Friday 19 May 2017

Instagram ideas

I don't have a smartphone and have been wandering dazedly about the internet trying to work out how to do instagram on a laptop instead. I'm half way there and have ground to a halt. But, the half way point means I can see others' photos and enjoy and learn from them. Yesterday, I set up my first directly-influenced-by-instagram activity for my older child. @creativeplayideas had posted about loose parts play which I had never thought of doing. I set out a dish of lollypop sticks, buttons and short pieces of wool next to a piece of white cloth.



I didn't call her to come and see, wanting her to see it and be interested (or not) in her own time. When she saw it she wanted to know what it was for, so I explained that the material was like a piece of paper and she could 'draw' with the objects. She immediately set to work, making a person, then a family, who then turned into paramedics (who she's been learning about at nursery).


She worked at it for about 5 or 10 minutes. She made choices and articulated them: 'the buttons are the heads', 'the wool is their hair'. She met with difficulties: 'I need more wool.' She used all the wool on the first person. With a little help, she worked out she could separate out the wool and give all the people some. She then said the family were paramedics and some of the buttons were their vehicle. And finally, she used the empty dish to sit her teddy in and explained to him that the white cloth was like paper. The dish is very shiny underneath and when she turned it over the sun glinted on it. In conversation with her teddy she asked: 'Do you know why it is so shiny?' 'No' replied the bear. 'Because the sun is reflecting through the window on it.'

There was imaginative, creative play, problem-solving, precise language use, fine-motor skills and it was lots of fun to observe.

Wednesday 17 May 2017

Time passing

Last month we had our annual holiday with friends in Scotland, just like I mentioned in my last blog post 4 years ago. The difference this time was that we were there with our two children as well as our friends. Time passes and friendships and holidays stay the same, while new lives unfold and join the story.