A Sense of Help
As we believe so strongly in the value of family interaction and connection between children and their grown-ups, we want to support those grown-ups! Included in all our full-sized play kits, is our Sense of Help grown-up guide. The theme specific guides are intended to help, encourage, and empower parents and caregivers. The included components of the guide, were put together from years of observing the commonality in the type of questions and areas for support, parents and guardians most often need. We put together suggested book pairing lists, helpful vocabulary, question starters, ideas for extension activities, fun facts, and even a silly joke related to each theme.
Getting Started
A helpful practice, both for your child and for you as a parent, is to set objectives before your little ones engage in play. This assists in setting the stage and guiding the activities, even if the goal is simply to play and imagine.
Some examples:
- exploring different textures- "As we play, we're going to pay attention to what our hands feel when we touch the materials in our kit."
- practicing independent play- "Today you and I are going to practice working on our own activities, while we sit next to each other."
- child-led play- "While you play, I would like you to have fun squishing, inventing, and using your imagination! I'll follow your ideas!"
- sharing with siblings- "While you play with our kit today, you'll each have chances to use the items. And you're going to communicate if you'd like a turn using something the other has."
The more practice in creativity and using their imaginations, the more your little ones will be engaged in open-ended play, and the more they will amaze you! Sometimes we get so used to specific task-oriented activities, that we forget how necessary free play is in our kid's development. And know, if this type of play is not as common for your little one, they may lean on you more at the beginning or their attention span will be less. But as they become more comfortable within their imaginations and their free thinking, this type of play will become more natural.
PlayMats
Our teacher-created and thematic PlayMats are beautifully and professionally printed and laminated for durability and reusability. They can be written on with dry-erase markers, and easily wiped down with a dry cloth. PlayMats can be read and explained at the beginning of play, then used during, after, independently, or as a family. Our mats are great to bridge gaps between siblings or different age groups, providing a little enrichment for the older ones and a little exposure to newer concepts for the younger ones. Although PlayMats are task specific, they are meant as an addition, a guide, and an optional component- NOT rules for play.
Messy Tips
Specifically explain your expectations for "the mess". We all have different mess thresholds, communicate yours with your kids before they even start playing.Ex- "Today we get to play with our awesome Sense of Play kit! I know we're excited, so let's make sure we understand how to be careful with our materials and keep everything in the tray. If something falls out, we pause to pick it up."
Use a flat tray or bin with high side walls to place all materials in. Remember, different containers can create different auditory experiences. Using a tin-style pan versus a wooden bowl or a plastic bin versus a silicone lined baking sheet, all make for lots of sound differences.
Have children wash hands before beginning to play, to better conserve base material from oils, crumbs, or just "sticky stuff". Make sure hands are completely dry before handling our dry base materials, to avoid any color bleeding on little fingers. Although this is totally washable!
To help contain any spill out, lay down an old towel or blanket to cover the floor under your bin and for your child to sit on picnic style, or even under the table they are playing on. Designating this as your kit blanket, helps with future use.
Pour out your kit contents from the Play Pail directly into the tray or bin and have fun!
For clean-up, just pour your kit contents back into the Play Pail to avoid dust and/or dough drying out. If your base is dough, also use provided dough containers.
Don't forget to shake the kit blanket off over the garbage can!
As we use nontoxic food coloring, colors from our base materials, or color-washed peg people, may bleed if wet. Lightly washing and/or wiping down any surfaces that may come in contact with color bleeding, should clear any unwanted coloring.
Below you'll find further explanation for sections in your Sense of Help guide.
Suggested Children's Book List
As BIG children's book enthusiasts, we take any chance we can to foster the love of reading in our little one's lives! By pairing books with play, the learning outcomes and benefits of both play and reading, exponentially multiply. These suggested books can be found in the library and local or online bookstore. The books listed are written at different reading levels. They can be read aloud by a grown-up, or even older sibling, before play as an introduction to the theme or at any point after the first time playing- there's never a wrong time to read a book!
Vocabulary
Early vocabulary is essential not only for communication ability but also as a necessary base for future learning. These are a few key words that can be discussed before, during, or after play. Depending on your child's age and developmental level, how you explicitly teach each word may look different. But remember, new words should always be spoken clearly. These thematic words can be used while you play together, or as you check in with independent play. You can say them aloud as you demonstrate their definitions with your actions, specifically explain their meanings, and identify them as your child is proudly showing you what they've created. Later outside of playtime, try using the words and referring back to what you've learned together. Repetition, variation, and strong connections are all important factors for learning vocabulary.
Question Ideas
These are example questions to spark conversation and infuse specific academic topics into play. They can be used as question frames to give you ideas for your own further questions and discussion starters during play. These are also helpful as check-in questions while your child is playing independently. There are a broad range of question types to include both lower and higher order thinking questions. These also include questions for a range of developmental levels and ages, which is useful for sibling play.