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

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

So simple to make ... so beautiful for play! Colourful loose parts are used to create these simple jars! We love loose parts play ideas! This one is a simple way to use little tiny loose parts and some jars to make a beautiful resource that can be used for light play, building and more! These have been used for building towers and other creations with. We have also used them on the light panel several times now since making them. You could glue the lids on (or tape them) if y

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 celebrate the Christmas season with some fun themed invitations to play and create! A red and green Christmas themed tinker tray of loose parts for open-ended play The wait until Christmas is such an exciting time! It can also be very busy, so I use the same types of setups/play ideas each year with my kids to make things simpler. This blog post has 13 simple Christmas play ideas and crafts for kids. I have a box of fun play things for the kids for Christmas that I put

Let's explore 2D shapes in a PLAYFUL way with these easy to make colourful shapes! Light panel play idea - colourful 2D shapes Light play is so magical and perfect for creating a sense of wonder & awe ... but finding materials that work on a light panel/light table can be expensive. These colourful shapes were an easy and inexpensive way to create a fun learning tool for some light panel play! These 2D shapes were so simple to make using some coloured cellophane. I have inclu

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

Small world play is always lots of fun! Let’s create an engaging small world play setup! Creating a little small world to play with is so much fun! This was a lion small world played with by my 4 year old. She enjoyed creating stories about her lions as she acted them out. Here’s how this small world was created: The Small World Invitation to Play … This beautiful small world play started with a few items placed on a table. I intentionally didn't set it up as a small world th

Let's explore learning numbers in a playful way with these printable number shells! Keep reading to see how we have used them in a sensory play tray. Number shells in order from 1-10 Learning through play is a fun and easy way to help children learn! We used these printable shell numbers to create a beach themed sensory tray. This sensory tray was not only fun to play with, but supported some number learning 1-10 too! Adding in numbers to a set up like this is a gentle way to

A beautiful and inviting way to play with the light panel using lucite cubes and cellophane!

A fun way to explore & learn about colours in a hands on way is to create a rainbow colours sensory tray for kids!