A few months ago I discovered the wonders of RedTedArt and The Imagination Tree. Both are blogs that I admire hugely because they promote the marvels and benefits of Learning Through Play and the importance of Art in a child's life.
Before I was a primary school teacher, I trained as a Nursery Nurse and was intent upon becoming a Nursery teacher. And then I had a teaching practise in Year Five and I've never looked back, turning away from the littlies proclaiming them "too small and easy to accidentally step on!" in a jovial and, quite possibly, dismissive manner. However since having The Boy, I've rediscovered the joy of craft and role-playing with the 'littlies'. To the point where I asked my boss (in my annual review) if I could work with them again. She almost fell off her chair in shock, but at that time was unable to grant my wish.
So I channel my ideas at the moment into the most important 'littlie' of them all, The Boy. Last week, we took delivery of a Little Tikes house to review as a part of the Toyologist programme. The box was massive (well it had to hold a house!):
What do you do with a box that big?
Turn it into a play-house for The Boy to decorate!
The box was huge, big enough for daddy, The Boy and Me (see what I did there?) to get in easily. I cut a door on one side and windows with shutters on the other side, and he absolutely adored it. Daddy? Not so much, it kept getting in the way of the recycling which he needed to empty, or the toilet, or anything really. Admittedly for a time, The Boy was the only one who could get through to the utility room (through the open end and out of his door) so once or twice I had to send him on a little job!
The Boy has had great fun this week; painting, decorating, hiding and playing house in his, um, house. Which is great because it's rained a fair amount so he hasn't managed to get out to the main toy; the Little Tikes house. He's played in it with his friends and cousins, and I have discovered that there is nothing more likely to make children giggle than crawling through a cardboard box.
Well I managed to hold onto it for a week, but it's cardboard recycling on Friday and I've got a toddler group coffee session tomorrow, so we've had to move the house. I'm hoping that The Boy doesn't ask where it is in the morning!
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Click this widget to see the marvellous Imagination Tree
And this one will take you to the fabulous RedTedArt
What a good idea – to use the box as well! Don't think I'd have ever thought of it.
That's such a good idea, sometimes I find it hard to think of things to do, play is not always my strong point. With so many toys available at times it's stops you being creative and imaginative. Thanks for this great post x
What a fantastic post and what a fantastic house! I am so impressed!!! 😉
And thank you for such kind comments re Red Ted Art 🙂 V pleased!!!!
Maggy x
PS love the girlfriend checking it out!!
ah that's a great house…we love cardboard houses here and planned to do a similar thing with our Little Tikes box but unfortunately it rained last night and the box was outside…..
Looking forward to seeing the 'real' house sometime soon
x
Fab idea! Love that you're not afraid of messy play activities! Something else i've made a mental note of for the future.
(and thanks for linking up!)
Such a great idea. We had quite a few of these on the go when we moved recently. I began to fear our new neighbours might think we had plans to keep our children in the garden! Thanks for linking to Parentonomy.