Nursery World - Free range (1)

A child stamping on a playdough dragon demonstrates that the child is operating flexibly in their play space. Philip Waters explains how to respond to what can seem like destructive actions from the fantasy world of play At home in my living room playing with playdough: 'What's that?' Tobias asks. 'A dragon,' I reply. 'Cool,' he exclaims. 'Can I make the head?'

At home in my living room playing with playdough: 'What's that?' Tobias asks. 'A dragon,' I reply. 'Cool,' he exclaims. 'Can I make the head?'

He breaks off a clump of blue dough and moulds it into an oblong shape, poking his thumb into it to form a mouth and adding red blobs for its eyes.

'This is the dragon slayer,' he says, pulling the flexible hose from the vacuum cleaner and attempting to suck up the playdough with one mighty 'dragon slayer gulp'. He then squashes the dragon into a clump with a stamp of his foot until it becomes stuck hard to the floor.

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