Habitat Sort Explore where different sealife come from with this mini habitat sort. I chose a coral reef, open ocean, rockpool, polar ocean and mangrove for my habitats. The girls sorted the sealife into the right habitat and we discussed a few that you might find in different places. Then they had a lovely time playing with the small worlds afterwards. Frozen Aquarium The girls loved rescuing the sealife out of our frozen aquarium on a hot day last summer. I gave them bottles of warm water and tools to chip away at the ice. Find all the details about how I froze it in layers on this Instagram post. Bubble Foam Ocean We love bubble Foam! It's a great enhancement to water play and quick to set up. To make bubble foam put 1 part tear free bubble bath (or washing up liquid) to 2 parts water into a bowl. We usually do 1/2 cup of bubble bath and 1 cup of water at a time. If you'd like to colour your bubble foam add a little food colouring at this stage. Mix it up using an electric hand mixer until you start to get stiff peaks and then scoop it out into a tray for play. We usually make 3 or 4 batches of different colours to fill a tray. View this post on Instagram A post shared by Laura | Inspire My Play ® (@inspiremyplay) Get your FREE ebook For more simple DIY recipes & ideas for sensory play at home download your Beginner's Guide to Sensory Play by subscribing to Inspire My Play today. Get Yours Now Fizzy Ocean Have you tried mixing bicarbonate of soda (baking soda) with vinegar before? It makes an exciting fizzy reaction that little ones just love! To make a fizzy ocean lay out a thin layer of bicarbonate of soda onto a tray and add in some sealife figures and shells. Then fill a couple of dishes with white vinegar and add a few drops of colouring to make one blue and one green-blue. Provide pipettes or droppers for children to transfer the vinegar to the play tray. As they squeeze it into the tray it will react with the bicarbonate of soda and create a fantastic fizzy, foamy ocean. Once the girls had finished creating their ocean I then provided them with a bowl of water and they had fun cleaning up the animals. Sand Play Dough This may be slightly off the ocean theme but sand play dough is great stuff and I had to share it! Sand play dough has a really unique texture to it and perfect for at-home beach play. Add some shells and loose parts for them to make their own pictures in the dough. You can find my sand play dough recipe on this blog post. For more beach and ocean themed activities do check out my pinterest topic board here. You can find a full list of our favourite play & craft supplies on my Amazon storefronts. Amazon UK Supplies Amazon US Supplies
A Very Simple Catapult to Make With Kids: The idea for this catapult design came from my six-year-old and we had a lot of fun with it. When I looked around online, I saw a huge variety of catapults, but was surprised that I didn't see this one. I like this because: a) It's easy to build, ev…
Make your own playdough stamps using a glue gun and recyclables. So easy and so many learning opportunities!
We've been always admiring the rustic look of Waldorf building blocks, and here is my DIY tutorial on how to build a set of nature blocks for your children.
With Farm STEM Activities, kids will have the opportunity to connect with their rural surroundings and appreciate the beauty of the farm.
Homemade Play Dough is super easy to make and better than anything you can buy. It’s the perfect activity to do with your kids at home! One of the greatest gifts I was given when I married my husband was an amazing mother-in-law. She’s sweet, easy-going AND a pre-school teacher. Talk about a trifecta! She always…
Get those little hands busy with over 50+ creative crafts that will help their development and pass some time instead of watching tv or playing gadgets.
Cardboard Stackers Isn’t it great to make wonderful play things with stuff you have around the house? Isn’t that what they used to do for toys? These cardboard stackers are both fun to make and play with afterward. What is great about today’s project is that you have an activity to do with your kids...Read More
Sensory bin maken; van sensory speelbak tot sensory play tafel voor baby, dreumes, peuters en kleuters
Celebrate summer with watermelon, lime, orange, and coconut scented homemade play dough! Sensory play that suits the season is so much fun for young kids and creates such happy memories. I made each scent using my favorite homemade play dough recipe. The watermelon is scented with Kool-Aid, and the others are scented with extracts that […]
Hello! Here is the list of 22 activities with supply links from the Fairy Dust Teaching Summer 2019 conference: Click here for the printable version! Since I use tempera paint in so many of these
HOMEMADE PLAYDOUGH STICK STRUCTURES
Spielgaben is a wonderful educational toy that grows with your child!
Childrens Natural Building Block Set This natural building block set comes in a rustic box, great for storage. Variation of wooden discs, sticks, doors and windows, ideal for construction Disc Sizes: L4.5 - 15cm Wooden Log: 6 - 18cm Comes in a box. Pack of 90. Rec. 3+ Years. Natural wood may split, bark will peel. Customer Note: This is a natural product and may vary in colour and texture.
Enhance your child's cognitive and emotional development with our Kids Face Change Expression Puzzle Montessori Toy. This innovative and educational toy allows children to build and switch between different facial expressions, promoting empathy and creativity. Perfect for imaginative play and interactive learning. Discover endless learning and fun with the Kids Face Change Expression Puzzle Montessori Toy! This educational toy promotes cognitive and fine motor skills as children explore different emotions and build their own expressions. With high-quality, durable building blocks, this toy is sure to provide hours of entertainment for your child.
This exhibition design and identity comes from Italy-based Mathery Studio and was created as part of the Hangzhou International Design Week in China. An interactive space for kids set up in a shopping mall, Tubo is made up of a series of white-framed, food-shaped structures and surrounded by perforated walls.
Our favourite open-ended toys for when you're on a budget. Prepare your children for hours of creative, independent play with these affordable materials!
Learn how to make play mud! This is a perfect sensory play activity for kids. This is a simple play mud recipe.
Play, learn, eat, repeat.
If you have a cardboard box hoarding problem, consider turning them into one of these kid-friendly toys. Cardboard is an incredibly versatile material and is safe for kids to play with. Furthermore, DIY cardboard toys are cheap, creative, and often easier to make than you might think. Let’s check out some of the toys you […]
Laura @inspiremyplay Founder of @inspiremyplay, Early Years teacher for 11 years and mummy to three gorgeous girls. I'm passionate about about the benefits of play in early childhood. This post may contain affiliate links. This means that if you click on a link and go on to make a purchase, I may receive a small commission (at no additional cost to you). Please read my disclosure policy for more details. Engaging in small world play is so important for children. Not only does it nurture their imagination, it also enables them to explore new materials, act out scenarios from real life, build language, practice social skills and gain an understanding of the world around them. In the first of our Resources for Play series I share 10 of my favourite small world toys and resources. I love setting up small worlds for my children and I'm constantly inspired by the most amazing set-ups that I see on Instagram. The list of toys and resources you could buy to re-create them are endless. However most people's storage spaces and bank accounts are not! So I hope that this list, and indeed the whole of my Resources for Play series, will help you prioritise a few key resources that can be used in multiple set-ups and activities. It's worth remembering too that children need very little in order to engage in small world play- a little imagination goes a long way! The ultimate goal is to equip our children to play independently, so many of my recommended resources are chosen with creative, self-directed play in mind. Buy Small World Toys (Amazon US) Buy Small World Toys (Amazon UK) 1. Animals Our collection of animals and dinosaurs get used most days. They are the perfect accompaniment to open-ended play and encourage all sorts of small world play scenarios. We use them a lot in small world set ups but they are also used equally in self-directed play. I always recommend Schleich animals as I find them the best quality and most realistic-looking. I've tried many other cheaper brands over the years but none of them have matched up to Schleich. We've built up our collection over time and I always keep an eye on Amazon for good deals! Get your FREE ebook For more simple DIY recipes & ideas for sensory play at home download your Beginner's Guide to Sensory Play by subscribing to Inspire My Play today. Get Yours Now As well as our larger Schleich animals I also find it useful to have a selection of smaller minibeasts and sea creatures for small world and sensory play. Safari and Wild Republic are two brands that make some great sets that I would recommend. Safari also have a range of miniature figures in their 'toobs' collection, which cover a whole array of interests and topics. We have a few of their sets- the space toob is one of our favourite. 2. Peg People It's difficult to find good quality people figures for small world play so I prefer to use peg people most of the time. You can buy plain wooden peg people really cheaply online and paint them yourself. On the whole I tend to keep my peg people simple so that to a child they can be anything (firefighter, nurse, astronaut etc...). I painted these in rainbow colours using acrylic paint and they've lasted really well. Buy Peg People (Amazon UK) Buy Peg People (Amazon US) If you're feeling up for more of a challenge you could try painting more details on like I did for these Frozen peg dolls. Again I painted these using acrylic paints and then acrylic paint pens for the detail. If DIY isn't for you there are a couple of wooden toy brands who do great sets of peg people, like these ones. 3. Artificial Grass There's something about artificial grass that just brings small world play to life! We have a large piece rolled up under our sofa and a smaller piece that I cut up to fit into one our circular trays. It's great to use with train-track, building blocks or for farmyard play. If you think you would find it difficult to store a roll of this some green play scarfs make a brilliant base for small worlds and fold up really small. You can also use blue ones for water. 4. Roads & Railway Track Road or rail tape is great to have to hand when setting up small worlds. It's relatively inexpensive and also great to take away if you're travelling. Another option is to invest in some Way To Play rubber roads. These are brilliant for larger set ups and for using with sand and other sensory play. We also find our railway track gets incorporated into a lot of small world play. 5. Vehicles It's always useful to have a stash of vehicles for small world play. Below I have included links to some of our favourite sets. 6. Glass pebbles I find myself using these glass pebbles in lots of small world set ups. They come in a range of colours but the blues & clear set I find most useful. We use ours as sea, rivers or in some icy/ snowy set ups. I also get a lot of use out of them as a loose part for number and pattern activities. These glass pebbles need to be used with supervision as they could be a choking hazard. 7. Trees & Greenery There are so many options for trees in small world play. We have several sisal trees that come with a wooden base. They look fairly realistic and we use them a lot. Other options include buying a set of DIY wooden trees that you can either paint yourself or leave natural. If you have a bigger budget there are also some gorgeous wooden tree sets by the brands Blacks Toys and Reduga Grez 8. Log Slices This is another simple resource that I find myself using again and again. I bought these log slices in two sizes- 5-6cm and 11-12cm. 9. Shells & Pebbles Shells and pebbles are so useful for beach, river and pond small worlds. Our pebbles get used for lots of other set-ups too. Most of them I've collected ourselves but we don't get particularly exotic sea-shells locally so I've supplemented our collection with an excellent pack from Amazon. 10. Building Blocks A good set of building blocks are just so useful for open-ended small world play. We made our own set of pyramid building blocks. You can read about it on this post. I also find our DIY wooden houses get a lot of love. You can find the tutorial here. Organising Our Small World Resources There are some small world resources that my kids have access to all the time, others that are rotated into our play space and a selection of resources that I usually hold back for small world play that I set-up. Animals, peg people, a few vehicles and building blocks are all kept out permanently. They are used most days, one way or another, and are key to so much of my girls' imaginative play. There are other small world toys that we rotate in and out of our play space such as the train track, tree house and doll's house, depending on their current interests. The log slices, shells, pebbles and other natural materials are usually kept stored in my small world resources box and brought out for specific set-ups. They occasionally get rotated onto the play shelves to use in their own small world play set-ups, but this hasn't been possible recently because many of them aren't appropriate for my almost-2 year old to play with without direct supervision. If you'd like to learn more about setting up a playroom or play space check out this article from Porch.com: Expert Advice to Design the Ultimate Kids Playroom at Home I hope you've found this post useful! If you have, please do pin it for later reference. To be the first to hear of the next post in our Resources for Play series you can subscribe to our blog updates on this page.
Geometric shapes - the love of my life! While playing around with some basic shapes this week, I stumbled upon the idea for this hip (and incredibly simple!) DIY cardboard shape puzzle. Wooden board puzzles
Sort coloured pom poms into matching rainbow coloured egg cartons! Fine motor skills, colour recognition & early sorting for toddlers & preschoolers
Qtoys Tree construction set 40 pcs will allow young children to spend countless hours enjoying manipulating, connecting, and building. Children can expand their imaginations and creativity, and use new ideas to build a project from start to finish. An adorable tree construction set made from natural wood. Contains 40 pcs Great for open ended play Improves visual perception and exercises memory Enables creativity and the ability to solve problems Further Info on Qtoys Tree Construction Set 40 pcs Made by Qtoys Australia from sustainable timber and non toxic materials Perfect for early learning centers, therapy rooms, Montessori centers, Steiner centers and natural play educators For more information check us out on https://www.qtoysusa.com/ https://www.instagram.com/qtoys_us/ https://www.facebook.com/qtoysus http://www.youtube.com/@qtoysglobal
Get those little hands busy with over 50+ creative crafts that will help their development and pass some time instead of watching tv or playing gadgets.
Easy Play Dough Activities
