Let's create a magical underwater land for mermaids! Small world play is so wonderful for imagination, developing oral language skills and vocabulary + developing the ability to make up stories and characters. This blog post walks through step by step how I set up this mermaid themed small world table for my kids to play with. *This play idea is for children ages 3+ as it contains small parts. All play was supervised by an adult. Please ensure you actively supervise all play.

Let's invite play with these beautiful colourful blocks and a mirror! A simple invitation to play with a mirror and blocks This was such a simple invitation to play that I set up last week for Miss 3. I sat with her while she played and showed her how to create towers on the mirror with some of the lucite blocks. Later in the day after she had lost interest in building I added in some little figurines, which drew her interest into playing again. Then I showed her how to stack

Here's a look at some of the play, learning and creative ideas that we have done over the last month. I thought I would try a new type of blog post this week - a look at a few of the different things we have done over the last month. We have enjoyed some water play, colour matching, bookish play, wet felting and small world play. I love to set up play invitations and get creative with my girls. I hope you find some inspiration today to help create some playful moments for the

One small world invitation ... still getting play after 1 month. As I write this blog post my girls are playing with the small world table, adding in animals to create a much larger small world. We are now over a month into this small world table. I set it up after I had bought the wooden dolls house out of my classroom. I made the most simple additions to the small world this morning and all 3 girls were straight into playing again ...

I recently changed up what was on our open-ended play shelves in our play space for the first time in a little while, so I decided to write a blog post about what we currently have out on our toy shelves. This play space is in the corner of our lounge room. We use a white house bookshelf that I bought from Mocka Australia quite a few years back now. This shelf has room on the floor in front of it that can be used for play and building creations. In the classroom I would use a

A quick look at our current play space set ups to invite play. Our small world table - all ready for imaginative play! A big welcome to you if this is your first time visiting the blog and welcome back to our Playful Learning community email subscribers! It was time for a quick refresh and tidy up of our kids play space at home. Our kids art space and small world table were looking very messy and not getting much attention. This is how I know when it is time to make a change

Let's get creative and explore light + colours using a light panel and beautiful resources ... Learning through play - exploring colour and capacity on the light panel Light play is not only beautiful, but also offers many opportunities for learning through play in a hands-on and enjoyable way! Simple materials, when added to the light panel can create the most inviting and engaging invitations to play. We have an A3 sized light panel that we use at home for play. It is store

One easy to make sensory base = lots of fun! See how we reused this for extra play time ... Snowy sensory play tray - Perfect for easy winter themed play! Sensory play trays are so much fun! All 3 of my kids enjoy playing with this type of tray. Not only are they simple to put together, but they can easily be reused over multiple days/even weeks for extra play time! Sensory play can be very calming and it's also a great way to develop fine motor skills, hand-eye coordination,

See how these reflective circles make a beautiful addition to any loose parts play collection. Perfect for the exploring the ✨MAGIC ✨ of light and reflections! Exploring the reflective surfaces in the sunlight to create shadows and light using different materials. I'm really excited to share this easy D.I.Y. project with you today as it really makes for the most beautiful play and exploration of light and reflections! We have had a great time over the last week exploring the

Looking for something simple to help enjoy the Easter season? Try one of these fun ideas at home! A fun sensory tray: Rainbow rice + coloured eggs Let's enjoy the special time before Easter with some simple play ideas! Keep reading to find some inspiration ... These Easter play ideas for kids are all things that we have done over the years at home in the lead up to Easter. We now have a little collection of Easter themed play items that we use each year including the followin

Getting creative + taking a mindful moment is really easy with these printable play mats! Loose parts are a fun way to use this magical themed printable! Loose Parts Play + Mindfulness made easy! Taking some time out of our busy days is important to help our kids take a break and enjoy a quiet moment or two. Loose part and art materials are perfect materials for encouraging children to create and enjoy mindfulness time, focussed on the present moment. This doesn't need to

Here's a look at our play space set up to inspire play for different aged siblings. A quick play space change up makes a big difference! Play space change ups don't always need to be massive to invite more play. Sometimes the simplest of changes work too! These photos are from a play space change up that involved a quick little shuffle and rearrange of some toys on our shelf. Remember simple changes can invite more play! We don't have room for all the toys to be out at once,