Welcome back to the third installment of BIG and LITTLE (read more about it here). This month's theme, construction, was chosen by Jillian's son. She is going to reveal her amazing BIG pretend play set-up tomorrow on A Mom with a Lesson Plan. But first, here is my LITTLE construction world.
I decided to set up construction world in our little wading pool. I made a large batch of cloud dough (8 cups of plain flour mixed with one cup of olive oil) and piled it in one corner. In the opposite corner, I placed a pile of blue garden pebbles. I popped our homemade crane between the two piles (click here for the instructions to make a crane).
I added some wooden blocks, people figurines, a toy truck, digger and excavator. While Boo was having her nap, Cakey got to have a play on her own. She spent her time using the crane to transfer the pebbles to the cloud dough, making a "building base". Cakey built a few walls, made a building and populated it with as many little people as she could find.
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| Moving the pebbles with the crane |
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| Stacking up blocks on her pebble/cloud dough base |
And then Boo woke up. Now, this is the absolute truth – I put Boo in construction world at 2.30pm and she did not get out until 4.30pm. Two hours of play!!! I sat next to her and crocheted a scarf that I started way back in 2010. Boo adored the cloud dough and enjoyed smushing everything she could find into it - blocks, rocks, people and her fingers.
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| Moving a block in the crane |
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| Hours of fun.... literally! |
If this is your first visit to at home with Ali – welcome. If you like it, you can follow along through our facebook page or subscribe via email or RSS. Cheers Ali
Linked to Tuesday Tots, Outdoor Play Party and Kids Co-op
oh Goblin would be in absolute heaven with this one.
ReplyDeleteWhat really made this work was the the cloud dough, that stuff is wonderful.
DeleteLove this! My 19 mo is ALL about the big trucks these days. She would absolutely adore this!
ReplyDeleteExcellent, my little one is in love with diggers!!!
DeleteWonderful as usual! That crane is so cool. We have to make one.
ReplyDeleteThanks Jill, I love your pvc pipes post, my little engineer is going to love to try that.
DeleteThat's awesome! My little miss two would love it!
ReplyDeleteThanks for dropping by. I think this project is perfectly suited for the 18 months to 2 1/2 years age bracket. My 4 year old enjoyed it too but not like my 2 year old. If she sees the photo of it on my computer she said 'play again'.
DeleteThis looks wonderful - we do construction in our sand pit but seeing this I think we need to add more bits as currently we only have sand and trucks
ReplyDeleteThe kids had a lot of fun mixing the materials. We don't have a sand pit though so this was a novelty for them.
DeleteJust did this with my 2 1/2 yr old to keep him occupied while my 5 yr old worked on his own creations in our playroom. The HARMONY of the morning can only be described at pure bliss! My 2 1/2 yr old played in the swimming pool for at least and hour and a half straight. Great idea, thank you!
ReplyDeleteThanks for taking the time to tell me how it went. I am so glad your 2 1/2 year old loved it. I was amazing that it kept my toddler happy for so long.
DeleteThis is amazing. I am enjoying this series so much.
ReplyDeleteThank you for linking to the Outdoor Play Party!
I am so glad you are enjoying the series. It has been so much fun.
Deletelove this and i am pinning and fb sharing it for you. My oldest would love how you set this up:-) Frogs and snails and puppy dog tails
ReplyDeleteThanks so much, I appreciate you sharing it :)
DeleteThis looks like so much fun! The crane is so cute!
ReplyDeleteThis is awesome! Just pinned it :)
ReplyDeleteThat looks like so much fun :) My daughter would love this. Pinning to remember.
ReplyDeleteSo happy to see your crane again. What a great space for your kids
ReplyDeleteThe cloud dough looks great. Must make that.
Wow! This is great Ali! My son loves cranes and would have a blast with this, and we keep meaning to make cloud dough... must get to it!!
ReplyDeleteThis is so great! Oh how I love that crane of yours! I've pinned this to the Weekly Co-op board. :)
ReplyDeleteFantastic!!I shall and get organised enough to give something similar a go with my girls! They love little people type figurines at the moment and i have been meaning to try cloud dough too. Love, love the pics...what fun and joy!
ReplyDeleteThis looks like so much fun!
ReplyDeleteThis looks like so much fun, hours and hours of play to be had right there :)
ReplyDeleteI love this series so much, and all of your small world play ideas! Thanks so much for sharing this with Tuesday Tots this week! Pinned :)
ReplyDelete