Small-world play can be enhanced significantly through the resources on offer to the children. How the resources are combined to create environments that develop and inspire children's imaginations will significantly heighten their learning potential.
When thinking about how to offer small-world play, practitioners need to consider:
* the inhabitants of the miniature world
* containers for holding the small-world environment
* how to create the landscapes.
When you combine a variety of inhabitants, containers and landscapes, the possibilities are endless.
INHABITANTS
Practitioners should have a wide range of small-world toys at their disposal. Some of these will clearly reflect the predictable interests of the children in the setting, while others will be chosen because of their potential to enhance knowledge and understanding or to stir children's imaginations. Such resources may include:
* Farm animals Ensure that, where possible, you have more than one of each animal. It can be extremely valuable to invest in a large number of pigs or a herd of cows. In the real world, animals do not live in ones and twos, and by providing more than one of each, you also increase opportunities for counting and sorting.
* Zoo animals Try to obtain a wide range of animal families, not just for use in zoo play, but also to inhabit replicas of their natural habitat, such as rainforests, savannahs, deserts or polar ice caps.
* Dinosaurs Children tend to be offered only dinosaurs that live on land, but possibilities for play increase if you obtain model dinosaurs that live in the water and those that fly.
* Cars and other vehicles, including trucks, diggers and buses Use vehicles with commercially produced road mats, or encourage the children to create maps and environments of their own, both indoors and outside.
* Pets Play with toy pets helps children to revisit experiences from home and can promote caring attitudes towards animals. Having a variety of pet animals available also means that children can incorporate them into doll's house and other domestic play situations.
* People Toy people will enhance any small-world environment, by helping children act out situations from real life or improvise new situations.
When combined with dinosaur play and the like, a whole world of adventure stories is opened up.
* Minibeasts A large collection of minibeasts is a 'must have'. Creepy crawlies appear in stories, songs and rhymes too numerous to mention, as well as in real life (both indoors and out). Set aside your own likes and dislikes and ensure that you provide not only attractive creatures, such as caterpillars, ladybirds and butterflies, but also the less appealing, such as snails, spiders and worms.
* Fantasy figures Children will only learn to write imaginatively if they have played imaginatively. By incorporating fantasy and fairytale figures into small-world play, you will dramatically increase the range of stories that the children can tell.
Adding fairies, wizards, dragons and unicorns will inspire some very magical stories indeed. Such figures will also help children re-enact well-known fairytales, such as 'Cinderella' and 'Sleeping Beauty'.
Containers
The larger the range of containers that you have for small-world play, the greater the possibilities there will be for language development. Consider, for example:
* A doll's house It could variously become the house of the Three Bears, or the home of the old man and woman who grew the Enormous Turnip.
* Tuff Spots (also known as builder's trays) These large octagonal trays are practically indestructible and are perfect for creating multi-sensory small worlds, using a wide range of substances. They also allow room for several children to play alongside each other, on their own or in pairs.
* Plastic trays Collect trays of varying shapes and sizes. Growbag trays, cat litter trays (unused of course!), gravel trays and potting trays all offer different possibilities. Flowerpot saucers in a variety of sizes provide opportunities for tabletop water play, as they can be used as small freshwater ponds or a seaside rock pool.
* Carpet samples When these are offered in a range of colours, children can either use them individually, or combine them to make a larger world from a patchwork of colours.
* Rugs and mats These can add texture and variety to any small world. A ridged doormat becomes a ploughed field, with the simple addition of a tractor and a bit of imagination!
* Lengths of fabric Fabric is amazingly flexible and can be readily combined with block play and junk modelling materials, as well as being used on its own, for rivers streams, fields and hilly backdrops.
LANDSCAPES
Although small-world play can be offered in both sand and water, there is more to it than that! Using a variety of unusual materials can stir all the senses, stimulating children's imaginations and offering opportunities for thinking, questioning and investigating.
Practitioners should not become overly reliant on pre-printed mats. These are often problematic, as they try to represent a three-dimensional world in two dimensions. Used alone, they cannot offer the same linguistic potential as compost, gravel and squelchy moss.
Try instead to incorporate the following resources into the children's small-world play:
* compost
* gravel, including aquatic gravel (in various types and colours)
* coir
* bark chippings
* pebbles, stones and shells
* moss
* ice
* crazy soap, shaving foam and hair gel
* coloured sand, sometimes with glitter, sometimes without
* 'treasure', including objects such as glass nuggets, coins, beads and keys
* dry leaves
* hay and straw.
You may decide to have some of these available all the time, so that children can access them independently. You may wish to offer others with adult support.
EXAMPLES
The big freeze
* Sprinkle the base of a builder's tray with a dusting of cornflour (the amount is not crucial).
* Tip three bags of ice cubes (available in supermarkets) into the tray.
* Spray the ice cubes with two bottles of water, coloured with ink or food colouring. Blue and yellow give a stunning effect, but any combination will be exciting.
* Sprinkle with glitter to give a magical atmosphere.
* Add small-world figures, such as penguins or polar bears, whales, people, or even dragons and unicorns, to encourage a mystical adventure.
Glorious mud
* Place a deep layer of sterilised compost in the bottom of a growbag tray (or similar container). Add enough water to turn the compost into mud.
* Add mud-loving animals, such as pigs wallowing in mud down on the farm, or perhaps hippopotami cooling themselves in the heat of the African sun.
* Listen to the vocabulary that the children use, as they play with the animals in the muddy environment.
* If using hippos, add a crocodile or two for added excitement.
Three Billy Goats Gruff
* Take two square gravel trays. Spread a layer of multipurpose compost in the bottom of one and sprinkle it with grass seed. Water it and allow time for the grass seed to grow. In the second tray, spread some moss - the sort sold for hanging baskets is ideal.
* When the grass has grown to a reasonable length, place the two trays a little way apart and let the children build a bridge between them, using construction equipment. (A suitable length of wood would suffice, but would not offer the same opportunities for problem solving.) * Add three goats and a troll.
* Encourage the children to re-enact 'The Three Billy Goats Gruff'. Keep some copies of the story nearby for the children to refer to as they play.
Adults should engage with the children's play as appropriate. For example, they could read the story aloud as the children re-enact the tale.
* You may also wish to grow a whole field of grass.
STORYBOXES
A storybox is a shoebox that has been transformed into a miniature world on the inside and so can be tailored to the needs of individual children or linked to children's popular and predictable interests.
The shoebox is cut so that one or all of the sides fold down flat, but can be held together with the lid when closed, and it may contain a selection of small-world toys, for example, farm animals or cars or a collection of inspirational and unusual objects.
The contents needn't be expensive - in fact, some of the best storyboxes that I have seen have been made with toys and small objects from boot sales and Christmas crackers! (First make sure that they are safe for children to use.)
Some suggested themes are:
* the jungle * at the vet's * the airport * in the castle * under the sea.
Storyboxes are a fantastic way of providing for popular small-world play themes on a continuous basis. If dinosaurs are particularly popular with some children, then create a dinosaur box. That way, you will be able to change the theme of your large-scale small-world provision when you want and still have dinosaur play available.
Providing storyboxes in your setting also encourages the children to revisit their stories over a long period of time, adapting and changing them at will. The children learn to compose, draft and edit a story, without the pressure of putting pencil to paper, which makes a significant contribution to their development as writers.
Dinosaur storybox
To make a dinosaur story box:
* Cut a shoebox so that one long side and one short side fold down flat.
* Colour the inside of the box, both base and sides, so that it looks like a prehistoric landscape. Use paints, tissue paper, wool and string.
Anything goes!
* When dry, complete the mini-world by adding pieces of green or brown fabric, rocks and pebbles and the dinosaur figures.
* Put the lid on the box, and introduce it to the children.
* Challenge them to invent some stories with the toys in the box. For added excitement offer some play people to interact with the prehistoric inhabitants.
* Scribe the children's stories for them and compile them in a book.
Home links
When you have made one or two storyboxes, organise a meeting for parents.
Parents can be shown the value of small-world play for young children and also be invited to make storyboxes for your setting.
You will get a wide range of boxes in this way, as everyone has a favourite 'theme' that they would like to see in a box!
Ages and stages
If working with two-year-olds, provide some very simple storyboxes, which have not been altered internally and contain only a collection of simple objects, for example, large shells, blue chiffon scarves and a sponge fish, to represent a sea.
In this way, the nature of the two-year-olds is respected and catered for.
Many will enjoy the process of simply taking the objects out of the box and replacing them, and carrying the box round the setting. Adults might also like to sit with small groups of younger children to tell simple stories.
Storyboxes will help children as writers way beyond the Foundation Stage, through Key Stage 1 and into Key Stage 2. They are an excellent way of spreading the benefits of small-world play into age groups that are not usually afforded such opportunities.
RESOURCES
Books to inspire children's small-world play
* Billy's Bucket by Kes Gray and Adrian Reynolds (Red Fox)
* The Snail House by Allan Ahlberg and Gillian Tyler (Walker Books)
* The Magic Bus by Jan and Jerry Oke (Little Knowall Publishing)
* Jethro Byrde, Fairy Child by Bob Graham (Walker Books)
* Creepy Crawly Calypso by Tony Langham and Debbie Harter (Barefoot Books)
* Harry and the Bucketful of Dinosaurs by Ian Whybrow and Adrian Reynolds (Puffin Books)
Books to support practitioners
* The Small World Recipe Book: 50 Exciting Ideas for Small World Play by Helen Bromley (Lawrence Educational, tel: 0121 344 3004 or visit: www.educationalpublications.com)
* 50 Exciting Ways to Use a Builder's Tray by Helen Bromley (Lawrence Educational)
* 50 Exciting Ideas for Storyboxes to Make by Helen Bromley (Lawrence Educational)
* The Little Book of Small World Play by Sharon Ward and Sally Featherstone (Featherstone Education, tel: 01858 881212 or visit: www.featherstone.uk.com)
Resources
* simple software available from www.2simple.com * Moss is available from Wessex Horticultural Products, tel: 01722 337744 or visit: www.wessexhort.co.uk
* A wide range of puppets suitable for use in small worlds is available from Puppets by Post, e-mail: info@puppetsbypost.com or visit: www.puppetsbypost.com
* TUFF Spot builder's trays are available from Early Steps, part of TTS, tel: 0800 318686 or visit: www.tts-shopping.com
* Storyboxes are available from Yellow Door, tel: 0845 603 5309 or visit: www.yellow-door.net
* Growbag trays, potting-on trays and large flowerpots saucers are readily available from DIY stores and garden centres.
* The Early Excellence Centre in Huddersfield, West Yorkshire, has an inspirational range of resources for small-world play for sale and many examples of good practice. To arrange a visit, tel: 01422 311314 or for information, visit: www.earlyexcellence.com.
