Sensory Play is one of the few activities that I know will entertain my kids for quite a long period of time. The quicker and easier the set-up for me, the better. 

For today's activity, rather than make up some slime for my son to play with, I gave him the two basic ingredients, popped out a selection of his little superhero figurines and let him make it for himself. 

This not only means less work for me, but more importantly, it means that he is experimenting and learning a range of skills and concepts through experiencing for himself.

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Role-play for children is a vitally important part of growing up. Here might just be the ultimate in role-play for kids.

If you read my 10 must-do experiences in Dubai, you would have seen that the award-winning KidZania edutainment centre was on the list. Well, I'm delighted to say that I did get to go and check it out and can report back that it was seriously even more brilliant than I'd first imagined! Check out the above linked post for more specific details such as costs etc.

Set inside The Dubai Mall is a purpose built "city" built at two thirds the regular size making it just perfect for children. The city includes a police station, fire station, hospital, bank, airport, television studio, supermarket, beauty salon, theatre, radio station, shops, eateries and so much more! After "checking in" at the airport and setting up their bank account, children are free to wander the city and choose from over 80 different roles that they can play in more than 60 establishments.

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Inspired by the Disney Junior Doc McStuffins series, the kids have been very interested in role-playing Doctors lately. 

While they were busy the other day, I set up a little Invitation to Play Doctors, utilising the free printable Toy Check-up Checklist from the Disney Junior website, some willing toys as patients and other bits and bobs from around the house.

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Here is a fun construction building invitation to play that I set out to occupy my toddler (currently aged 2.5). The main components for this easy set-up activity are simply playdough and blocks. Making the playdough a grey colour to simulate concrete and providing a couple of little construction tools all added to the scene but aren't necessary to still have a fun and creative activity for kids of all ages. My kids loved this little bricklaying activity.

We used this activity to further language skills, fine motor skills, building skills, knowledge of gravity, understanding of bricklaying, sensory development, imagination, role play and more.

Ages: 12 months+

(See the handy tips at the bottom for ideas to suit your child's needs)

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Welcome to TUESDAY TOTS. Brought to you weekly by Learn with Play at home (that's us), Rainy Day Mum and One Perfect Day.

This week we are showcasing

"10 Pretend Play Ideas"

Pretend Play or Imaginative Play is a huge part of growing up. Children are naturally drawn to imitating and copying the actions of those they see around them. Pretend play provides them with opportunities to practice a wide variety of skills in a safe way. From oral language development and socialisation to specific physical skills and creativity, imaginative play allows for so much and is to be encouraged. Here are 10 fun ideas that you could use to encourage your child's love of pretend play, with lots of clever little props and additions that you can provide to make the experience even more fun and entertaining.

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We've been exploring nature in various forms and today we decided to turn our acorns into little Acorn Buddies to use in pretend play and in a fun maths game.

This creative activity had us painting in miniature and working on a different scale than we're used to. 

This required concentration, coordination and practiced our fine-motor skills.

Ages: 3+

(See the Handy Tips at the bottom to simplify or extend for your child. M is 4y/o here)

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Imaginative Play is a way for children to experiment with language, thoughts and processes that are vital to their development. It is a safe way for them to learn about the world around them and practice and experiment different ways of acting and reacting.

Here are a range of fun ideas and activities that promote imaginative play.

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I first saw the imaginabox range in a boutique children's store in Melbourne (Australia) and instantly thought what a fabulous concept it was!

Cardboard boxes are loved by children everywhere and with the fabulous bright, reusable stickers and fun accessories that come with imaginabox, they can turn a simple object into a well loved toy, quickly, easily and with no mess.


It is no wonder that director of On the Gro (and "Mumpreneur") Melanie has won not only the South Australian Young Entrepreneur of the Year Award but other awards including winning the mychildmagazine.com 2012 Excellence Award for Best new Product!

I jumped at the chance to review some of their products because anything that can help develop and stimulate children's imagination leading on to role play and language development gets the thumbs-up from me!

As you can see, my daughter was rather impressed when they arrived!

We chose the oven and an aeroplane to try.

They are really easy to make. Here's how we made the oven

1- Peel the backing off the stickers (keep the backing for re-using the stickers) and stick in place

2- Cut around the oven door so it can open (this is an adult job)

3- Poke holes where indicated with a pen

4- Screw on the accessories

We loved how the oven came with a couple of interchangeable stickers. Maddie was adamant on adding the cake first.

As you can see in the pics, the cardboard box we used was a rather tatty one that had been stored under the house for some time and it was a little warped and textured. This meant that some of the stickers started peeling up at the edges as they didn't have a good clean, flat surface to adhere to properly. 

If you're using an old box and this happens, you can either stick down with a small amount of glue so as to allow the sticker to still be taken off, or just add a tiny bit of tape to the corner like I did.

The warped nature of the box certainly didn't discourage Maddie from using it.

We have a play kitchen at home already (actually, a couple) but none of them have seen any use since she's had this one to play with. Something about it being made from a box just makes it even more appealing and having the knobs that move just add to the fun!

She decided to put another box inside the oven for a shelf

Maddie gave it the thumbs-up!

We made the Aeroplane the same way but this one didn't require any cuts

Who cares about the tatty box when you have this in front of you! 

There was mega excitement over the steering wheel which turns :)

I'm not exactly sure where she went, but she was flying for ages!

Why we love imaginabox

• Without mess and fuss you can quickly turn any size cardboard box into a fabulous toy
• Promotes Imagination and Role Play and through that Language Development
• All you need is a cardboard box (and a few basic tools you'd have at home like a pen or knife)
• Easy to follow instructions that the kids can help with 
• Choice of just the sticker packs or with the stickers and fun accessories
• Great for the days where you just don't want a messy activity
• Reusable! When the box gets too tatty simply replace with another box
• Really reasonable price 
• Great for a gift!

On The Gro are giving 1 lucky Learn with Play at home reader

 their choice of any 2 imaginabox products.

PLUS they are generously offering ALL our readers

 15% off your purchase of imaginabox

 with the discount code "learnwithplay"

How To Win

Step 1: "Like" the On the Gro FB Page

Step 2: Visit the On the Gro website and then leave a comment on this post here telling us Which 2 imaginabox products you'd choose and why? 

The most creative response will win their choice of any 2 imaginabox products.

***COMPETITION NOW CLOSED***

Congratulations to our winner

Zoe Hayes

(Zoe, we thought your answer could be their new jingle haha)

Thank you for your entries. We wish you could all win!

The 15% off code will be valid till the end of Jan

 so plenty of time to still get them at a discounted rate.

You can purchase imaginabox here

Terms and Conditions

- Apologies but this giveaway is open for Australian Residents Only (Discount code is available for all readers)

- Enter the discount code "learnwithplay" in the box provided at checkout to receive your 15% off.

- Discount code valid until the end of January, 2013

- The competition begins Thursday 6th Dec and ends Wednesday 12th December at 9pm (EST)

- The winner is chosen based on originality and creativity

- Entrants will need to provide a valid email address

- The winner will be contacted via email and announced on this post and via FB and Twitter. Winner will need to get in contact and provide their postal address within 48 hours or the prize will be redrawn.

Happy playing,
Debs :)

{Disclosure: this is a post sponsored by On the Gro. We received the imaginabox oven and aeroplane to trial and review for the post. Opinions expressed in this post, as always, are my own}

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I sure do love a good "Invitation to Play" You can read more about what an Invitation to Play is here.

The things I loved the most about this particular activity were the language development, creativity and imagination used through out the activity. Throw in fine motor skills, a sensory experience and more, and you have a good fun learning experience.

Ages: 2-6+

(M enjoyed this at 3.5 and you can see ways to simplify or extend to meet your child's needs at the bottom in the Handy Tips)

Materials: Playdough, pompoms (with tweezers), patty pans, feathers, chocolate tray (but you can use the materials you have on hand!)

Fine motor skills and co-ordination to separate the patty pans (you can separate for younger children)

Creativity, fine motor skills, colours, patterns

Learning new skills. Rolling to make a ball and applying pressure. 

More pressure, less pressure? Discovering what is needed.

Imitation

Talking about "layers" and "sizes" 3 layers. Large, medium and small.

Creation and creativity

Faces, expressions, emotions, creativity, imagination....

A whole wonderful sweet shop. Language and Imaginative play.

That's a lot of learning from one simple play idea and a few materials...


Handy Tips

- Simplify this activity by providing larger pompoms to avoid choking hazards and leaving out things like the tongs. Helping preparing things like separating patty pans and demonstrating how to roll balls, etc, will all assist.

- Extend this activity by introducing some letter or number cards and seeing how these are used within the invitation. Pretend to be a customer who is requesting some sweets made using the letters of your name etc

- Problem Solving. Make your child aware of the problem solving involved. "How do you know how much play dough to pull off to fit in the containers/patty pans?" etc

- Use any other materials you may have around the house. Allow your child to request additional items they may require.

- Talk with your child about what they are doing. This will help them understand the physical and mental processes they are going through as well as giving them the vocabulary to describe it.

- Use new language and descriptive words like, "layering" This will help with their language development.

- Supervise your child when using small items such as mini pompoms.

More Invitations to Play

Dried Playdough and Water

Pipecleaners, Playdough and Beads

Boxes and Tools

Pipe cleaners, Craft sticks, Playdough and Animals

Happy playing,
Debs :)

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Today's activity is this super fun and easy-to-make Robot Helmet.

Combining skills required to make the helmet such as fine-motor skills and creativity with imaginative play and gross motor skills when the helmet is finished, is sure to keep your child busy, creating and learning.

Ages: 2-6+ 

Maddie is currently 3 years old

Materials: Cardboard Box, Foil, Glue, Sticky tape, Embellishments (we used milk bottle lids, coloured foil, number stickers, recycled goods and pipe cleaners)

For added literacy, we first read "Little Robots" by Mike Brownlow

Begin by cutting a "window" out of one side of the box to make it helmet shaped and then cover with glue (we used PVA glue)

Cover the entire box with foil.

Use this time to encourage new language and practice new skills such as "overlapping" or "folding"

When your box is covered with foil let your child get creative with their "embellishments"

Maddie learnt how to make "pipe cleaner springs" by wrapping a pipe cleaner around a marker

Attaching certain items will require sticky tape. 

A lot of coordination and fine motor skills are required for this type of addition.

Adding "buttons" and "antenna" 

For added numeracy skills, I included number stickers. 

Maddie added the numbers 0-9 (that she had to find in a tub full of numbers) and then we wrote a list together of what "pressing each number" would make the robot do.

Time for imaginative play. "Beep, whizz, whirl"

Be sure to include robot movements and actions for added Gross Motor Skills

Handy Tips:

- Simplify this activity by pre-cutting the foil to the required size for each panel. This will allow less coordinated children to have a go at covering the box themselves. Assist your child as needed to complete the robot helmet ensuring that they have creative control over the embellishments they use.

- Extend this activity by including the added Literacy and Numeracy skills by reading Robot inspired books together and/or making a "number bot." We had a fabulous time figuring out what would happen when each number was pressed. Use this to reinforce basic number recognition. Your child could write their own list of instructions for the robot and then have to act out each action when you press their buttons.

- Further this activity by making robot arm covers, leg bands, robot fingers etc. Ask your child how they would make them and what they would need.

- Discuss the processes your child is going through with each stage of the activity. This will help them to make connections between the process and the language used to describe the process.  

- Use descriptive words such as "embellishments," "over-lapping" etc. to encourage language development. 

- Play a game with your child/ren where they must act as the robot and follow the directions given.

- Source boxes from supermarkets if you have none at home. They are always more than happy to let me have any boxes I like when I ask as they have an oversupply of them.

- If your child enjoyed making a Robot Helmet, they might like our Dinosaur Helmet too.

Happy playing, creating and learning,
Debs :)

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Open Ended explorations for Children are vital in their development and constructive play is a great way to encourage this.

Children love to physically explore and manipulate materials as it helps them to gain a better understanding of their world and gives them the control to move, question and create.

Today M (3.5) and a mini mate, took on the role of 'Builders' and got cracking.

Ages- 2-6+

The Set Up

Creating an "Invitation to Play" is as easy as setting out a few materials to set the intention of the play and then let the kids go for it.

Materials: Empty cardboard boxes of all shapes and sizes. Any play construction toys such as hard hat, hammer, drill, measuring tape etc

I also popped a "broken" stool in for them to hone their fix-it skills

The Play

First it's fixing time

Then time to build. Notice the added containers/boxes that the kids gathered themselves?

Their minds were working hard and were set on their task.

The ever evolving construction site. Builder J is busy drilling the front.

This type of play is fantastic for Collaborative play. 

Working and playing together with their peers leads to skills such as sharing, taking turns, compromising, working together, language development and so on.

Checking to ensure it's been built to specification. 

Note the addition of measuring skills, number recognition and so on.

Handy Tips:

- Simplify this activity by simply providing the basic materials and letting the children loose on it. You could assist younger children with the building process. Talking with them about how to balance the items, which are best for the base, etc.

- Extend this activity by giving your child/ren a "brief" on what's expected. Join the role play fun by being a contractor who is calling in a building team for a particular project. Perhaps you need a building of a particular height, width etc. Add toy telephones to call your workers and explain what's needed. Be sure to add in other materials such as measuring tapes, spirit levellers etc. 

- Talk to your child about what they are doing/building in order to develop their cognitive skills (thinking) and language development. Not to forget the important bonding that takes place between you both.

- Giving children a different scale to work with or a different surface, etc, will affect their behaviour and will involve problem solving processes that they're unaware they're even using. They require concentration and identification. eg. These kids were building on a soft surface which makes their process slightly different to if they were building on a flat, solid surface

- Repeat this activity with different materials, in a different location, with different specifications... etc. Children need to be exposed to experiences more than once and mixing it up will ensure that they are focusing on, gaining or using different skills each time.

- If you don't have "pretend tools" etc... then make some! Let children use their imagination to find something or create something they think could be appropriate for the job.

Looking for more Pretend/Imaginative Play Activities?

Here are some of our favourites

Pretend School

Pretend Washing Up - Water play

Pretend Shop. Learning Numbers

Happy playing,
Debs :)

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