Writing and Phonics Seaside Small World Play

Over the last couple of months, I have been reading about and following some of the suggestions in the book Montessori Read and Write: A Parent's Guide to Literacy for Children, by Lynne Lawrence
in response to Wugs' recent interest in writing.  At the same time as familiarising himself with the shapes of the letters, he has also been exploring the beginning sounds of certain words.  Our favourite activities have included "I spy" games ("I spy with my little eye something beginning with "sss" - ie referring to the sound of the letter rather than its name) and pulling objects out of a mystery bag and then grouping the objects according to the starting letter of their names.  Today's small world was an extension of these activities combined with Wugs' favourite type of play - sensory small world play.

The group of letters we have been exploring are S,M,A,T so I gathered objects that had these letters at the beginning of their words and arranged them in the play scene - a scorpion crawling out of the sea, a straw and piece of string buried in the sand, a landing spot made out of a mirror for air balloons and aeroplanes, an ambulance, a motorbike and truck travelling across the sand, a shark, turtle and scuba diver swimming in the sea near to a treasure chest and a spoon and a stick placed outside the box for Wugs to use to scoop or draw in the sand.

In a separate container, I placed the four letters that corresponded to the names of the objects in the play scene so that Wugs could match them up.

As the weather was sunny I took the small world into the garden and let Wugs play with it as he pleased.  He pulled out the different objects asking the names of the ones he didn't know.  He proceeded to write letters into the sand using the stick and manipulated the string into the shape of various letters.  After he had finished writing, I asked him if he could find something that begins with "sss".  He pulled out a straw and we put it in the container section under "s".  We went through all the objects in the play scene until it was empty - some of the objects he identified correctly and some he struggled with, so I encouraged him to listen to the beginning sounds of the words.

Once all the objects had been taken out of the scene and categorised according to their starting letters, I let Wugs play with the scene as he wished.  Interestingly he continued to refer to the objects using their beginning sounds even though we were no longer categorising them.

What we used:
Tub
Sand
Blue perspex (for the sea)
Water
Figurines and other small objects related to the letters
Wooden letters
Container for letters

( If I did this activity again I would probably use less figurines and more objects that he was less familiar with to make it more challenging).

Garden of Eden Small World

Over the last few weeks I have been reading the story of creation to the children before they go to bed.  We have a few children’s bibles so I have been alternating between different presentations of the story each week.  My three year old has become particularly inquisitive about anything to do with the bible and God, so I wanted to take the opportunity to bring this bible story to life for him.   I thought it would be fun to set up a mini Garden of Eden – one which the children plant and look after, just as Adam and Eve did in the very beginning.  

My original idea for the garden involved setting aside a plot of land in the big garden with a little picket fence around it for the children to work on and play in, but we are renting at the moment and I didn’t want to invest so much into a garden that we may only enjoy for a few more months. (Also I don’t have a great track history of keeping plants alive!), so we went for a moderate window box Garden of Eden.

We started this project by choosing our plants.  This involved a bit of research into which plants are safe in case a child ate one of them (which, in the case of my 22 month old is very likely!) I decided to go for a herb (rosemary) and other edible plants (dianthus and viola), letting the boys choose the colour.

I set up the table with a tray for the children to spoon the soil into the flower box and then we dug out three spaces to put the plants into.  I showed Wugs how to handle the plant when we took out of the pot and re-planted it, which led to a discussion about roots.  Once our plants were in their new home, Wugs watered it and I added in a few characters to link our flower box to our nighttime story.

Our Adam and Eve figurines were made from wooden pegs, which I decorated with markers and then used a varnish to protect them from the moisture.  The decision not to cover their bodies was a deliberate one, as was the omission of the snake and the angel with the flashing sword.  I didn’t want our Garden of Eden to be reduced to a story about the Fall, but to reflect the innocence and freedom that humans once had.  Plus the fact that Wugs would never have made the association between our figurines and the creation story unless he could see “Adam’s willy” (something he checked immediately before placing him in the garden)! 

The signpost was made from painted craft sticks and a label which was also varnished.

The garden spends most of its time outside the conservatory where the children can view it when they are playing indoors or they are free to play with it when they are outside.  I keep a container of different animal figurines which they can use in their play.  Every few days I ask Wugs to check the soil to see if it is dry and he waters it appropriately and we have watched the dianthus in particular come into bloom.

What we used:

Flower Box for the plants

Potting Mix

Tray to contain the potting mix (optional, but easier than using a bag)

Digging tools

Plants

Wooden pegs

Craft sticks

Markers

Labels

Frozen Small World Play

Inspired by the freezing cold temperatures last week and constrained by the fact that I had two little boys who were very unwell, we decided to explore the snow indoors through a Frozen-themed small world play.

Most of the small worlds I have created in the past have focused on exploring different sensory materials through touch, but this one also incorporates a visual element - of light shining through coloured tiles.  Magna-Tiles are a brilliant educational toy that come in a variety of shapes and sizes and are made of coloured plastic with little magnets around the edges.  This means they can be joined together to make 3D constructions. When Wugs first opened his box of Magna-Tiles, he pulled out the blue-coloured ones and said he wanted to build an "Elsa castle", so the idea for the Elsa castle in this small world play comes from him.

What we used:
A light table (see here how you can make your own)
Magna-Tiles
Disney Frozen figurines
Blue perspex (to line the bottom of the tub to make a frozen lake)
Scoops and small containers

To make the snow dough:
6 cups of cornflour/starch
3 cups of vegetable oil
Aqua and silver glitter
Aqua foil snowflakes

I made the snow dough by slowly adding the vegetable oil to the cornflour in stages and mixing it up until the flour clumps, but can break away easily.  If the oil is added too quickly, it becomes gloopy. The texture of the snow dough is soft and velvety.

Arctic Small World Play

Our arctic small world play was inspired by a topic that Wugs' preschool is covering this week on the earth's polar regions.

To give Wugs and Dooey a different sensory material to play with (we have previously made "snow" from cornflour and oil), I decided to try a combination of baking soda and shaving cream.  When mixed together they create a rough powder-like texture that can be pressed together to make larger chunks or rolled into a large hard ball.  It was an interesting material to explore as the larger chunks (when chipped away at) would suddenly disintegrate.  For that reason, it was also a messy material to play with that left a thin sheen of white powder on everything in that area of their playroom! 

I added some blue perspex to the bottom of the tub to create a sea and added some figurines.  Dooey was particularly interested in the animals, so he learned a few new words.  Wugs was preoccupied with layering the snow on his helicopter and cars which he then wanted to wash off (yesterday he watched me de-ice our car which was covered in a thick layer of frost, so I expect that is why he played with it in this way).  The idea of frost and snow is still largely a novelty to the boys.  They haven't yet experienced real snow!

After they played we watched a short clip of the Arctic Ocean by the National Geographic which featured some of the animals we played with.  

What we used:

Large tub

Blue perspex

3 pots of baking soda (600g)

200ml of shaving cream

Figurines (we used the arctic Safari Ltd Toob)

Spoons, funnels and small containers

The Parable of the Lost Sheep Small World

"Suppose one of you has a hundred sheep and loses one of them.  Doesn’t he leave the ninety-nine in the country and go after the lost sheep until he finds it?  And when he finds it, he joyfully puts it on his shoulders and goes home.  Then he calls his friends and neighbours together and says, ‘Rejoice with me; I have found my lost sheep’."  (Luke 15:4-5)

Today I put together a completely edible small world play based on The Parable of the Lost Sheep. The parable is about the lengths that God will go to to find us if we are lost.  The edible element was inspired by Dooey (my 18 month old) who puts everything in his mouth. (*Edible meaning not toxic, but obviously most things are not good for you if over-consumed*)  Almost every activity we have done has required my careful supervision that Dooey doesn't choke or swallow anything harmful.   I want him to enjoy his play without me constantly pulling things out of his mouth and telling him "Don't eat it!"  So I headed off to the shops yesterday in search of food that could represent the landscape of the small world play.

What we used:

Broccoli

Twiglets (crushed and whole)

Desiccated coconut    

White Marshmallows, chopped (whole marshmallows can be a choking hazard)

Icing 

Scoops and small containers

I cut up the broccoli to use as trees (although it was tricky getting them to stand upright without some careful cutting and propping).  The twiglets were chosen to look like logs (whole) or the ground (crushed).  I sprinkled some coconut over the landscape to represent frost.  (Yesterday the children saw frost for the first time!)  The sheep (yes they are sheep!) were each a quarter of a marshmallow. I drew the markings on the sheep using an icing pen.    

              

I only had enough resources for one small world play so I had the children play with it separately. Dooey's small world didn't involve all the numbered sheep (just 4 sheep) as he doesn't appreciate numbers yet.  Wugs' small world had the sheep numbered in units of 10 (so I tried to include a bit of Maths into the activity).  In his scene, I hid the sheep for him to find and place into the pen.  

Dooey did what Dooey does...eat!  Once the novelty of the food wore off, he started pouring and manipulating the items in the tub.  When he had finished I brought Wugs down and they played together happily, serving each other containers of crushed twiglets.  Wugs discovered all the sheep, placed them into the pen, read out some of the numbers and learned a few others.  I explained to them The Parable of the Lost Sheep which led to a lot of baaaing!  All in all a good activity and at least one full stomach! 

Play Therapy for Families Living Apart

        

When I first began researching and setting up activities for Wugs 18 months ago, I was especially interested in the idea that children can express their thoughts and feelings and experience healing through play.  What a wonderful, natural capacity to have at our disposal!  Back then I couldn't see how it would apply to my own children.  That is, until a month ago...

My husband's job in Singapore draws to a close in just three weeks time and it was about a month ago that I started packing up the toys to be included in the shipment to the UK.  It was whilst doing this, that I discovered that Wugs had associated certain Duplo figures with members of our family. Our family are in Malaysia and the UK and the children see them only once or twice a year. On this particular occasion, my husband's family had visited us in Singapore and their departure was especially distressing for Wugs.  I used this as an opportunity to talk about the family members - what Grandma, Uncle R and Auntie T would be doing back in Malaysia. During this activity I uncovered a whole world of emotions that Wugs doesn't readily express.  I decided to put aside some of the Duplo figures, other figurines and accessories and bring them out again for some more play to help him understand our move to the UK.

         

We revisited this activity today as my husband's family paid a final visit at the weekend and Wugs has been asking where they have gone. Also we skyped my parents yesterday evening, so Wugs has overheard a lot of conversations about our impending move.

I set up the play worlds using two Duplo baseboards - one representing the Malaysian family and one representing the UK family.  Each baseboard was divided up into different scenes that reflected the typical activities carried out by the family members.  There was Grandma cooking and going to work at the doctor's surgery (we had the doctor Duplo figurine so that was helpful!), Dadda watching telly, Uncle R and Auntie T shopping for toys and cakes. There was Nanna trying on new clothes in the bathroom  (Wugs discovered the joys of clothes shopping and make-up during Nanna's last visit.  I included the toilet as Wugs is being potty-trained at the moment so he is fascinated by it), Grandad sitting in the garden with the cat, Kitty, having a cup of tea, Uncle M and Auntie J looking at a map (they enjoy travelling) and cousin G sleeping and using his slide in the garden. I added a couple of other activities to the play in case Wugs didn't want to use it in the way I intended - in Grandma's kitchen we used a couple of bottle tops to represent saucepans and bowls and gave Wugs some Fischer Tips which he moulded to create the food that Grandma was cooking.  Wugs filled the bowls with "chicken rice and kai lan" and "ice cream" and gave it to Dadda.  The other activity I included involved making clothes for Nanna to try on.  We used tissue paper and stickers to create the clothes and glittery pipe cleaners to make jewellery.  Wugs also decided to dress up Uncle M and we made a glittery collar for Kitty.

             

   

             

I set up the baseboards on separate tables with a Duplo aeroplane on each so we could "fly" to Malaysia and the UK, hoping to convey the idea that each family was only a plane ride away. Thankfully Wugs doesn't appreciate distances yet!   

The real value in an activity like this isn't really in how it looks visually (although I've included lots of photos - mainly for my family who may be curious to discover which Duplo figure they are!  The only ones I influenced were Grandad and cousin G), but in the conversations we had.   Wugs used words like "sad",  "enjoy", "I'm worried", "I've lost [person's name]" and took charge of the flights from one country to another.  It made me realise that another important aspect of play was Wugs' control over what happened during it, in a way that he cannot necessarily control the upcoming events in real life.  I would imagine that this type of activity could be beneficial for children whose families are experiencing divorce or the loss of a loved one as well.

In some ways, what we did wasn't any different from a normal free play session.  The difference is in the detail.  The items included in the play worlds were specifically aimed at evoking positive memories or preparing Wugs for what he will see in a few weeks time - giving him a chance now to work through these changes before they actually occur.  As he was talking away, I didn't direct the conversation, but let him talk about both the positive and negative emotions he was experiencing.

What we used:

Duplo/Happyland Figurines and Accessories

Duplo Bricks and Baseboards
Bottle tops

Fischer Tips

Coloured tissue paper

Stickers

Pipecleaners

Containers

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The Parable of the Sower Small World Play

Today we attempted another bible-related activity and this time it was one that both Wugs and Dooey could participate in.  For me, this means a bit of thought regarding the materials that Dooey (the child who eats everything!) could safely use.  The idea to create a small world play around The Parable of the Sower came from observing Wugs' interaction with a jar of play dough and modelling tools that we have collected over the year.  One tool in particular that he uses all the time reminded me of a plough - hence the agricultural theme.

The Parable of the Sower (Matthew 13:1-23) is a story about a farmer who goes into a field to sow seed, some of which falls on rocks and eventually withers away as it cannot form roots, some falls on the path and is eaten by birds, some falls amongst the weeds and thorns and is choked and some falls onto good soil and grows into a bountiful crop.  The "seed" in this parable is the message of the Kingdom of God and how it is either fruitful or unfruitful to the listener.  Although my boys are too young to appreciate its significance, I'm hoping that "playing in the parable" will form a memory or impression that they can link back to when they are older or at least an experience that makes this stuff fun for them now.

In Wugs' small world, we used the following:
Playdough for the soil (following this recipe) and the green was leftover from a tub we bought
Brown food colouring
Saga seeds
Cotton buds
Yellow Felt-tip pen (to colour the cotton bud)
Yellow Paint (to colour the cotton bud stick)
Fake flowers
Stones
Bird Figurines

Lego Figurine

Cardboard (for the path)

Grey acrylic paint

Tools (I've mentioned the tools we used at the end of the post)

The saga seeds were an interesting addition to this small world because it connects the activity to South East Asia.  The saga seeds have traditionally been collected as counters by children or turned into jewellery.   Saga seeds were also used in ancient India to weigh gold (as each saga seed is of a similar weight, 4 saga seeds:one gramme).   There is even a Singaporean legend behind the saga seeds.  My husband used to collect the seeds as a child and we collected ours at the Singapore Botanic Gardens a few months ago.

I started the activity by reading The Parable of the Sower to Wugs and showing him a video clip from you tube.  Once the small world was brought out, he started scattering and planting his seeds using his play dough tools to make a hole and then covered up the seeds.  Some of the seeds fell outside of the soil onto the weeds, rocks and the path.  The seeds that had fallen onto the soil were then given a crop or two.  Wugs played with this for two hours - first with his box and then Dooey's!

For Dooey's small world play, we used the following:
Playdough for the soil (following this recipe)
Brown food colouring
Raisins
Lollipop/popsicle sticks (for the crop)
Fake flowers
Grey and black Fischer Tips (made from potato starch)
Bird Figurines

Happyland Figurine

Cardboard (for the path)

Grey acrylic paint

Tools (See the end of the post)

As Dooey didn't really follow the story, I scattered his raisins for him.  It wasn't so much the birds picking up the seed and eating them so much as a 15 month old boy gobbling them up!  He used the tools and enjoyed jabbing the lollipop sticks into the dough.  The sensory side of the small world play was fully appreciated by him and he happily played with it for about 30 minutes before going off and finding a London bus and Singapore taxi to drive down the little grey path!

For those interested in the play dough tools we used.  Here is a photo of them:

The tools on the top row are a selection from the Early Learning Centre Soft Stuff Bumper Activity Jar  (here's a bit of free advertising for them!) and the bottom row are a selection from Melissa and Doug Shape, Model and Mold kit

"Where I Live" Small World Play

 A couple of months ago, Wugs and I were in a taxi on our way home from shopping and he kept uttering over and over "second condo on the right".  I had no idea what he was referring to until we approached our condo and I leaned forward and said to the taxi driver, "Second condo on the right please".  Wugs was so familiar with me providing directions to the taxi drivers that he was beginning to remember them.  It occurred to me that it would be really useful for him to learn how to get home if we were separated.
What we used:

A2 size paper
Contact paper/sticky back plastic
Marker pens
Stickers
Cars
Figurines
Modular buildings

I tore off a piece of paper from our A2 pad and drew out a basic map of where we live, making the roads large enough for Wugs to drive his cars down. I drew a few landmarks on the map that are special to Wugs (the juice shop, the cupcake shop and the play gym).  Then I covered the map in contact paper.  (This turned out to be a very wise thing to do as the map was attacked by Dooey and water was spilt over it).  Finally I scattered a few modular buildings and signs and added the Singapore taxis.

We went through the main route that taxis take to our condo pointing out the landmarks on our way. As I have been teaching Wugs about traffic lights (that green means "go" and red means "stop"), we went through the different scenarios together involving "the little green/red man".  I didn't have a sign for this, so I adapted one using stickers and coloured pens and we played out the scenario of crossing the road with Lego figures.  Wugs spent at least an hour playing with it and talking about the cars being dangerous and turning left and right.  This was probably one of his favourite small world plays and it was so easy and cheap to make.

Milo Dino Fizzy Small World Play

If there is one word that Wugs has pronounced with absolute clarity since he has been talking, it is the word "chocolate".  He absolutely loves it! I have been thinking of ways to incorporate chocolate into a small world play without having a sick child on my hands.  I came up with the idea of using the powder from the chocolate drink, Milo and mixing it together with baking soda, as I wanted the small world to bubble and fizz.  Originally I intended to mix the Milo and baking soda together thoroughly, but where the baking soda was partly clumpy, I left it as it was, as the clumps looked like stones in the ground.  I added some actual stones, vegetation and dinosaurs.

I let Wugs explore his dino world to begin with and then I passed him a jug of water for him to pour onto it. He sloshed the water around making a big muddy mess and then I passed him spoonfuls of vinegar which he added to the mix to create a fizzing effect.

An hour and forty minutes later, he was still standing there working his hands through the chocolatey mud. This must have been his favourite small world play yet!


What we used:
Large shallow container
Chocolate powder drink
Baking soda
Distilled White Vinegar
Stones
Plastic vegetation
Dinosaur figurines
Jugs, scoops, spoons

"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.

Resurrection Garden Small World Play

Happy Easter everyone!  Easter is my favourite celebration of the year.  In the UK, Easter usually marks the end of the long, cold winter and the first daffodils start to bloom.  Moving to a climate that only has the wet and dry season, I don't experience Easter with the same sense of relief, but the Easter message of redemption is just the same.

Ideally I wanted to create a resurrection garden after seeing this inspirational post, but after a disastrous experience with plants last year, I thought I'd better stick to a small world play.

This was probably the hardest small world play I've done so far.  Should the angel be fancy or plain?  Should the angel have a face?  Should the cross feature at all seeing as we are celebrating the fact that he has risen? What colour should the cross be?  I didn't want to trivialise the Easter message and hopefully I haven't.

Wugs enjoyed it.  The tomb ended up being a home to all the animals and the tree was showered in rolled oats and the angel (that I had given so much thought to) was completely abandoned!

What we used:
Fake flowers
Stones
Brown and green playdough
Animal figurines
Craft sticks
Rolled Oats
Wooden Peg Doll
Feathers
Silver Acrylic paint
Silver glitter pen
Scoops

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

Advent Calendar 2013 Activity - Day 11: Christmas Small World Play

This has been my favourite Christmas activity so far. I found a couple of tubes of Christmas-themed figurines and decided to create a small world Christmas scene using them together with "snow dough".  I followed this recipe on the Imagination Tree website.  The brilliant thing about snow dough is that it clumps together just like snow, so I could create a hill for my sledge to go down and hide presents within the scene.  The presents were actually smarties wrapped in coloured transparent paper.  It took Wugs a while to realise that he could unwrap them and eat the contents.

What we used:
2 cups corn flour/starch
1/2 cup vegetable oil
Silver glitter
Transparent paper
Mini Christmas/winter figurines
Scoops
Containers
Tinsel
Smarties

Coral Reef Small World Play

My little family has fallen sick today.  Dooey is congested and Wugs is out of sorts, so I thought we would take our small world play out on to the balcony and soak up some vitamin D.

I set up the coral reef scene by placing some small mats (a mini version of our bath mats) on the base of our plastic tub.  These have small suckers on the bottom and were a good alternative to glass nuggets which I can't find in Singapore.  I built the rest of the scene on top of the mats and placed a bowl of additional figurines and a bowl of pasta shells for Wugs to dunk in the water.

What we used:
Aqua-coloured plastic place mats
Shells and precious stones
Pasta shells (I used these simply because I didn't have many real shells, but it would have worked better with the real ones as the pasta shells made the water cloudy)
Coral reef/underwater-themed figurines
Stones
Scoops

Garden Small World Play

Wugs is fascinated with flowers at the moment.  Thankfully we live in an area that is plentiful with them. Lining the path from our condo to the local supermarket is a hedge full of little orange and yellow flowers. Every time we come back from our walks, Wugs insists on picking an orange flower from the hedge and taking it back home with him.

I decided to have some fun and experiment with a small world  play based on his love of flowers and incorporating a couple of sensory materials.  I added a little edible treat to the small world play in the form of milo chocolate cereal balls which surprisingly took him a while to discover.  He played with this for a full hour and was so careful with the scene that when he finished, we were able to fasten down the lid and play with it the next day.

What we used:
Large shallow container
Green play dough (following this recipe)
Rolled oats
Artificial flowers
Small plastic flowers
Small plastic bird figurines
Toilet roll
Milo chocolate cereal
Scoops
Dishes

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