Cardboard Creations

Our children are so creative! We placed a number of large pieces of cardboard for use during outdoor play and were amazed at the inventive ways the children used them!

The cardboard became....

...a large hat!

...a bed for sleeping!

...a superhero cape!

...a walking stick!

...a baby cradled in her Mother's arms!

...a bed!

...a pair of binoculars!

...a magnifying glass!

How many things would you turn the cardboard into?

Fairy Playscape

I've been trying to get rid of a lot of our overly commercial toys the last several months. We have a plastic dollhouse that the kids haven't been very interested in. 

I have been thinking of a way to update it because I like how open and empty the dollhouse is. There is a lot of potential for creative play because there isn't much prescribed within the body of the house. After some thought I turned the house into a fairy house using natural materials like shells, rocks, and moss.

It took a very long time to hot glue the materials on the dollhouse, but the result was worth it! My daughter was thrilled when she saw it!

I was eager to capitalize on this interest, so I added a few props to enhance the play (fake grass, fabric flowers, large shells) and turned our sensory table into a fairy playscape.

The result? Hours of imaginative play! I'm eager to take this house outdoors into the garden when the flowers bloom and see how the play evolves as more natural elements from the yard and garden can be incorporated into the house.

My daughter decided to add a 'pool' for the fairies which was a shallow plastic bowl filled with water. It was interesting to add the water element to the playscape and created a whole new layer of exploration. The water drew her little brother in too!

Nothing like a dip in the pool to relax after a hard afternoon of imaginative play! My next goal is to encourage my daughter to design and create her own fairies using our art materials.

Loose Parts Provocation with Mirrors

I have been interested in exploring the use of loose parts with the children at home. After gathering some simple, versatile materials I set up an inviting provocation for exploration. I used two acrylic mirrors as 'mats' that would be each child's building space.

The materials were organic and each child was very interested in creating. At first the designs were simple.  

    

After a few attempts they realized that the pieces could be interpreted and used together to form interesting pictures.

A few faces...

A garden...

A roller coaster...

  

Someone's name...

I was amazed at the level of interest and creativity that a few ordinary materials could provide. I believe part of the appeal in this experience was the use of the mirrors, which reflected the pieces back and created interesting effects depending on whether the light hanging above was turned on. In a few days I plan to add a few more materials to the collection and see how they influence the play!

Recycled Styrofoam Stamps

I love discovering the unconventional beauty in found objects - I am constantly looking into our recycle bin and thinking about how we can use everyday materials in creative ways. The kids have been very interested in stamps lately and so I thought we could recycle some styrofoam trays we had from produce into our own handmade stamps (why do cucumbers need to be packed on styrofoam trays anyway?!?!).

This activity was so easy! We used a metal skewer to carve an image into a square of styrofoam. My daughter visualized what she wanted her design to look like, but it would be easy to have children preplan their stamp by sketching it on a piece of paper first.

Next she affixed the stamp to a large foam block (with some tape) so that it had a base that could easily be grasped.

She gently stamped her paper after wetting the stamp with an ink pad and....voila! Her own unique, recycled stamp!

My daughter spent much time creating many new designs and testing them out on her papers. Next I'm going to encourage her to use her new stamps to design stationary that can be used to write letters to her friends and family!

Holiday Play Dough

This blog entry is dedicated to the brave teachers and children of Sandy Hook Elementary School and is written in solidarity with my fellow Bloggers for Sandy Hook. I hope that as you explore this entry and the rest of my blog you find many ideas for how to engage in creative play and exploration with your children and make every moment in our lives count.

Play dough is one of our favourite activities - helping children to strengthen their fine motor skills and encourage creativity and oral language through play. Because my children have been so interested in the holiday decorations and art materials in the house, I thought it would be fun to combine them into a festive play dough experience!

We started with some simple ornaments added to a giant ball of play dough! Caleb was eager to explore how he could decorate his cut outs (tree, angel, star) by using the garland and miniature ornaments.

As he did, he noticed that they left interesting prints in the dough, and he used these to further decorate his cutouts.  Here the prints become the ornaments on the tree!

I also added some holiday foil cutouts, sparkly silver foam balls, small treasures, and bottles of glitter and encouraged him to explore how these materials could be used with the dough.

He was thrilled to have control over how to use the materials - sprinkling glitter to his heart's content and decorating with the treasures!

His sister joined in and they used the cutters to make more prints in the dough, adding to the design.

What a beautiful masterpiece! This activity is so easy to do and so much fun! A word of warning to the faint of heart - the glitter is messy and will get everywhere but seeing as it's a time of holiday and cheer, who doesn't want their house filled with glitter!

Acrylic Snowflakes

'Loose parts' that consist of interesting objects and materials are an essential part of encouraging children to engage in creative play. Removing commercial materials from the classroom and instead introducing children to objects that are full of intrigue will inspire hours of problem solving and innovative thinking! 

While perusing our local dollar store I found these acrylic snowflakes! 

They are beautifully crafted and because they are clear, would be a great addition to our light table! 

I can just imagine the play these might inspire as children sort, stack, and pattern with them!

When we are done with the light table I may include them in our portable water table and see what happens there!