How to create a dinosaur small world activity
There are endless opportunities for small world play; children’s interests can easily be incorporated into small world play. Offering Small world play is important as it opens up vast amounts of learning opportunities for children. It is an easy activity to set up and resources can be added to extend the activity. Why not use a tuff spot tray to arrange the resources in, these trays are great as children can group around them and access the play.
There is no reason why children can’t create their own small word play as long as they have the available resources. The intention of small world play is for children to use their imagination to act out ideas made up or real life experience and re-enact stories.
Sensory elements can also be used in small world play, combining sensory play with small world play gives children further learning opportunities.
This type of play is great for building children’s language. Whilst children are using their imagination to think of role play ideas they also talk out loud using vocabulary. Children learn new words as they play with their peers. Introducing Small world play into everyday opportunities is a great way for children to use their imagination as well as learning social skills when playing with their peers. Now that we have discussed what small world play is let us share some small world ideas with you.
- Construction site. Using a #tuffspot tray, fill with sand, pebbles and add some diggers. To extend this activity add small world people and bricks/blocks to build with.
- Fairy garden. Using a wooden barrel plant pot fill with soil then plant some reel plants eg small fir trees, a lavender bush, and any other small plants. Add items such as coloured pebbles, a wooden bridge and a fairy door. Be creative and look for resources that would make this fairy garden come alive.
- Bug hunt. Fill a large tray with either soil or sawdust and add items such as wooden logs, wooden house, bridge, wooden stumps. Hide your bugs in and under these objects and let the children use magnifying glasses to help search for the bugs.
- Creating a farmyard. Using different resources such as porridge oats, cornflakes, rice crispies, create different sections of the farmyard within a tuff spot tray. Use bricks and wooden fencing to create the boundaries of the farmyard. Add farm animals, figures as well as tractors and a wooden farm building.
- Dinosaur world. Fill a deep sand tray with sawdust and add natural items such wooden logs, wooden stumps, a wooden hut. You could also add some greenery from your garden. Add different sized dinosaurs and hide them under the items. This activity can be extended in various ways, for example, you could add a bowl of water or mud for the dinosaurs to play in.
Small world play can provide children with many different learning opportunities, therefore, ensure that is the type of play is readily available for children to access. Don’t forget small world play isn’t just for indoors it should also be available outside.