Today I have a guest post from Anna to remind us all that children play anywhere, any table, any chair, any castle, tower or gate, our small children a game can make!

Here are some of her lovely ideas for encouraging play.

Play is such a simple and vital need for all children. Whether young babies playing and exploring objects in their own way, or older children making up complicated games with many rules and details.

The games I remember the most fondly from childhood are not always the most expensive or the ‘must have’ toy but more often it’s the games played with siblings, cousins, friends – the games played with lots and lots of imagination and the freedom to develop the play however you want!

Even in today’s generation with even more digital media, and toys and attractions with so many amazing features, I still don’t think simple every day play will ever lose its value. We recently went to an adventure park with loads of really exciting activities, but at the end of the day my 5 year old chose the den building as his favourite – simply playing and building with sticks in the woods!

The possibilities for this kind of Heuristic every day play are so wide but I thought I would share just a few ideas which may come in handy for the rest of the summer holidays.

Messy Play
Messy Play is something that is always emphasised here on Edspire, and encouraged as a legacy to little Matilda Mae and is something I love to cover on my own blog too. These are some simple ideas which can be used for messy every day play:

Paint
Finger painting. Foot prints. Trains or cars to make tracks. Drizzling paint. Colour Mixing. Stamping.
Rice
Filling and pouring, mixing and pretend cooking, combining with other ingredients to compare the textures – lentils, spices, pasta, pulses.
Weetabix and Oats
With pretend diggers, tractors and animals, great for pretend farm play
Water
In big containers or small containers, for pouring, splashing, swimming. Painting on walls or blackboard with water and a paint brush. Making it special by mixing in colour, or glitter, or stars, or waterproof lights. Using water beads to see how the water absorbs.

Imaginary play in the big wide world.

Again the possibilities are endless here and these are really my favourite kind of play memories, so much fun to explore, and learn and imagine.

As a parent sometimes you do feel tired, and for me remembering that the children will hopefully create some treasured memories with these experiences really pushes me to try and do more. Here are some ideas:

Exploring Castles & Ruins
There is always something so fun about castles whether fully preserved, or in my opinion it’s just as good if there are ruins which are safe to run around and explore. So many nooks and crannies to find, stairs to climb, windows to peep out of, walls to walk along, history to remember and imagine. Castles were a personal favourite of mine as a child and I love having the chance to pass that excitement on to my children, and see how amazed they look when they realise that the ruins in front of them were once part of a real castle with real knights, real horses and real battles!

Exploring the Woods or Forests
So many possibilities in the woods and forests too. Making dens, climbing trees, woodland picnic, climbing and playing on fallen logs, exploring the different leaves, acorns and conkers, searching for squirrels, birds and wildlife of all kinds!

Exploring the Fields and Countryside
Running as far and fast as you can through the open fields, rolling down hills, paddling in streams, picnics and playing chase, spotting sheet and climbing over stiles!

Exploring Farms
I was lucky enough to go to Ireland as a young child were we have relatives with farms, so I have great memories of playing in the mud in our wellies, making up great games in the hay stacks, watching the older children milk the cows.

Exploring Parks
In Urban areas some of the above are not always so easily accessible especially if you don’t have a car but even exploring in the parks can be made just as exciting especially if you can discover new parks and playgrounds which you have not visited before. So much fun just playing on the climbing equipment and making up games, making daisy chains, doing handstands and cartwheels on the grass, swinging up high on the swings!

Exploring Garden Centres
They may have water features, aquarium, tropical greenhouses with lots of exotic plants and flowers.

Anywhere really can be fun to explore and play, if you put your mind to it!