Cars in the City Small World Play

My inspiration for this activity came from the craft website The Imagination Tree.  I loved the idea of creating a small world play within a suitcase, so I was delighted to discover these little suitcases on sale in my local craft store, Spotlight.  I based the scene (roughly) on Singapore's business district with the skyscraper, river, bridge, palm tree and the yellow and blue Singapore taxis. Wugs adores cars and in particular running his cars over different surfaces, so I created the bumpy ramp from an old cardboard box and car parking area from two rubbery heat resistant mats.  I wanted the scene to be multi-sensory so I used materials of different textures (clear coloured paper, perspex, foam, card, felt, wood etc) and I glued everything down as some of the parts were too small for an 18 month old.

I have plans to extend this small world scene to incorporate a felt road mat with Singapore landmarks on it that could be laid outside of the box so that the car that comes down the ramp would land on the mat.  The mat could then be folded up and placed in the box when not in use.

Wugs loved this small world play and enjoyed opening and closing the suitcase and carrying it around.  We bring out the suitcase only occasionally so that Wugs continues to treat it as something special.

What we used:
Small suitcase
Card
Foam Sheets
Perspex
Coloured ("sweet wrapper") paper
Craft sticks
Pom poms
Felt
Heat resistant mats
Cardboard box
Paint
Glue
Scissors

Herbs and Spices Sensory Play

I was sorting through my spice rack this afternoon and discovered a couple of pots (tarragon and ground cinnamon) that had reached their best before date.  Rather than throw them away, I decided to create a sensory play activity for Wugs out of it.

The pots I used were plastic, so I let Wugs shake the contents into the flour and stir them around with the scoops.  Prior to play, I ensured there was just enough cinnamon and tarragon left in the pot to allow him to appreciate the smell, the colour and texture without the smell becoming overpowering.  I also added a few cinnamon sticks.

What we used:

Flour

Ground Cinnamon
Tarragon
Cinnamon sticks

Scoops