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Dressing up ideas

16/02/2011 by Cathy James 18 Comments

>>>> Download my guide to creative storytelling activities here

Do your children love dressing up?

Along with building dens, dressing up is one of our all time favourite ways to play. I wonder just why children find dressing up so much fun? I think perhaps it makes their play come to life even more if they’re kitted out in the right costume to really get into character. Mine like to match their clothes with their play sometimes – so they’ll wear a hardhat when they’re playing with the trucks – but often they like to accessorise and customise their outfits to see them through the whole day, whatever they’re playing.

If you haven’t got a dressing up box I’d definitely recommend putting one together. It doesn’t have to be an extensive wardrobe or cost a lot of money, and getting together some items can really spark your children’s play and encourage them be creative and imaginative. Here are some Dressing Up Ideas:

Ditch the Disney? Don’t feel you have to go all out for shop bought fancy dress costumes. These can be very expensive and I find the fabric, and especially any net, can be itchy and not hard wearing. They’ re also difficult to wash. Although both my two enjoy dressing up in a princess dress sometimes, I think these themed costumes can be a little limiting as all the deciding and customising has been done for you.
Gather props from your own wardrobe, grandparents and charity shops – much cheaper and I always find children enjoy getting their hands on ‘real’ grown-up stuff.
Go for simple, open ended options. Pieces of fabric and scarves provide lots of colour and texture and let your children decide what kind of costume they want to put together. These items are versatile so give lots more play options too: a piece of material can be a cape, a skirt, wings, a hat.
Think about including items from different cultures and styles of dress: headscarves, tunics, saris, and different patterned materials.
Hats are a great option as they’re so easy to for children to put on and take off by themselves, so even toddlers can join in and design their own outfit. We have woolly hats, flap caps, hardhats, sun hats, crowns and a chef’s hat.
You might like to add in some things the children can use to fasten the fabric together – kilt pins and safety pins work well as do ribbons and scarves, and my two have been known to use hair bobbles and clips too.
How about trying something a bit different and designing a costume made from newspaper?
Bear in mind your own approach to this kind of play. Dressing up is one area of play where I often see adults treating girls and boys differently. Do you offer children different costumes depending on whether they’re a boy or girl? Maybe you can have all the resources available and let the children decide who they’re going to be?

More play activities to explore story telling

Help your child to make their mark with these wonderful projects that help develop a love of writing, creative storytelling, self-confidence and compassion – along with six sets of bonus printables.

Parents for playgrounds

15/02/2011 by Cathy James Leave a Comment

You know I’m a huge fan of giving children lots of opportunity to play outside and enjoy the space and freedom they have when they’re out of doors. Whether we’re making fairy gardens or woodland jewellery we try to get outside everyday whatever the weather. Today I wanted to let you know about an amazing opportunity you have to transform a local park or playspace that you know but which might be a little neglected or in need of some new resources.

Ready for Ten, a website I contribute to, have today launched a huge Parents for Playgrounds campaign. Patsy Kensit is sitting in as guest editor for a month and together with Play England is on a mission to donate a £15,000 park renovation bursary. I wanted to let you know about the campaign because you have the chance to nominate which park you think should be given the £15,000, giving your community a chance to benefit.

To find out more about the Parents for Playgrounds campaign, head over to Ready for Ten. You can nominate your favourite park and pick up lots more ideas about how to make the most of outdoor play.

Games for crawlers

13/02/2011 by Cathy James Leave a Comment

When baby’s start being on the move a whole new world of adventure opens up to them. Whether they’re crawling, shuffling, or hitching along on their elbows makes no difference – once they’re off, there’s lots of fun to be had exploring their surroundings from this new perspective.

Of course, you need check your play space to make sure things are safe now your baby is mobile, but you can also see which new play possibilities you can add in. The easiest thing to do is set up some ‘play stations’ around the room, with something enticing in each place for your baby to crawl over to and explore. You don’t need to buy anything new but it’s a great idea to keep changing what you put out so you catch your baby’s eye with something new, and you provide lots of different shapes, sizes and textures for them to explore.

How about a little peek-a-boo treasure hunt. We talked about babies loving seeing familiar faces with last week’s lift-the-flap love book and you can extend this into a game too. Take some photos of favourite people (you might want to laminate them or cover them in sticky backed plastic to make them a little sturdier) and ‘hide’ them around the room. You’ll want them to be easy for your baby to spot, so have them down at crawling level, poking out from behind the sofa or the corner of the toybox. Then it’s ready, set, go! to see how fast your baby can round up granny and grandad from behind the bookcase!

These ideas encourage your baby to practise their crawling and develop their gross motor skills. They encourage exploration and give you lots to chat about together as you play.

More activities for babies and toddlers

Zero to Two: The Book of Play is full of fun activities for babies and toddlers. Download you copy here!

Audit your outside space

13/02/2011 by Cathy James 16 Comments

Summer is on the way! It might not exactly feel like it but before we know it the warmer weather will be here and the children will be spending more and more time playing outside. Is your garden ready for them? Maybe it’s time for an Outside Play Space Audit?

How to audit your outdoor play space [Read more…]

National Doodle Day

10/02/2011 by Cathy James 1 Comment

Tomorrow Friday 11th February 2011 is National Doodle Day so go for it – get doodling! Can you create a doodle-friendly environment today? How about placing some paper, pencils, notepads, coloured pens and post-it notes around your play space and seeing what the children come up with. Sneak some into the tent, put some under the climbing frame, lay some out between the knives and forks at lunch time and see what your children doodle. When you sit down for story time today, have a clipboard and pencil on hand to capture any daydreamy doodles that might be inspired by the story.

National Doodle Day is run each year in the UK to raise funds for Epilepsy Action and if you’d like to support them you can enter their competition, where they’re giving prizes for the best doodle by individuals, nurseries and schools . Their site also has some tips on how you can interpret your doodles to find their hidden meanings.

Doodling is great for kids any day of the year of course. Having the opportunity to free-style lets children practise their pencil grip and try out different strokes, without any pressure to ‘do it the right way’. It lets them use their imagination and can also be a great calm-down activity or something to keep them occupied when you’re out and about. A magnetic scribble pad is perfect for taking in the buggy or car.

So – let’s get doodling! I’d love you take take a photo of your doodles and send me a picture. You can tweet me @nurturestore or add your photo to NurtureStore’s Facebook page.

Letter Dectective Hunt

09/02/2011 by Cathy James 5 Comments

>>> Download our guide to ABCs and 123s here

L keeps telling me she wants to be a grown up. She wants to be a mummy with a baby, she wants to do the washing up and she keeps asking me if she’ll be able to do things ‘when I’m big numbers’. (I’d quite happily put the brakes on her and keep her as a lovely four-year-old for quite a while longer.) One thing she likes do to, in her quest to be a grown up, is read the paper or one of my books, so long as it’s full of text with no pictures at all. She’ll sit on the sofa, leafing through the pages, commenting now and then on a few of the articles.

She’s also very interested in letters, and this week has discovered punctuation marks with a huge shriek of ‘What is this?’ as she pointed to the question mark at the end of one sentence, as if she had uncovered something new to the universe.

It’s always my aim to follow a child’s lead and add in some learning in a way that suits their current interest, so I suggested she might like to be a Letter Detective and go on a hunt to find some letters. Big hit! Now we can keep each other company on the sofa, reading alongside each other, as I suggest she spots a particular letter and she goes off to hunt. Spy glass optional.

My guide to ABCs and 123s

Do you have a young child who is learning their ABCs and 123s, and do you want to make their learning fun? Our ABCs and 123s resource of mulitsensory, play-based letter and math activities is just what you need. See more here.