A little inspiration for your next play session

Creating an Outdoor Space for Play

Before I had N I had never heard of loose parts play, sensory play, stump circles or water tables. I didn't know you could make your own tree blocks, create playgrounds out of rocks and logs, create outdoor kitchens and make your own sandbox with little or no experience building. 

Then my son learned to walk but still only had a four minute attention span for his toys, and I found myself wondering, what will we do? What kind of space can I create so that my son will be happy and safe at home for at least some hours of every day? 

So I began to read during naptime. I checked out what Modern Parents Messy Kids had to say on the subject. I perused the thoughts of Teacher Tom. I hopped into the wide world of Pinterest and pinned photos of inspiring backyards onto my board. 

Then I found some stumps and lucked into some big rocks. I made a path for N to climb on across the yard with some of the rocks and stumps and scattered some stumps around as tables. I built two water tables. I built Ana White's Fold-Out Bench Sandbox and it was just not that hard. I scattered some buckets and shovels around. I made some tree blocks like Counting Coconuts. 

Now we play in the backyard every day. Pouring water, stacking blocks, making potions, seeing if this and that will float or sink. And when other kids come over, look out. It's a wild ride. Today we had four one and a half year olds out there and it was wet and sandy and great. 

The Nature Box

Nature. It's hard to beat. N and I are lucky to have a lot of natural spaces to play in - wonderful nearby parks, a great outdoor garden at our local children's museum, the lake at our cabin. But there are rainy days. And really cold days. And days when we need something awesome to do just before lunch.

Enter, our nature box. Right now it has a big shell, some coral (N's favorite, by far), a sawed out section of our Christmas tree, a coconut shell, different colored rocks, and a tile washed up on the beach in Mexico.

N likes to touch each one, carry them on little laps around the living room, and sometimes stack them together. I showed him how to hide items under the coconut shell and the big shell, and he returns to this fairly often.

There is something about this box. N is always interested. And it's fun to be on the lookout for the next addition - a great piece of driftwood, a big pinecone, a seed pod. We've only played with our current box for a week or so, but I plan to keep the contents shifting.