May 19th, 2010 Boxes make a great toy Posted by Melitsa in Memes, play activities, pretend play

This post is part of Childhood 101 ” We Play” Please visit the others and find out what they were playing this week.

May 6th, 2010 Everyday moments of play Posted by Melitsa in Memes, play activities, pretend play

Everyday moments of play are priceless. The LO loves to follow you around and be close. While I was pottering around the kitchen I gave him some stacked plastic cups. When he found them he sat and played for a long time. I love how they find so many different things to do. After a few clicks of the camera he was interested in the camera so I got no more shots.
Stacking is his favourite kitchen activity. He loved squeezing because cans and cups, his usual stacking fun, don’t squeeze so a real treat for him.

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This post is part of Childhood 101 ” We Play” Please visit the others and find out what they were playing this week.

April 29th, 2010 We Play Posted by Melitsa in Homemade, Media, Memes, Podcast, pretend play, Sites to visit, Thought of the week

We play in the kitchen.

Welcome to the drums section of a very loud concert ( Can you hear me shouting that!)

or is it official taste tester of the new and improved LO sauce. Better than mummy’s with the secret ingredient?

or is it just fun to take things out of cupboards and off tables and line them up in a row?

I think it’s all three and more.

This post is part of Childhood 101 ” We Play”

“Come over and play at the Childhood 101 We Play link up” and see the others.

We Play….

Mentioned in the Raising Playful Tots Podcast

Raising Playful Tots is an Internet radio or Podcast available 24hrs a day . Host: Melitsa Avila of Play Activities. Download each episode yourself visit each show notes to do this or have iTunes do this automatically for you.

Week 25th April 2010: Positive Parents with Sue Atkins. Sue is a Parenting coach and Author of Raising Happy Children for Dummies about being a positive parent.

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April 9th, 2010 Make your own puppet and storytelling Posted by Melitsa in Homemade, language, play activities, pretend play

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http://raisingplayfultots.com/podcast/raising-playful-tots-show-20-books-by-tara

Have you listened, I mean really listened, to the long and convoluted stories our preschoolers tell?

You know the ones that seem to go on forever and sometimes, it seems optional to have an end point? The MO has a lot of these and I don’t think he’s alone. They tell the most fascinating stories and yarns to be spun I think. All this hot air storytelling  has had us in stitches and seems to be a waste because we don’t remember them except to tell family or friends who happen to call that day. Then poof! That story is gone. This week we tried to change that.

First  we made puppets. We looked at the boxes and decided to make two animals. See slideshow below. ( If you’re reading this through a feed reader or email then you’ll have to see the slideshow at the site)

Second I asked the MO who they were and tell me their story. I wrote the jist of it down. Yes he did go off at tangents, frequently. When I retold the story I was told off edited. The final version had a lot more additions. This was the first draft.

Sounds very much like the Oliver Jeffers books ” Lost and Found” and “The Way Back Home“…………curiously we’ve not read in a while. (Who said children don’t remember stories?)

Third gather props and act out the show as I read.

We had the best fun doing this activity together. He was able to put on his “show” story. He’s already dreaming up more adventures.

Now we have a copy of this story and the first of many I hope.

Another storyteller using props in stories Memetales| Creating Story Props – Collaging

Do you make props for your stories or stories for your props?

April 6th, 2010 Play Activities with plastic Easter Eggs Posted by Melitsa in Homemade, play activities, pretend play, Seasonal play

Drowning in empty Plastic Easter Eggs? Don’t throw them away. Recycle them into part of an imaginary show.

As we they sat eating Easter Eggs today. We were making funny faces with them  a bit like the Muppets and trying to make them talk. ( Too much chocolate)

We had altogether too much fun. Since we had a few this is what we made

Tried to convince the boys they had their own Loch Ness but they decided they have some new dinosaurs instead. I need to tell them the Nelly story.

Imaginary play- can’t beat it!

For more play activities with empty egg containers

• Adventures of a flake | Eggcellent Eggs!
• Pocketful–of–posies | E is for Egg
• United teaching |Sorting Plastic Easter Eggs
• No time for flashcards |Preschool Science – Sink or Float?
• Lets-Explore |Fun With Plastic Eggs

What do you do with your empty egg containers?

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