Esther and William love having an activity set up ready for them when they return from school
Autumn is a lovely season for small world play
So many seasonal things can be included
Conkers, apples, acorns, corn
So many wonderful woodland or farmyard animals
Harvest time is an inspirational time for sensory play
This month I made Esther and William individual autumn worlds of play
Esther has a forest floor in a box
While William has a farm in a tray
Both spaces are very small
But are proving to be just what we need for a small window of play after school
Esther’s box was inspired by one of our favourite autumn stories
Squirrel’s Autumn Search
I lined the box with felt
Red, brown, golden, green
I then poured rice on to it
I added piles of pasta
To be log pile houses
Animal dens
We added berries and conkers
Acorns and stones
Autumn leaves were strewn around
And then the animals were added
Squirrels and hedgehogs
Rabbits and hares
Badgers and birdies
Foxes and moles
Before adding the creatures and seasonal bits
We used the rice for some mark making
We made letters from our names
And the initial sounds of our autumn collections
S for squirrel
E for Esther
C for conker
A for Autumn
In William’s tray was a smaller version of his Harvest Farm
He loves ploughing the fields with his mini tractors
And loading their trailers
He loves gathering feed for his animals
How I love to watch him play
How I love to watch them both play
Together as they so often do
Or independently as in this instance
How I love to listen to the stories that they tell
The scenarios they concoct
The voices they give their characters
How I love to listen to them play
Esther and William love small world play
And so do I
It encourages talking and listening as children play together or at least alongside each other
It allows children to create stories around things they know or often stories they have read
It helps children to process ideas and new concepts
It allows children to communicate their thinking, their feelings, their fears
It enables adults to find out what new things children have been doing as they bring them into their play
This has been really useful for me since Esther and William started school
Small world play gives children a tiny space of their own
To fill with the things they enjoy
To fill with their imaginations
And how I love to watch them play
Here are some of my other small world play posts
What an absolutely delightful idea. I am going to go and have a rummage through my cupboards now for one for tomorrow 😉 great idea for rainy days and school holidays. Yay!