Book Play - Mrs Wishy Washy

Another of my favourite books and so much fun to reenact.

The girls had their own tubs and their own animals; a cow, duck and pig.

They also had blue tissue paper for pretend water and a scrub brush.

"Wishy washy, wishy washy"

The brown tissue paper on the floor is pretend mud.

 After washing the animals they went back into the mud for it all to be repeated.

 After they played with their animals for awhile they became the animals; a pig, duck and cow. 

 I became Mrs Wishy Washy.

Each of them had a turn in the tub for me to wash them.

They then went back to the mud, stumping, rolling and flapping.

 Fun in the tubs!

Bringing The Three Bears to Life

I brought my Goldilocks and The Three Bears story bag for the little ones to play with.

I moved their little table over with one of it's hard chairs, added a softer foot stool and a little wood stool for baby bears chair.

A big bowl, a medium bowl and a little bowl with spoons were set on the table.

Blankets were set around on the couch for the bears' beds.

Here is Goldilocks trying them out.

 Each child picked a bear to play with.

C picked Momma Bear,

 M picked Pappa Bear,

and D chose the Baby Bear, although it looks like it is soon to be grabbed by one of her cousins.

The older one, who is familiar with the story, took Goldilocks through her paces.

While the younger ones played with all the props.

 After playing for awhile I moved the table back to it's spot and we set up the bowls and bears.

And the play continues.

My Airplane

This month our Little One has been on an airplane three times.

Late last month I started bringing books about airplanes and airports and reading them with her.

She had her first flight and when it was still fresh in her memory we built a plane of her own to fly.

If you have a little one still in diapers then you probably have a lot of empty diaper boxes just like in this house.  

They are the perfect size for infants and toddlers to play in.

The walls are not too tall so they can climb over them to get in and out, all by themselves.

And they are easy to cut to create anything that our imaginations can design.

Today it's an airplane.

Mom is adding a steering wheel with a cardboard tube and a lid from a yogurt container.

She is pretending how to 'drive' the plane.

A day later she discovers that this steering wheel will slide in and 'out' (as she says).

Watch how she focuses to put the tube back through the hole.

The hole is the natural handle slot in the box.

We added a few props from my airport kit.

A behind the seat pocket that holds emergency instructions and later on a barf bag that they brought home from one of their flights.

We filled a Kleenex box with old plastic grocery bags for a seat and added an old belt for a seat belt.

The seat belt was her favourite thing.

Which was not surprising because she loves to click every belt she sees.

Her high chair, car seat, back pack and stroller.  

That is her job and she won't let you move on until she has done it up.

It's a good skill to know.

I look forward to when she is strong enough to unclip them herself.

June Treasure Basket - Dress Up

This month's treasure basket I decided to bring some dress up clothes and accessories.

She had fun pulling each item out of the bag and trying some on.

Like butterfly wings,

a puppy dog cape,

 a tutu,

glasses (because she has been quite interested in mine),

 construction worker equipment

(like dad might use at his work)

and a little red riding hood cape (because we have been reading that story).

There is more in the basket but she didn't show interest in playing with it.

She was most interested in the doctor's bag and taking out all the equipment inside.

In the two weeks since bringing this basket she hasn't shown much interested, other than the medical bag, but it is now available for her to discover as her interest grows.

Another Cardboard Box

Last month I noticed that my grand daughter was beginning to enjoy pretend play.

When reading a book about food I would pretend to eat it and she thought that was funny.

I thought it would be fun to see what she would do with her own play food so decided to make a kitchen.

I used a diaper box and turned it inside out.

For the sink I found a food container from their kitchen, traced the bottom

and cut out the hole for it to fit in.

Next I added some dishes and she was off,

stirring her imaginary drink.

For the stove top I simply drew circles.

Mom made some tea to share.

The little one is watching and taking it all in.

An oven was made by cutting a door in the front.

One thing her parents commented on was that she was trying to turn the knobs on their gas stove in the kitchen so I found some little knobs and her dad screwed them on to the front.

Now when she touches with the real stove her parents direct her to her own stove.

I brought some little pots and pans, as well as some felt food to add to the play.

And finally I printed a picture of cookies baking and taped it on the inside of the oven door.

Her mom had made a comment that it is often difficult to make dinner because the little one wants to be with her (and usually hangs on to her legs).

So I suggested moving the card board kitchen into their kitchen so she could stay busy.

It worked great.

 

Especially when mom joined in the fun.

 Happy cooking!