By Cathy James on November 10th, 2010% 
How much fun is it to be a child in your home? Do you ever stop to think about how the house looks from their point of view? My task for this week is to conduct a Child’s Eye Audit of our living space, to try and make the rooms more child- and play-friendly. The audit need only take a few minutes and might suggest simple changes to make to improve the play space.
To conduct a child’s eye audit, sit or kneel down so you’re at your child’s eye-level and consider the following things.
1. Safety first. Most importantly, the room needs to be safe and it’s useful t0 review this aspect of your home from time to time as children grow taller, become more mobile or more adventurous. Think about what your child can reach, what you don’t want them to reach and make any necessary adjustments.
2. Child’s eye view. Sit back for a minute on the floor and scan the room. What’s visible to your child at their height, and what’s not? You might display all their lovely paintings on the wall and fridge door – but are they too high for your child to actually see? Is their view just of empty walls? Hang some art work at a lower level or set up a low shelf or table with a display of things they can enjoy.
3. Within reach. Consider how accessible your toys are. Do you have an enabling environment where your child can independently help themselves to toys and resources to use in their play or is everything out of reach? Try to find a balance so you can keep the space tidy whilst still allowing free access. Open shelving and low baskets work well for us with some materials such as paint stored higher up.
4. Ring the changes. Do you always have they same toys out? Sometimes putting away familiar toys and bringing out some forgotten ones can spark new creativity and fun. Don’t have a complete change of resources though, as children do like to know where favourite toys are. With Christmas on the way now is a good time to have a toy audit, donating ones your child has grown out of to the charity shop and getting ideas for their Christmas list.
5. Invitation to play. Do you have any toys that never get played with, or activities that you child rarely takes part in? What can you change to make things more inviting? If you’d like to encourage some more reading, perhaps you could set up a cosy reading corner or story tent – with comfy cushions, a basket of tempting books and a favourite teddy to share with? If your toy kitchen has been ignored for a while, add some new resources to catch your child’s eye: a muffin tin and paper cake cases, some jars of real dried pasta, a recipe book from your shelf or lay the table for a birthday tea and surprise your child with a new play possibility.
Do you sometimes review things from your child’s point of view? What changes have you made to make your space more child- and play- friendly? Leave a comment and share an idea with us.
By Cathy James on October 19th, 2010% 
I’m writing this at one o’clock in the afternoon and the sky is grey and the rain is tumbling down. It’s making me think about how the weather affects our play, and particularly I’m thinking about how much time we spend outdoors in autumn and winter. I don’t think there’s any question that playing outside is wonderful for children: the fresh air, the feeling of space, the sensory benefits of being in nature. I certainly know with my own two girls, and all the children I’ve looked after, that if we’re having a grumpy sort of day, getting outside – in the garden, park or just for a walk – most often is all that’s needed to lighten everyone’s mood.
But it’s getting colder now, and windy and rainy and dark. If you’re the type who is happy to be outside all the time in all weathers, I really do salute you. I however am naturally inclined to prefer a hot cup of coffee and a warm blanket inside! We do play outside everyday, whatever the weather, but there’s no denying we play outdoors less in winter – which I’m guessing is the same for lots of you? So, I’m resolving to put more thought into getting out there and planning on bringing you some posts over the next few months that inspire us to venture out. I’d also like to invite you to share your ideas too. The Play Academy carnival on Friday is open to any of your posts and I’d also love to hear from you if you’d like to write a guest post here. (On any play subject in fact, not just on playing outside. You can e-mail me cathy (at) nurturestore (dot) co (dot) uk if you have an idea you’d like to write about).
To start us off, my top three tips for getting outside, whatever the weather are…
- Keep yourself warm. If you’re wearing the right clothes, you’re much more likely to enjoy your time outside. Pretty much all the children I know don’t care if it’s cold, windy or raining – they are active kids and just love being outside. So, to help everyone enjoy themselves outside, and to stop you cutting short the children’s outdoor fun because you’ve had enough, my first tip is to make sure you are wearing the right clothes. Layer up, don’t forget your hat and gloves and make sure you are cosy.
- Get active. We’re going to shift our outdoor play away from fairy gardens and dinosaur world’s and include lots more active games. Hopscotch, skipping, what’s the time Mr. Wolf are great fun and will keep everyone on the move.
- Audit your outdoor space. Now is a good time to review your garden and get it ready for the colder months. Think about what you play outside and re-locate things or make changes to suit the weather. We’ll move the sandpit and den to under our covered area and make sure there are lots of props outside ready to spark active play (bikes, balls, kites, hula hoops). We’re not likely to do as much water play outside, so I’ll be thinking of ways to bring this inside.
What about you – are you an all weather family? How do you promote lots of outdoor play, whatever the weather?
By Cathy James on September 11th, 2010% Back in January I resolved to make 2010 our Year of Play. I’ve been thinking about this again this month as L has started at school. In last week’s Play Academy link-up I talked about wanting to make sure the girls still have lots of opportunity for playing, as well as schooling. So this weeks Twitter Tips are dedicated to having a playful return to school. The Twitter Tips get tweeted on a Friday at 8.30pm and in previous weeks they’ve started great twitter conversations, with people swapping ideas. The main thing I love about blogging is it being a forum to get inspiration and encouragement from others, so please feel free to add your own ideas in the comments or on our Facebook page. Join in, swap ideas, go play!
How to have a playful Back to School
#goplay Twitter Tip #1If you’re using after school clubs check how playful they are: do they offer free play after a structured school day
#goplay Twitter Tip #2Make the school run fun: cycle, scoot or play i-spy. Leave a little earlier to let the kids play a bit before class
#goplay Twitter Tip #3 Set up a play invitation in the morning to entice the kids to play before they switch on the TV
#goplay Twitter Tip #4 Rediscover some old school favourites such as conkers or fortune tellers
#goplay Twitter Tip #5 Consider how many clubs to join so after school play time isn’t lost in a busy schedule.
#goplay Twitter Tip #6 Encourage playground fun by packing a skipping rope in the book bag. Ready for Ten has a great skipping tutuorial
#goplay Twitter Tip #7 Plan family time for the weekend: it doesn’t have to be expensive or extravagant but do make sure it happens.
#goplay Twitter Tip #8 Consider screen time. Could your kids live without TV for an hour, a day, a week? What could they play instead?
#goplay Twitter Tip #9 Locate the park nearest your school and stop off any day day you can on the way home. Enjoy some #playoutdoors
#goplay Twitter Tip#10 Instead of only setting up a homework area set up a play area too. Add untoys & let them #goplay
How do you feel about the balance between school and play time? How do you manage homework at the weekend? Do your kids attend a playful school?
Happily shared with Top Ten Tuesday.
By Cathy James on September 3rd, 2010% Use the linky below to add your post to the Play Academy
Our summer holidays are drawing to a close and my Little is starting school on Monday (oh my!). I feel very strongly that our play should keep going. B is moving up to the Juniors and although her school offers are great curriculum including play, art, music, drama and experiments I think it’s inevitable that her lessons will become more and more about schooling. September always feels like the start of the year to me, so I’m keeping in mind my resolution to make 2010 our Year of Play, and we’ll certainly be limiting our after school clubs and weekend commitments to allow plenty of time for playing. How do you feel about finding a balance between schooling (or home educating) and play?
I’m looking forward to getting even more inspiration from your Play Academy ideas this week – hope you’ll add a link.
1. Add your post to the Linky below. Remember to link to the individual post rather than your homepage. If you are not a blogger please visit the NurtureStore Facebook page and share your photo there.
2. Go and visit some of the other blogs on the Linky. Leave a comment and say hi. Get ideas. Tell them you’re visiting from the Play Academy.
3. Add a link back from your own post to this Play Academy – your readers can then come and get ideas too. You can use the Play Academy badge if you like.(Grab the code from the column on the left.)
4. Come back next Friday and swap some more play ideas. The next Play Academy linky will be Friday 10th September.
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