September 24th, 2009 Natural play Posted by Melitsa in Memes, Outdoor play, play activities, pretend play, Seasonal play

I love the change in seasons. Spring for its new growth but Autumn for its changes.

This was one of those spontaneous activities that just happened and changed for us during the week. Sometimes you just roll with it and take what you can.

We found it by the car, probably off the tree nearby.  What does it look like to you? To us it looked like a snake. So on our way in someone would say, shh mind the snake and we’d sneak past, loudly of course because kids love the silliness of it.
I asked the boys if they wanted to paint the snake but they didn’t. Maybe it’s because each time we went past I’d ask them what colour it is now and it was always something different ( and totally over the top)

The LO toddled over and picked it up so it wasn’t our snake anymore. It was his lever to move a rock; something to chew; a sound against the road.

Each child used it to represent something else all week. We had to pass it on our way anywhere; to school; mail box or out to the car. So we passed it more than five times a day.
It was a magic stick, walking stick, telescope to see if dad was coming home….yet. It would hit a bad guy. It was a kebab stick for the BFG ( We’ve just read the BFG and they both were fascinated with how big he was compared to us. The BG especially keeps trying to find things that would work for a giant….guess he’s thinking of meeting one soon. We also had chicken kebabs that week.)

Since Autumn is about abundance and harvest we should be thankful for what we have when so many have less. We talked about what we were thankful for. It became our talking stick.
A stick can be anything you want it to be. There’s plenty of play things outside this time of year to make a nature table where you can observe and touch or hold and use like they did.

What new play things have your children found outside?

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Melitsa Avila is a former teacher, mother of three boys and military wife who talks about living an intentional play lifestyle using practical and everyday play activities to do with the under 5s. She publishes related ebooks & newsletters. Melitsa is the host and producer of a weekly Early Childhood radio show: Raising Playful Tots bringing parents and carers together with Early childhood practitioners. Thanks for reading!

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