This week, we spent a lot of time immersed in imaginative play. On Tuesday, we found several stories unfolding as the children played with cars on a table covered with soap suds. First T and J were "crashing the cars", and then S joined in. I asked where their busy cars were going. "To a restaurant" answered T. J seconded the idea: "It's going to drive to that restaurant", while S came up with a whole new destination. "It's going to asotk", which a pretend place, and she was kind enough to spell it out for me. This play continued for quite a while, and we added some containers to the table too, to see what sort of tracks they made in the suds.
We've also been doing a lot of driving together. I'd cut out the center of several paper plates and these were introduced to the children as props to use for a steering wheel. We have had a lot of 'bus rides' recently, as well as singing songs about the bus. Later in the day, we spent some time setting up ramps to roll nuts down on. This activity requires some thought and trial and error: how to support the ramp to keep it from sliding around at the bottom as well as how to contain the nuts being rolled down. The children played that the ramp slid down into "water. There are sharks in there!" T placed a cluster of nuts inside the middle of a paper plate and announced that the nuts were "stuck in a tent".
Sometimes, more elaborate stories unfold. On Thursday, S had some of the wooden animals and decided that she wanted to make a zoo. J was holding cars and wanted to use the rug for roads, so we worked out a plan of roads that led to the zoo. Then, enclosures were built for the zoo. By now, V had joined in; she wanted to make a restaurant (notice a theme here?), so we designated a space on the rug for this. V scattered the smaller unit blocks around, telling us that these were the chairs and tables, and we brought in the dollhouse people to eat there. But S had a concern: her doll needed to use the potty ( a very reasonable concern, I have to say) and so she began to use one of the restaurant chairs. V protested loudly that "It's a chair, not a potty" and so S found a wedge shaped block to use for a toilet. But where to put the toilet? Apparently, the middle of the restaurant was the ideal first choice, so as not to miss out on the action, but after a question ("When you go to a restaurant and have to go potty, where to you usually go?") it was mutually agreed that the restroom could be located next to the restaurant dining area. Many of the children's concerns were reflected in their play, and this has probably been our most in-depth group story yet.
Open-ended props and toys contribute greatly to our children's freedom to imagine. S and V used clipped fern leaves as fishing poles, poking them out of the back gate. "Look Hazel, I caught a flounder!" said both girls at different times, holding up their invisible fish. The ferns also became ingredients for the soup they were concocting in the backyard; they have been used as a floor for the Children's House and were stacked over at the trunk of the plum tree, which is also a play house. Pieces of wood in the sandbox were used as a bridge over a valley--and then a makeshift balance beam. The valley was flooded by torrential watering cans the next day, and I noticed aloud that all the water had buried some of our cars partway under sand. This led to scraping out the cars (which are actually bulldozer tractors) and scooping the sand began in earnest. I showed them how to use the long side of the wood pieces to smooth the sand, and many sandcastles were built, then promptly squashed by the rainboots of our little giants.
Some other fine moments this week:
The children using the paper lacing cards as "kites", swinging them around in the "wind".
A continuation of our collage work: we used our glitter glue pens to add more color, beads and crepe paper to the car track collage we started two weeks ago.
Planting sunflower and flower seeds in the backyard; the children brought scoops of sand to help prepare the soil and planted seeds.
Children working together on a small pegboard to make a "Christmas tree" --a random pattern with many colors.
Coffee filters dipped into watercolor became butterflies, once we added pipe cleaners. The children enjoyed the folding and dipping parts most.
Water play in the big washtub; examining things that float and sink.
Decorating colorful birds, as we are reading a lot about birds and nests right now.*
Working together to build a big transportation floor puzzle.
S says to J: "I'm growing, J. And you're growing too!"
See you again next week for more fun outdoors and in!
*Just a note: One of the books we are reading is Leo Lionni's "Nathaniel, Where Have You Been?" about a mouse who, being seized by a crow, falls into a friendly birds nest. Because some of the conflict between the mice and birds is depicted a bit strongly, I've edited the book for our group. While the conflict is integral to the story, some of the words and depictions are not exactly pleasant. Please know that we skip several pages and get to the happy resolution without visiting the darker parts of the story.
