15 Bookish Play Ideas For World Book Day

A collection of 15 bookish play ideas

We love setting up book baskets and small worlds

Linked to books we are reading

And favourite stories

I share all our play ideas over on Instagram and to Facebook

Do come and see what we get up to

Here are 15 ideas

To celebrate World Book Day through play

ABC

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A little ABC set up for Bea and Edie to discover in the morning. Matching letters to letters in some of our favourite ABC books from @quartokids Also trying to write their letters on the drawing board from @petitcollage and placing the letters in the puzzle tray from @ilovehape I am going that after some play and looking at the pictures they will ask me to read them the books. They are about love and mindfulness and introducing a whole alphabet of career possibilities for the future. The books are full of bright illustrations and ideas and inspiration for little people. The books are going to hopefully inspire us to think a little about each other, our future and how to be more mindful, loving and thankful as a family #somanywaystoplay #love #mindfulness #invitationtoplay #invitationtoread #invitationtoreadandplay #bookishplay #abcplay #earlylearning #playfullearning #homeeducation #homeeducationuk #mentalhealth #mindfulkids #bookinspiredplay #play

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DRAGONS, DINOSAURS AND UNICORNS

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#When the night comes and the stars fill the sky, when dragons are sleeping the fairies fly by.ā€ We love this beautiful bedtime rhyme written by @mrjamesmayhew and illustrated by @lindseygardiner Tomorrow we start our second #letteroftheweek We are learning all about D so where better to start than with dragons and dreams and a picture book filled with fairies and magic. Hoping the children will act out the story in this small world and make up some magical tales of their own #bookishplay #bookinspiredplay #bookbasedplay #smallworldplay #imaginativeplay #sensorystorytime #sensorystorytelling #storytelling #invitationtoplay #invitationtoread #invitationtoreadandplay #playfullearning #letthemplay #childrensbooks #kidsbooks #picturebooks #kidsbookstagram #bookstagram #chatplayread #readalongplayalong

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NATURE

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We are learning about plant life cycles and what plants need to survive as part of our home education. We have been using these beautiful @usborne_books and some of our favourite toys for some #playfullearning The wooden flower bed is from @threadbear.design @tenderleaftoys You can plant and arrange the wooden flowers and water them with a cute wooden watering can. Tender Leaf Toys also make the wooden wheelbarrow in the pictures. It comes with plants and plant pots and pretend packets of seeds. The flower arranging set from @bigjigstoys is made with environmentally friendly plastic #greentoys and is a lovely toy. The garden themed tray puzzle is beautiful quality and can be used in imaginative play pretending to be a garden planner. #somanywaystoplay #bookishplay #usbornebooks #woodentoys #invitationtoplay #invitationtolearn #bookinspiredplay #playfullittlelearners #homeeducation #homeeducationuk

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I have set up this #invitationtoplay for the morning. Inspired by the book Tap The Magic Tree, a wonderful interactive book showing how trees change though the seasons. Children are invited to tap the page, turn the page, shake the book to hell the magical changes along. It is a wonderful book to share with little people. It is perfectly suited to these stacking tree toys from @plantoysuk and @tenderleaftoys @threadbear.design I have also added some garden dominoes also from Tender Leaf Toys. I am hoping that the children will read the book together, talk about how trees change, think about what grows on trees, which animals live in, on and around trees. The tree in the book is an apple tree making this the perfect #invitationtoread as we continue our own apple harvest #bookishplay #bookinstagram #bookinspiredplay #weloveautumnplay #playfullearning #playfullittlelearners #letthemplay #letthemread #tapthemagictree #weloveautumnplay2019 #weloveautumnbooks #playandlearn #learningthroughplay #imaginativeplay #play #playmatters #autumnplay #woodentoys #bookish #childrensbooks #kidsbooks #sensorystorytime #sensorystorytelling

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JULIA DONALDSON

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Edie absolutely loves the story of The Giant Jumperee. A naughty little frog hides in rabbitā€™s burrow and scares the rabbit and her friends cat, bear and elephant. They are all scared and afraid to get the giant jumperee out of the burrow. Until along comes mummy frog who knows just what to do. She counts to three 1 2 3 and out comes the naughty little frog to be taken home for tea. Told with rhythm and rhyme synonymous with Julia Donaldson this is such a fun read aloud and perfect for some small world play. This little book basket is set up ready for William to use with Edie tomorrow. He knows the story off by heart and she always asks him to recite it for her over and over again. Tomorrow they will be able to act out the story together and I cannot wait to watch them do it! #bookishplay #readalongplayalong #sensoryplay #sensorystorytime #sensorystorytelling #storytime #letthemread #letthemplay #readaloudfamily #bookishplayideas #bookstagram #childrensbooks #picturebook #kidsbooks #booksforkids #readchatplay #playtime #shallweplaytoday

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Have you read Fletcher and the Falling Leaves. It is such a lovely story about a baby fox cub who has a favourite tree and is worried that it is sick as itā€™s leaves start to change colour and fall off. The little fox wants to help the tree and cannot understand why no one else is worried or alarmed. This is a heartwarming illustration of seasonal changes seen through the eyes of a child. #autumn #aweandwonder #savourtheseason #weloveautumnbooks #autumntrees #autumnleaves #weloveautumnplay #weloveautumnplay2019 #trayfortheday #bookishplay #bookbasedplay #bookinspiredplay #playfullearning #invitationtoread #invitationtoplay #sensorystorytime #sensorystorytelling #seasonaltales #woodentoys @harpercollinsuk @tenderleaftoys @threadbear.design @holztiger_uk @janod.uk #play #readandplay

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Edie is absolutely obsessed with this book, The Enormous Potato. It is based on The Enormous / Gigantic Turnip. In this story the farmer is helped by his wife, his daughter, their dog, their cat and a mouse. They all then wash the potato, chop the potato, salt and butter the potato and then, of course, eat the potato. I have set up this super simple #bookishplay so that Edie can act out the story. I cannot wait to hear her storytelling. She is really good at it … for a two year old! #bookstagram #childrensbooks #bookbasedplay #bookinspiredplay #traditionaltales #storytelling #readchatplay #invitationtoplay #invitationtoread #sensorystorytime #sensorystorytelling #weloveautumnplay #weloveautumnplay2019 #weloveautumnbooks #theenormouspotato #bookish #picturebook #picturebooks #booksforchildren

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We are learning about hedgehogs and hibernation this week. I have setup this book inspired small world play for Edie and Bea to retell two of our favourite stories. It Was A Cold Dark Night by @timhopgood tells the story of Ned the hedgehog looking for a place to sleep for winter. He finds rabbits in their burrow, foxes in their den, bats in the barn and owls nesting in the trees. The bat tells Ned to look down where he sees a lovely crunchy pile of leaves to sleep in for the winter. In Wide Awake Hedgehog our prickly friend does not want to go to sleep. All the other animals are too busy to play, squirrel is collecting nuts, dormouse is making a nest. The North Wind plays with the little hedgehog and wears him out so he is ready to settle down and sleep all winter. These two books are just perfect for introducing the idea of hibernation to very young children and this bookish play set up lets them explore further. Edie loves me to read out the story while she plays. She makes the animals move and interact and is very good at doing their voices. We have used some fabric autumn leaves, a selection of wooden animals and trees to create this woodland setting. We will add to it throughout the week I think with natural autumn treasures we finds while out on our adventures. Happy Monday! What will you be playing today?

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BEARS

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This weekend sees the start of Chinese New Year 2020. The beginning of a new lunar year. We have been learning about the festival this week and the country of China. Today I set up a panda bear small world for Esther. She loves bears and has been learning all about different species. She loved this set up so much. Her face melted my heart and watching her play was a joy. I lined a wooden tray with tin foil and then covered the foil with peppermint playdough. I made it with peppermint tea following the non cook playdough recipe from the lovely Anna @imaginationtree The dough is lovely and smells amazing!! I added some blue glass beads to make a pool or rover. Esther pointed out that Panda Bears are not swimming bears. We made bamboo trees using sprigs of rosemary, fresh mint provided more greenery and cinnamon sticks acted as logs on the ground. Our pandas are @schleichofficial pandas. Esther has#d a wonderful time making up stories with this set up. She loved referring to her bear books for information to help with her storytelling. The playdough was a great addition to this #invitationtoplay She loved making paw prints and bear tracks in the dough. The smell of the playdough and the herbs was really lovely and added another level to her sensory play. I was really pleased with this small world play and Esther was too x

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This Christmas I am mostly buying books for our children and I want to try and bundle them up with toys to make book baskets or bookish play sets. This little combination of dress up bears from @melissaanddougtoys and Whereā€™s Mrs Bear? Felt flaps book from @nosycrow would be perfect for young toddlers. The book is beautiful and interactive. We love playing peek a boo with these books and there are lots of different ones to collect. The bears are great for exploring what we wear, when and why, also good for thinking about emotions, feelings and facial expressions. Together they make a lovely gift idea for any little ones who love bears and they offer #somanywaystoplay #bookstagram #bookishplay #readplaytalk #readchatplay #booksforchristmas #toddlerbooks #boardbooks #sensorystorytime #sensorystorytelling #bears #woodentoys #christmasgifts #christmasgiftideas #christmastoys #christmasgiftideasforkids #bookbasedplay #bookinspiredplay #nosycrow #nosycrowbooks #picturebooks #boardbooks

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OWLS

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As autumn arrives it is time to bring out the autumn books. Edie loves owls and so today I made her a little owl book basket. Containing lots of different cuddly owls, Thatā€™s Not My Owl and Night Noises from @usborne_books and Whereā€™s Mr Owl from @nosycrow Edie loves to look through the books, read them to the owls, act out stories with the cuddly owls and take them off on adventures. For the morning I have set up a little owl and cat painting task with the books. She will use @littlebrianpaintsticks to colour in the animals featured in the books. #somanywaystoplay #bookishplay #bookbasket #invitationtocreate #invitationtoread #invitationtoplay #weloveautumnplay #autumnbooks #thatsnotmy #usbornebooks #nosycrow #nosycrowbooks #sensorystorytime #sensorystorytelling #toddlerbooks #lifttheflapbook

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