"What the Ladybird Heard" Small World Play

In February my sister came to stay for a couple of months with her son who is just 5 months older than Wugs.  She came bearing gifts and this particular gift, the book "What the Ladybird Heard" by Julia Donaldson has become a real treasure in the boys' book collection.  Whether it's the rhythmic repetition of the animal followed by the sound it makes or the little glittery ladybird that can be found on each page, this book has been Wugs' favourite for some time and so I decided to create a small world play based on it.







What we used:
Brown, red and yellow playdough
Craft sticks
Oats
Animal and people figurines
Fake flowers (for the tree)
Small shallow dish (for the pond)
Toilet roll (for the dog's kennel)
Small wooden block (one of the cats is sitting on)
Wooden box (for the cow shed)
Milo cereal balls (dung)

The small-world play isn't an exact representation of the picture in the book.  I didn't include the farmer's house as I had limited space in the tub and I wanted to focus on the parts of the story that Wugs pays close attention to - like the vegetable patch with the footprints of the two thieves across it and the dung in the corner.  Our "Hefty Hugh" and "Lanky Len" were two Duplo figurines (of identical proportions!) presiding over their map.

Whilst Wugs played with his small world, I read the story to him.  I'm not sure how much of it he heard as he was busily scooping up oats and emptying them over the tree and munching on Milo cereal balls.

Chinese New Year Small World Play

One of the joys of belonging to a mixed race family is you get to celebrate everything!  Chinese New Year is a welcomed festivity in our home.  It's celebrated about a month after Christmas, during what I used to call "the depressing months of winter" when I lived in the UK.  At this time of year, the shopping malls are decked in reds, pinks and golds and little red "angpow" packets (of money) are distributed to the younger members of the family.

This year I wanted to introduce Wugs to the story behind the celebration.  It seems there are many variations of it, so I went with the one that I could get my hands on in picture-book format.  "The Great Race, The Story of the Chinese Zodiac", by Dawn Casey tells the story of the Jade Emperor using a race across a river to determine the order and names of the calendar months. The book (like all Barefoot Books) is well-written with beautiful vibrant illustrations.  After reading this book almost every night for the last two weeks, I created a Chinese New Year small world play.

Part of the small world play involved a number-matching game which I made using stickers with numbers 1-12 written on them and I placed them on the base of each animal according to the order in which they came in the race.  Then I created some foam circles and placed them on the opposite side of the river for Wugs to match the animals with.  (He could check underneath the animals if he couldn't remember from the story).

Outside the tub I added a treat which I placed in the red angpow packet.  The treat was 3 crispy almond wafers, called "Love Letters" which are rolled in the shape of a scroll.  They are delicious and very popular at this time of year.

What we used:
Green and brown playdough
Dyed blue rice
Wooden peg doll (for the Jade Emperor)
Green, red and black felt (for the Jade Emperor's clothing)
Black thread
Coloured felt-tip pens
White foam paper
Black marker pen
Small plastic animal figurines (Safari Ltd)
Plastic flowers
Angpow packet
"Love Letters"
Scoops