Our kid at home has been so into Dinos at the moment. He holds dino while asleep, looks for dino when awake, and plays with dino all day long. Instead of playing meaninglessly, we finally took the initiative to make #SmallWorldPlay with our open-ended at home and loose parts (whatever available at home). He was very excited even if he could not really much help in the creating process. He helped us picking up the materials, and we (the parents) built the world for him.
The materials are:
– Bear Stacker: barrier
– Wonderpine: tree for Brachio and Triceratops and other herbivores
– Dinos obviously
– Coffee beans (which we always have): as pebbles
– Blue pasta: as a lake / niche
– Homemade playdough: as sand
For the learning materials, we separated the carnivores and herbivores dino. The carnivores on the outside, and the herbivores on the inside. Our 29 mo son has begun memorizing which ones, so we let him to separate by himself, then we provided corrections and explanations when he mistook.
Then he took a role as the mother Triceratops by inviting the baby Triceratops to eat leaf from the tree. Well moms, small world play -besides giving children the opportunity to imagine-, gives a whole of benefits like no other play does, a few to mention: understanding emotions through the roles they play. For example, he learned how a mother loves her baby by nourishing her baby, or he learned a complex feeling such as the adrenaline when T-rex ran over catching the other dinos. Besides that, their interaction and communication skills can improve as the number of sentences they try to put together in the play.
So, what kind of Small World Play theme have you ever created at home? Share with us!