Keep Life Simple...Go for a Swing

Miniature Landscapes

Head outdoors and create some miniature landscapes or terrariums.  This activity is definitely about the process and not the end result.  Each child used a container to create a small landscape using mud, moss, grass or whatever they could find.  The end result was meant for them to use with their play figures but they all just enjoyed creating versus playing with it.  When I was a child, we would collect samples for our own terrariums as we hiked through the woods.   

Mixing up some mud to use in her container.

Getting dirty while packing in the mud.

One of the finished products!

Pretend Crutches

This is super simple but hours of pretend play. Just use cardboard tubes as pretend crutches. The ones pictured are thick cardboard so they have held up well. You could tape two long tubes together. These make a great addition for pretend hospital.

Need more ideas for pretend hospital check out these pretend pages from GrowingPlay.

Pretend Play - Apothecary

The other night the kids had loads of fun creating "remedies".  Not sure why they came up with this word but they concocted many recipes just using water, milk and spices.  It was Dad's job to taste test!  He says he can still taste one that had too much cinnamon.  They did this for an hour the other night without any help (except the taste tasting) and even washed all the dishes.

After listening to them describe their elixirs, they were so proud of each of their remedies created to cure various ailments.  It certainly was a vocabulary lesson for the younger ones who had never heard of words like cumin, oregano or poultry seasoning.

This was a great kid-created, free play activity which encouraged:

• imagination
• creativity
• measuring, mixing and stirring
• sensory experiences of taste and smell
• reading skills

Visit www.GrowingPlay.com for more pretend play ideas.

Keep Life Simple - Go bike riding.

Jug Catchers

Recently, I saw this milk jug catcher over at Family Fun and it reminded me that I had made a set of these catchers years ago.   They are so simple.  Just cut off the bottom of a milk container and cover with a bit of duct tape for decoration.  Hold the container by the handle and start playing catch with a friend.  I love this activity because even young children can play it.  The opening is large and it is easy to hold.  I prefer this to a game of velcro catch where the ball can be very hard to remove for some young ones.  If you want to make it more difficult for older kids, play with a ping pong ball.  The ball is smaller and it bounces easily out of the container so it is trickier to catch.  

Try playing this game in the water - the milk containers scoop up a lot of water.  Adds a whole new dimension to a water fight!

This activity encourages:

• eye hand coordination
• bilateral coordination
• fun!

I am sharing this post over at the Kids Co-op.

Cardboard Box Road Maps

 When all the fun has been exhausted from your cardboard boxes and the sides ripped from all the climbing in and out, flatten out the box and draw some roads for the toy cars to drive on.  Add some play houses to drive up to for more imaginative play.  Creating the road map is usually the most fun.