Mrs. Wishy Washy Play

Storytelling and early literacy skills are so important within the early years. Children need to build these foundational skills to be successful as future readers. So I am sharing one of the play invitations created for the children to explore storytelling and imaginary play.

We have been having so much fun exploring the story of Mrs. Wishy Washy. This much beloved story is by the author, Joy Cowley from New Zealand. The children enjoyed listening to the text during our read-aloud and loved the storyline. Oh, how funny those animals are! Who wouldn't love to play in mud!

There are many early literacy skills that this lovely storybook supports. The children have repeatedly asked to have the story read to them over and over again. They have used the illustrations to retell the story along with the Mrs. Wishy Washy doll and felt mud puddle. Some of our older students are identifying sight words from within the text and everyone has enjoyed creating their own stories using Mrs. Wishy Washy within their creative play. 

Here's a look at the materials I set out for the children to use along with the book. 

As Mrs. Wishy Washy's animals 

would say, "Oh lovely mud."

Joy Cowley has many other Mrs. Wishy Washy adventures. We look forward to sharing and collecting the other Mrs. Wishy Washy books. I purchased my copy of Mrs. Wishy Washy here.

Sincerely, Michelle

Nature's Gifts for Creative Play

Have you ever stood in awe beneath a canopy of trees as their branches danced and sang in the breeze? Maybe you've sat quietly on the banks of a stream gazing into the mirrored reflection of the sky? Perhaps you've even danced in the rain. When we are deeply connected to the world around us our lives are rich with these experiences. The natural world offers us peace, serenity and well-being. 

Children benefit greatly from nature play. Their natural curiosity about the world around them fills their minds with questions and wonders as they explore nature's gifts. When we provide an opportunity for children to gather, collect, wonder about and investigate nature items we enhance their learning. Blurring the lines between the indoor and outdoor learning environment we can enhance children's learning. Allowing nature's materials into the classroom or home gives validity to children's natural curiosities. Providing time and space for their collections to be displayed and played with deepens their understandings and connections to the world. 

Creative play with items such as sticks, acorns, rocks and leaves allows children's imaginations to soar. Materials become transformed and manipulated to support their play. Often we will include these natural materials within our sensory bins, small world play and at our nature discovery tables. When natural materials are offered to children along with traditional materials whether in the indoor or outdoor learning space children's play is enriched and deepened. Children learn to care for the natural world. They come to value nature's materials which in turn supports their developing stewardship for the environment. Considering the environmental concerns of our current society this is imperative as we guide children in their life's journey.

Providing a space in the indoor or home learning environment for nature to be celebrated and investigated tells children that the gifts of nature are valued and important. Simply place a beautiful tray or basket out to get started. Soon your space will be connected to children's curiosities and creative thinking as they play with both traditional play materials and nature's gifts. 

To see how nature has inspired my newest creative play materials collection ~ Click Here . 

Wishing you many creative explorations!

Michelle

Five of my favourite storybooks for rainbow and colour play

"Inside every child is a rainbow waiting to shine."

Anonymous

Colour has a language of its own. Colour has the ability to draw us in, connect us to our inner being and inspire us creatively. There are the dancing pastel colours of a morning sunrise, the brilliant blue of the sky and of course the marvellous magic in discovering the colours in a rainbow. Nature provides us with a multitude of tints and shades of colours to explore with children. 

Children are naturally drawn to colour exploration. It is an important aspect of creative thinking when working in the art studio and inviting children to become familiar with colour theory is exciting. One of the many important concepts we teach a toddler is to identify colour. Children delight in engaging their curiosity during colour investigations. Offering children materials to spark their thinking about colours can lead to wonderful questions and thinking about colour theory both scientifically and within the children's art experiences with creative materials.

Today, I am sharing five of my favourite storybooks that will delight your child as they explore the wonderful world of colour. When children engage with storybooks during their play they gain inspiration, develop critical literacy skills, imaginative thinking and make visible their understanding of the world around them. So without further ado, let's start with the book number one: 

"My Color is Rainbow"

by: Agnes Hsu

This is a beautiful book that shares the story of Little White Arch. While searching for what colour he should become we are invited to explore how colours are connected to our personality and how colours make us feel. Little White Arch takes us on a journey where we celebrate the wonderful diversity of life, people and the complexity of oneself. I have used this book within many learning proposals for the children. The addition of the rainbow peg people , wooden rainbow and small world play mushrooms allows the children to create their own story as they are inspired by the book. You can connect with Agnes Hsu on Instagram @hellowonderful_co to learn how to purchase her book. I highly recommend you do this book will certainly become a treasured favourite.

"Colors"
By: Petite Boutique

This gem of a book is perfect for our youngest learners as it is a sturdy board book. Each colour has its own page with illustrations that represent the colour. What I love about this book is that the primary colours of red, yellow and blue each have a transparent circle page where children can discover the secondary colours of orange, green and purple as they turn the pages in the book. A great addition would be a flashlight so that your child could explore further their thinking around light and colour with the book. 

"Color Blocked"
By: Ashley Sorenson

This clever book invites the reader into the text as we not only learn about colour mixing but try to unblock the colour machine. For example, "Maybe that's too much. Turn the book sideways to dump some yellow out." Children will love the interactive nature of this book and the explosion of colour created by the colour making machine. Place Color Blocked in your maker space, block centre or art studio to ignite innovation and creative thinking. I would love to see what the children create inspired by this book. Perhaps a colour blocked town would emerge.

"Pantone Colors"
By: Pantone

Both the book, "Pantone Colors" and their oversized colour cards pair nicely with our rainbow peg people. I love both these colour resources as they allow the children to discover the many values of a colour. Yes, there is yellow but which shade or tint of yellow do you see? A colour hunt is a great way to discover the world of colour around you. Comparing colours and grouping colours leads to mathematical thinking and problem-solving. One of my favourite moments was when one of our little learners matched the colour of their tongue to the shade of pink in the Pantone Colours book. 

"Vivid"
By: Julie Paschkis

The delights of poetic words as they describe colour and the lovely illustrations in this book by Julie Paschkis are sure to lead to much inquiry. Each colour also includes an informational note in the text of the story that shares some of the history of that colour. A very interesting read for both child and adult. The cover of this book inspired me to select the translucent shapes and wool felt balls to pair with the peg people. I look forward to sharing this book with the children and placing it at the light panel with the translucent shapes. I see lots of shape and colour exploration in response to sharing this book with them. 

I would love to hear about your favourite storybooks for rainbow and colour play. 
Leave a comment below and add to the list. 

P.S. My favourite colour is purple!
What is yours?

Wishing you many colourful explorations!

Creative Explorations

"Creative people are curious, flexible,

persistent, and independent with a

tremendous spirit of adventure

and a love of play."

Henri Matisse

 Today I am reflecting on not only my own creative process and journey but also how we nurture the creative spirit of the children we encounter every day in our learning environments. The evolution of this blog has followed by own journey with children in learning and play. I have been honoured to share this experience with them and this blog space with you. It is my hope that this space can continue to be a place where you can find inspiration in offering creative explorations within your own context. You may have noticed that the blog's name has changed from Inquiry Spaces and Wondering Places to Creative Explorations. 

https://creative-explorations-mvh.blogspot.com/

I am excited to share new content and creative explorations with you here!

All my old posts are still here just under a brand new name. 
I am also working on new creative play resources for the Etsy Shop! So stay tuned.

I am sharing some images from my studio space. 
Surrounding myself with traces of learning and inspiring materials helps me to be creative. 

What inspires you in your creative space?

Wishing you many creative explorations.

Sincerely,

Loose Parts Cake Play

"Happiness is knowing,

there is cake in the oven."

Unknown

The joy of cake! When I think of cake I remember the joy of creating and designing my children's birthday cakes. Each year we would carefully consider their interests and then my husband and I would bake and decorate a very special cake for each of our children. When my son was a toddler he was very much into tractors and animals. It was so much fun making these marshmallow sheep for his haystack cake. 

Our daughter loved the Little Mermaid and this cake was a team effort for sure.

The children's cake play at school reminded me of these special times with my own family. Birthdays are a tradition that often includes cake. Most children have had the experience of eating cake at a birthday celebration. The children's experiences with cake were observed in the kitchen play area. They began to design and build cakes using the materials in the loose parts tray and the small wooden blocks. 

After observing this play for a few weeks and documenting their cake designs, the return to school after the Christmas holidays seemed like the perfect time to offer this cake decorating invitation. 

Loose parts play offers the children an opportunity to express their creative thinking. The materials placed within this divided tray were carefully selected for their potential to be used on the cardboard nesting boxes. Materials for loose part trays can be collected from right within your home or classroom. Save the caps from your Crayola markers and applesauce pouches for loose parts play! I also included some interesting shaped beads from an old bracelet in this tray along with the gems and LED candles. This type of play is open-ended. It allows the children the freedom to manipulate the materials and develop creative thinking. There is problem-solving, the elements of artistic design and mathematical thinking all within this play. As the children collaborate in the design process they are also communicating ideas and developing social skills. So much learning happens everyday within the classroom. 

Here are a few images of their play that was documented this week!

Sensory Sprinkles Play

Next to this invitation to decorate cakes, we placed the sensory bin and filled it with sprinkles. Adding the silver baking tins, a variety of kitchen utensils for scooping and the cutest little covered serving dish made for great fine motor play. 

As the children continue to explore and play items and materials will be added if needed to extend their thinking. As the children clean-up after play block, I am always amazed at the care and pride they take in arranging the materials for tomorrow's explorations. 

If you have a cake loving child in your house I hope this invitation inspires your own creative play! 

𝒲𝒾𝓈𝒽𝒾𝓃𝑔 𝓎𝑜𝓊 

𝓉𝒽𝑒 𝒿𝑜𝓎 𝑜𝒻 

𝒸𝓇𝑒𝒶𝓉𝒾𝓋𝑒 𝓁𝒾𝓋𝒾𝓃𝑔,

𝑜𝓃𝑒 𝒷𝓇𝓊𝓈𝒽 𝓈𝓉𝓇𝑜𝓀𝑒 

𝒶𝓉 𝒶 𝓉𝒾𝓂𝑒.