You may have noticed on our Facebook page that we recycle and repurpose old drawers into imaginative playscapes and sorting boxes.   

We thought we would test run it with the three year olds and placed it in front of a mirror (not necessary, but we felt it really enhanced the setup).

It didn’t take long before someone came along to check it out.

He was joined pretty quickly by a friend.

What a fabulous fine motor …

and numeracy activity!

Orders for sorting boxes, including a selection of natural/repurposed materials are now being taken. They cost $55 plus postage and can be sent anywhere around Australia. Please email fun@playbasedlearning.com.au to place an order. The style and design of the  sorting box’s pictured above and below are example only. Styles and contents will vary, depending on availabililty.

Each one of our sorting box is unique in size, shape and design as they are created by us, using recyled drawers, timber and materials.

Due to their unique and individual style they are ‘imperfectly perfect’

… A little bit like us really!  

Tadpoles and frogs are an endless fascination for preschoolers …

and of course Metamorphosis is such and interesting topic to explore with children, not to mention a great new word for most 4 and 5 year olds to tackle!

To keep most frogs and reptiles here in Australia you need a licence from your relevant State Government. In our case we are raising  Southern Brown Tree Frogs (Litoria ewingi) so we don’t need a licence to keep them.  We will certainly be mindful to release these frogs back into the same environment from which they came however as frogs, like many other creatures in nature are territorial!

We’ve seen lots of lovely set ups on our visits to preschools in relation to tadpoles and frogs …

We are great supporters of introducing books into the children imaginative play spaces. Along with extending their curiosity we are most conscious of teaching our children that as adults we simply don’t just grow knowledge in our heads with age, rather we have had to accumulate that knowledge via books and other forms of literature over a lifetime. It is so easy for us as educators to instantly answer questions our children throw up at us but we have learned over time to STOP, think and invite the children to refer with us to books in order to support them in discovering the answers for themselves …

before we take the easy road and respond immediately with the answer!

Sure we’ve done balloon painting before. On the table top …

and balloons filled with water and used for yo-yo splat painting …

but this time the children were having a go at the upright easels.

Apart from the pure enjoyment of it the children discovered, quite by accident that mixing colours together created new colours …

Once discovered, the slimy sensation of rubbing the balloon around was positively too delicious for some of the children.

While other simply enjoyed the sensation of bouncing the balloons across the paper.

However they did it the effect was truly beautiful.

More importantly …

the children just had so much fun!