I’ve had a few large paper bags scuzing around the welikeplay HQ for the last fortnight; and I’ve grown very fond of them. Their scope for play is huge. In the last two weeks they’ve been used for moving a pretend house, a bed for Monkey and his small simian pals, a cave for the dragon of the stinky swamp, and a sail on the Oozy Scab (our recuring sofa based pirate ship). And they’re also used for tidying up the days chaos.

I’m now on the prowl for some logo free jumbo sized paper bags to ink my own designs onto. I think some happy smiley faces to make bag masks and puppets, or “My Removals Inc.” or perhaps a skull n’ bones. Find yourself some paper bags and…

Enjoy.

tag... play for today, 2up, 3up, imagineering

It’s cold out, it seems winter has bitten from the eternal popsicle of the north. So today its time to warm the kiddywinks up with a little movement.

I think a little dance to ska-ified Brown Eyed Girl, followed by a game or seven of Hullabaloo is in order. I’ve that there’s something about ska that lifts the spirits of glum munchkins, to an extent that it may well warrant inclusion when I come to penning my top tiddly-peeps tips.

Hullabaloo hails from a toy stable I highly admire, Cranium. If - as a play-pro - you’ve not yet had the pleasure grab one at your nearest convenience. We’ve not yet come across a single game they produce that hasn’t been a hit at the welikeplay HQ testing facility. Hullabaloo itself is perhaps the most played boxed game we own.

It comprises of a set of surprisingly hard to slip on shapes in different colours with different pictures on to be scattered on the foor, and a calling unit. This little machine is switched on and calls out which shape to jump/crawl/move sideways to; which you (parental participation has been mandatory round here) and all the munchkins follow. Continue following instructions until your children hit their obedience-to-electronic-voices threshold about 15 to 20 minutes later.

And the children will be warm.

Enjoy

tag... review, play for today, 3up, 5up, be healthy

Daffoldillies.

Kids, my own and every single other one I’ve cared cared for, love mud. Sometimes it’s eventually but, none the less, they get a passion for steaming great lumps of rich black soil. Perhaps it’s because we all plant stuff and see it grow, perhaps it’s because we add too much water and make mud pies whilst we’re at it, perhaps its because I’m not above doing all the above inside on really cold days.

Yesterday the weather here changed; suddenly I had queues of three at the door whilst coats and scarves were being sorted. And Mrs Welikeplay, she in whom I keep my concept of time, reminded me it was the end of bulb planting time. In past years I’ve planted many bulbs with small kids. Usually in pots to take home, sometimes in my garden and on one occasion - as guerrilla gardening, with permission - in someone-else’s garden.

For indoor potting

You will need
Pots
(You can pick these up for free at good garden centres and the local recycling centre/dump)
Daffodil bulbs
(for pots I like ‘Jetfire’ with it’s orange middle; for gardens I’ve used a Bridal Crown/King Alfred mix for two overlapping flowering times)
Compost - homemade if possible.
(If your kids are of an eating soil stage, you might want to microwave a bowl of compost for about 4-5 minutes and allow to cool, to kill off some of the germs and bugs. The bulbs like this too.)
Trowels/spoons/hands
and, if you’re likely to get lynched for carpet gardening, a floor sheet

Half fill pots with compost, add 5 or so bulbs and cover. Water, and place outside against the wall of your house. Return indoors, add more mud to the rest of the compost and smear liberally everywhere you can reach.

Enjoy.

tag... play for today, 2up, 3up, gardening, running wild

Mrs. Welikeplay is a woman of few vices, with the major exception of yarn. Wool has a strange effect on her, she suddenly finds the need to store quantities of it in pretty bags up and down the welikeplay HQ. Being a good husband I feel it is my duty to purloin the occasional ball to use with the kiddywinks to make stuff; reasoning that if she has a little more space she can indulge in acquiring more. If only I had a way of using up shoes too.

You will need:
Two straight twigs for every child/adult. 15-20cm long seems good.
Yarn, wool or string in as many colours and hues as you have hanging around.
If you have them - beads, sparkly things, interesting autumnal treasures

You may need to help younger kids with this first part; take the two sticks and cross then at right-angles to each other. Tie one diagonal loop around the join, and then a tie a second across the other diagonal. Now the children can start weaving under and over around the cross, changing wool whenever it suits them. They can also add their interesting things to the weave as they go to make it more pretty/chaotic.

When they’re done, tie off the wool with a long end. This can be tied to trees in your garden to be revealed as the leaves fall over the next week or two.

Enjoy.

tag... play for today, 3up, 5up, makes, out and about

Being Divali it’s time to do some rice Rangoli patterns. Rangoli (and this is where my teacher hat is dusted off) are usually symmetrical circular patterns which are drawn/kept around Indian homes as a sign of hospitality; though drawn daily in really traditional homes, they’re drawn everywhere during the festival of lights, Divali.

You will need
Pre-dyed and dried rice.
Chalk
A large plastic plate (if you want it to be easy to tidy up)
To catch the pattern - spray mount glue and a big piece of paper

Hopefully you’ve already dyed your rice, and it’s a nice day where you are. Take the rice outside with the kiddy-winkles and give them a bit of chalk each. By copying what the others draw it is possible - if unlikely - to get a symmetrical pattern of circles, stars and of sorts; or the again, use a template. Throw in some peacocks if your the arty type. Take the dyed rice and use it to colour the shapes.

If you want to keep the pattern, go fetch a big ‘ol piece of paper, spray it with mount glue, lay it down and peel it up.

Enjoy and…

Sal Mubarak

(Happy New Year)

tag... play for today, 2up, 3up, 5up, 8up, makes

… not a conjunction of DJ-ing a pyrotechnics, but a rather nifty make for the littlies on Bonfire night. These CDs also make great dream-catchers for noisy nights of explosions. Many thanks to the team at bbc SMart for the paint recipe.

You will need
to ransack your collection for a couple of free junk-mail CDs
black/blue acrylic paint
washing up liquid
a paintbrush or two

Mix up some paint with half acrylic and half washing up liquid. Paint on shiny side of CDs, and leave to dry - for smaller kiddywinks you may want to do this the night before, and it’s worth doing a few spares. Once dry flip your brush around and use the tip to scratch firework designs out of the paint; the shiny stuff will glint through, very cool.

Superglue two back to back with a thread in the middle and hang over beds to watch as the sky is rent asunder outside.

Enjoy

tag... play, 3up, 5up, 8up, makes

The ultimate toy of toys.  There is nothing to compare.  It is the stick.

Every time I wander in the wild with the kidlings a stick is, almost without exception, found.  It’s never just picked up, it’s selected by size shape and form for a purpose.  Perhaps it will be a long whippy one today, with extra length and flickability especially suited to scything grass.  Or perhaps it’s a Gandalf-esque staff complete with a “You shall not pass” in a slightly higher voice than expected.  I don’t often get gun sticks any more; last time I was shot by a stick I lay down and played dead until the kiddywinks got bored, it hasn’t happened again.  Once, when I was prepared, we had flag sticks with squares of fabric and ribbons tied on.

Sometimes we’re blessed with too many sticks to hold.  Then it’s time to build a lean-to.  Find one big fallen branch - at least 6 foot long and with a v end if possible - and a tree.  Lean the big stick up against the tree and then stack smaller twigs along the supporting sticks length.  15 minutes hard child labour will have a fairly draft proof  lean-to.  Pack a thermos of pea soup, and tell them it’s nettle (though real nettle soup ain’t bad if you add cream); or a pocketful of chocolate raisins and convince them its bunny poo.

Enjoy.

Update
Typical, I blog about the inevitability of sticks, go for a walk with my boys and they avoid any stickage whatsoever.

tag... play for today, 3up, 5up, 8up, out and about

… any mighty oaks that grow will be made to live outside. We’ve been planting acorns in our own acorniums™ (not really a ™ thing, I’ve just learnt a new bit of blog code).

You will need
a couple of shot glasses (you have small kids now, when are you really going to need your whole collection again)
some small stones
some acorns picked up from your autumnal wandering

Spend some time washing the stones in a shallow bowl of water, this is such good fun for little ones. No3 girl could spend all day doing this if she was allowed. Fill the shot glass with the stones, slowly. Most shot glasses are fairly indestructible, but take it slow nonetheless. Drop an acorn on top, then fill with water to below the acorn, or it will go mouldy; kind of cool in itself, but not the desired result. Place in airing cupboard and peek and top up every week. Soon you’ll see some white roots winding down through the stones and maybe even a little shoot. You have an acornium™.

I’m told, though I’ve never remembered to keep watering long enough, that you can pot out to bonsai pots quite successfully. Perhaps this time?

Enjoy

tag... play for today, 2up, 3up, 5up, out and about

Happy All Saints Day/ Día de los Muertos, one and all. But what to do with the ridiculous pile of candy/sweeties that could not conceivably (well perhaps…) be eaten? Here are two ideas dredged up from my memories of years gone by. I’ve found that these are good opportunities for smaller ones to start to talk about anything that may have spooked them last night. By transforming some of the Halloween paraphernalia into something safe can be a way for toddlers - and older kids - to understand a little of what went on.

Pumpkin Composting
I’m considering making a little ritual out of this. The smiley pumpkins and ‘neepy candles are carried in state through to the gently fermenting heaps at the bottom of the garden to lie in rest. The kids select and dig out a little niche for each to sit in and watch the garden. The pumpkins are thanked and one or two sweets are chosen to be placed inside. For the next couple of weeks we’ll watch them sag, paying a child-like attention to which bugs and worms seem to like pumpkin or the sweeties the best.

Perhaps as the boys get older I’ll light the lanterns one last time, this time using a couple of bits of loo roll to get a 4ft high flame. Though I’m not sure that the methane bubbles that I’m sure are forming in the heaps would be too happy.

Sticky Colage
Quick, run to the bin. See if you can salvage a handful of shiny wrappers to rinse off (alternatively consume the candy yourself using the keeping your children healthy excuse I use) and stick on a big ‘ol sheet of paper to make a reminder picture of their favourite bit of last night. You may have to draw some outlines, and I recommend upva glue over the stuff that comes in a stick. Stick it up on your fridge. I’ve done this a few times with younger kids, if it’s displayed at their hight you may well find yourself been escorted over to it to be told about it. This is when thinking big thinks happens. Listen.

For the sweets themselves you might want to check out one of my blog favs, A Readable Feast.  The Milky Way Pan Au Chocolat looks sooo good.

Enjoy.

tag... play for today, 2up, 3up, 5up, makes

Over at Supernanny Rules, Gayla has posted a lovely article on creating a room free of ogres, trolls and bogeymen under the bed. She is acknowledging that children need their safe space, and a space that they can call their own. Without such space there is nowhere for them to withdraw and regroup before setting out on their next new adventure.

4d’s of safe space

• Delineate - make sure there’s a door to pull to, or a curtain hanging up, or a bunkbed for shared rooms. Something to say this is yours and this isn’t.
• Decorate - choose colours, and furniture with the, so they can say “look at that, it’s mine”.
• Design - take an old chest-of-draw, let them add sticky stars and take their ownership of the space a little further.
• De-militarise - when other kids come round to play, keep the bedroom out of bounds. It’s a place for your own to call their own.  No TVs or computer games… these are sociable vaporise-your-mum-and-dad-on-playstation activities.

Add a little play magic

In play imaginary up-wellings can be caught and transmogrified. Monster can be hunted - bad-beasties of all kinds melt upon contact with water; for proof watch Wizard of Oz. Armed with such information we sometimes have a small plant-mister sitting ready. Liberal spraying by parent and child can dowse bogey-beasts and bogarts in giggles.

We also have a story chair, monsters do crop up, but stories deal with them. Dragons are slain, lost is found, Max returns from Where the Wild Things Are and Not Now, Bernard is eaten… erm scratch that last one. Narrative plays with ideas, it takes ideas from here to there.

And when the monsters are there, when there has been sadness and stress. Play. Fight or frighten the monsters. Turn them into tales. But know that they’re real.

tag... play, 2up, 3up, 5up, stay safe