::: Need some inspiration or a bit more ‘how to do it’ information? :::

We have noticed that many of our early years blogging friends are creating what they refer to as ”Little Worlds”, beautiful imaginative play on a small scale, often for outside play and with growing plants and grass – just gorgeous!

As many of our readers comment on our imaginative play set ups wanting to know where we get our ideas from, we would like to share with you how we have put our own irresistible spin on the “Little Worlds” idea (as we do) and invite you to attend a hands-on workshop hosted by us, Sherry and Donna, on creating “irresistible ideas for miniature playscapes” … imaginative play in a container!

These are playscapes which could be entities on their own, or joined with others to become part of more extended play.

This playscape is an example.

You will design, create and take home your very own unique playscape.

You will make a variety of props (we’ll show you how) such as …

houses and trees …

sculptures …

tree house platforms and people …

fences and shelters etc.

Irresistible props and playscapes any child (or adult for that matter) will LOVE!

We will supply ALL the materials including tools, so you can make it all in your own unique style …

ALL irresistible and ALL made by YOU!

“irresistible ideas for miniature playscapes”

We are running a workshop here in Melbourne on

Saturday 6th November – 10.00am to 12.30pm.

The cost is $60 per person, all materials (and morning tea!) supplied,

You will leave full of new ideas,

clutching your own original and beautiful miniature playscape

all ready for instant play!

Places are limited so please email us ASAP to register

and we will send you all the details.

EMAIL US  TO REGISTER - fun@playbasedlearning.com.au

We’ve said many times before that discount stores are a great place to find props cheap for imaginative play at kinder. Well we’re about to say it again! …“Discount shops are a great place to find props cheap for imaginative play at kinder!”

We picked up this totally irresistible bird cage at the Reject Shop earlier this year …

for just $10!

These delightful little birds …

were just a couple of dollars each …

as were these baskets and adorable mini artificial cacti plants.

Teamed with plenty of natural materials …

it makes for the most inviting play space …

irresistible indeed!

Someone donated some fabulous thick plastic sheets to us …

and as we had some bits and pieces left over from our nature sculptures,

we thought the children might enjoy making collages. We were able to add some sand as well as the art works were flat.

For this activitiy we felt that PVA glue would be strong enough.

Although much simpler than the sculptures the children made earlier in the week,

they were still very effective …

We accidently discovered that due to the shiny surface of the plastic, the glue and sand mixture peels off beautifully in one piece and can easily and successfully be cut with scissors!

Hmmmmm … we see potential here!

We found we had a basket of polished stones left over from the wonderful pet rocks which the children made recently. Inspired by Sherry’s trip to Italy during the holidays where she saw little towers of rocks from the local beaches popping up all over the holiday house she was staying in, we decided to see how the children would go with this idea.

Of course we wanted to do our own take on this so thought we could combine the stones with other natural materials we had on hand …

like gumnuts, pine cones, coral, shells, bark, leaves, acorns and sticks.

We felt that the old PVA glue just wouldn’t hack the pace so thought it would be a great opportunity to invite our children to construct their sculptures using our trusty hot glue gun … something we’ve not used with them before but as Teacher Tom had said his children love to use hot glue guns we thought we should give it a go too! We brought in a bit of science here too – solid glue/apply heat/liquid/let it cool/solid again.

A few of the children were a little unsure as to whether they were “allowed” to use a hot glue gun. One child was concerned about the fact it was HOT while another’s concern was the GUN part. Yet another said he shouldn’t use it because he’s only five years old!

Others of course just dived right into the new experience!

We were really impressed how the children took in all the safety information …

such as which part of the glue gun was hot …

and how the glue itself is very hot.

Only one child got to accidently experience how hot the glue was … but only one!

Once again they blew us away with their ‘outside the square’ ideas. We expected interesting creations for sure but never in our wildest dreams did we think we would see …

a platypus …

bat …

skeleton man …

snail or …

nature sculpture just to name a few!

The top of the children lockers has become quite the display cabinet lately!

Oh and the three children who were a bit reluctant to handle the hot glue gun? … Keira made the nature sculpture, Jackson the skeleton man and Joss created the bat … all on their own … and all were very proud!

We have linked this post up with the ‘Nuture Store – Play academy’

Simply click on the ‘Play Academy’ button to see what other are playing at this week!

We like to have a lot of imaginative play set ups on the go at one time at kinder.

Earlier this year we made a little family of bead people using our trusty old hot glue gun and a permanent black marker and they turned out really well.

Most importantly the children have been having a great time playing with them.

Here we teamed them with some other small wooden dolls, a miniature china tea set, some stick fences we also made as well as other natural materials and the cutest little artificial plants.

Simple, inexpensive and totally irresistible!!

Imaginative play doesn’t need to be fancy, expensive or difficult to set up!

The discount shops are great for buying basic props very cheaply.

Here we have some quite large plastic insects which the children really enjoy playing with. 

They are a great size …

and they look so life like!

By making available natural materials like a variety of logs, pebbles, rocks and plants, imaginative play simply takes off!

With the addition of earthy coloured fabrics, the environment looks very effective and to the children it is irresistible fun!

We are very lucky to have several dolls’ houses of different sizes available for the children to play with, and we like to set them up outside as well as inside.

Recently we placed a large pine dolls’ house inside on a low bench, and in order to make it irresistible to the children we set it up with an assortment of different textured fabrics, carpet squares and natural materials. We included a large mirror for added interest, and draped a soft curtain over the top to create a cosy cubby effect.

We have a number of baskets kept nearby on low shelving containing assorted props which the children are free too choose and include in their play as they please.  Here the children have chosen some cane furniture, small wooden animals and people as well as a mini playground set.

A dolls’ house is a great place for children to play alone and lose themselves in their imagination …

… then again it’s a great social area when you invite friends to play .

And we really love it when unexpected guests drop in …

… on their way home!

The children really enjoy participating in group projects. Recently we were given a large box which we thought would make an ideal weaving loom, one big enough for several children to share at the same time.

We placed small cuts along the sides of the box and threaded it up with some shoe lacing we found in the tubs at the invention table.

We gathered together assorted recycled materials, and collected some interesting sticks which had fallen from the willow tree in our playground.

A terrific fine motor and cognitive activity, the children had to concentrate very hard on weaving the items under and over the strings in order for them not to fall out.

We could hear some of the children chanting …under, over, under, over, under, over!

The beauty of an activity like this is, once it has been completed or the children loose interest, you can undo the weaving, recycle the items for use in other activities, and recycle the box or store it to use for a weaving project another day.

We came across this great set of shadow boxes in a second hand shop and we have used them in a multitude of ways all over the kinder.

Here we teamed them with some very popular plastic insects we bought from a local discount store.  We set them up on the floor inside a large cardboard box lid lined with a laminated board we got from reverse art. It has a texture that resembles smooth pebbles set in concrete, so we added some more textures through natural materials and spread a soft cow hide on the floor for texture and comfort.

The children were able to move the boxes and props around to suit their play, adding extra bits & pieces from the shelves as needed.

Being down at floor level, where beetles and insects are found, made the children’s play more dramatic. As the floor takes away boundaries, the children were able to spread their play out as they marched their insects back and forth across the floor and around the table and chair legs nearby.

We witnessed some lovely imaginary play here and heard some great language as the children closely examined the insects, discussing their names and habitats.

We use these small wooden logs in a lot of our imaginary play.  They are thickish branches cut into different sizes.

Here we have used them with some gorgeous owls which Donna made.

We also added some old bird nests which Sherry had brought in, along with other natural materials.

The tiny owls are simply from a game we had in the cupboard.