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Little learning opportunities can go a long way.With a bit of imagination, play on a miniaturescale can support children’s developmentacross the EYFS, says Anna Ranson...

IT’S ASmallworld

Small world play is a fantastic toolfor supporting children’sdevelopment in the early years.Used as a story prompt or scenefor the re-telling of a favourite

book, it can be invaluable in helping youngchildren make sense of literacy in akinaesthetic way. By adding a few extramaterials to the mix it’s possible to extendthe learning even further and incorporate allareas of the EYFS – from ‘understanding theworld’ to ‘personal, social and emotionaldevelopment’ – and the approach can beused effectively as a tool for children’s self-assessment at the same time.

With the huge set of requirements placedon early years practitioners today, and thewide range of activities going on in oursettings, it’s easy for small world play tobecome neglected and stale. However, withthe addition of a few stock items, which canbe re-used in a variety of ways, to theresource cupboard, it’s easy to inject it withnew life and make it an exciting, creativeoption for children to access once more.

First stepsA good place to start is by making a quickassessment of the interests, gender-balanceand abilities of your current cohort. Are therecertain children or small groups who aremore reluctant when it comes to storytellingor imaginative play? Are there some with aburning passion for dinosaurs or robots,fairies or all things creepy-crawly? Are theresome fans of particular story characters?You can draw up a list of small world playideas based around these themes, and planto set up a few separate scenes to matchthem over the following months. Even better,ask the children to contribute their ownideas and get planning using clipboards.

Next, take a look at the resources youhave and try adding some new, loosematerials to the collection that can bebrought out quickly to change an area. Thefollowing items are really useful additions forgetting started with small world scenes:

■ Large, shallow tubs – e.g. Tuff spots, under-bed storage boxes, cat litter trays, Tubtrugs.■ Car tyres, wooden barrels or large plantpots, for outdoor small world set-ups.■ Dried moss or lichen.■ Large rocks and pebbles.■ Sand and soil.

■ Aquarium gravel and shells.■ Tree branches.■ Dried pulses.■ Small animals, sea creatures, buildings,dinosaurs, figures, cars.■ Small house plants.■ Fabric and play silks.

Small world scenesHere are a few favourite small world playscenes we have set up and enjoyed thatcould be good starting points to springboardyour own planning. The sky’s the limit withsmall world play – any story, character,theme, habitat, or real life experience can becreated with simple materials and toys witha little imagination!

Dinosaur land Use a shallow, flat container such as a Tuffspot or a cat litter tray and fill it with a rangeof sensory play materials, for example, drybeans and rice, small pebbles and rocks, andtwigs and small branches. Use some brownplaydough to represent mud in one corner,and use this as a base to stick real or fabricplants into. You could create a volcano fromrecycled packaging covered with crumpledpaper and stuffed with a piece of orangematerial. Add small toy dinosaurs and play!

Try adding some favourite dinosaur books to a shelf below the play or next to itin a basket. Add dinosaur shaped blankbooks and some pens for free role-playwriting prompts.

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1Try adding sensory materials toenrich the play and increase

vocabulary development.

2Make interchangeable backdrops tosimple scenes from cardboard

painted with skies, a city-skyline,underwater, etc.

3 Store themed sets of small worldtoys in small containers or bags,

labelled and ready to use.

4Gather a small selection of booksto match each theme and set it in a

basket next to the small world scene.

5Cut plain books from folded paperinto a shape to match the theme,

e.g. dinosaurs or rockets, and lay

EXTENDINGLEARNING

them nearby with a pot of pens to encourage pre-writing andstorytelling through play.

6Leave a digital camera near thesmall world scene and encourage

the children to take photos of their play,which can then be printed anddisplayed on a board nearby. Childrencan then annotate these with their ownmarks, with the practitioner acting as ascribe underneath. These can be usedto make story books about the smallworld scene to read to the whole class.

7Ask the children to plan out theirown small world scenes. Can

they make a diagrammatic list of all the materials they will need, and then go to search for them to build it independently?

Rock pool After a trip to the beach orduring a summerseaside-themedproject it’sfantastic tointroduce a littlerock pool small worldset-up. Use the watertable or a large Tubtrug embedded in acorner of the outdoor area, and line the basewith sand. Fill it three-quarters full of waterand add large rocks, shells and pebbles tocreate your own rock pool. Introduce toy seacreatures such as crabs, star fish and smallfish. Adding a fishing net, bucket and spadeprovides an opportunity for developing itinto role play and even making a wholebeach scene with deck chairs, an umbrellaand beach ball! For many inner city kids, thiscould be the closest they will get to thebeach over the summer.

Lunar landscapeFor space lovers, creating a moon surface isso much fun – and it’s relatively easy to puttogether with recycled materials and theadded sensory fun of homemade ‘moondust’! Inside a large, shallow box or Tuff spot,tape down some large egg cartons andother pieces of cardboard packaging tomake a bumpy crater surface. Cover thiswith tin foil, taping it down underneath. Addsome smooth, white rocks and pebbles, andany moon-themed small toys you mighthave such as a rocket, astronauts and moonbuggy. Mix up some homemade moon-dustby adding a few drops of black foodcolouring to a large bag of salt and shaking itin the bag until the colour has dispersedevenly. Add in a tablespoon of talcumpowder and some silver glitter, and spread itout to dry. It should be light grey, fluffy,sparkly and oh so soft. Spread this over themoon craters and play!

Again, add space-related story and non-fiction books nearby, and make rocket-

shaped blank books for mark-making.Putting out some lolly sticks, green

card and googly eyes on the creativetable may inspire some children tomake and add their own aliens tothe play scene.

Frog pondCut a pond shape from a foam sheet

and add little green lily pads from thesame material or pieces of felt. Use natural

tree branches or small logs to surround it,adding foliage, moss, rocks and any othernatural materials from the collection. Uselittle toy frogs to jump in the pond, sing Fivespeckled frogs and re-tell favourite frogstories. If you add some bubble wrap withblack dots marked on using a permanentpen, they can lay their own frogspawn too!

This is the sort of small world that thechildren can add to as they play, looking upin books and the Internet what othercreatures might live around a British pond,and either finding or making those to add tothe area. Sticking a poster of a frog life-cyclein the background can increase the learningopportunities further.

Fairy garden Incorporate small world play into a real,living garden space to ignite creativity andtake the play outside! Fill a garden barrelwith soil, and plant a variety of bright flowersand little shrubs. Add a flowerpot on its side,some branches and a little path made ofpebbles to lead to the door. The childrencould design and make any more additionsthey choose, from a pond area to little corktoadstools. Add toy fairies and unicorns tocome to live in their new home, and let theplay begin!

Placing large fabric scarves nearby tobecome wings will encourage imaginativerole play. Add favourite fairy books and littlesticks dipped in glitter and glue at the tip tobecome fairy wands.

FarmUse a toy barn or make one from a smallcardboard box and place it, along with some

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RESOURCETROLLEY

Find out more at yellow-door.net orcall 0845 6035309 for a catalogue.

Anna Ranson is a formerearly years coordinator andlead teacher for a London borough. She isnow a mum to three young children andwrites award-winning early educationwebsite The Imagination Tree – visittheimaginationtree.com

abouttheauthor

COMBINE A HANDFUL OF YELLOWDOOR’S RESOURCES AND CREATEUNIQUE LEARNING LANDSCAPESGUARANTEED TO INSPIRE!

Dino Dig & DiscoverThis small world scene will sparkimaginations and create endless storyideas. Build the scene with dinosaurskeletons, a collection of intriguingmini remains, a flexible log fence andrich terracotta sand. Prices: £3–£9.

Fairy FantasyStart with a set of six colourful plasticfairy figures, add a fantastic woodenfairy home (ideally sized for littlehands), sprinkle some gold sand tofinish and be transported to a magicalland far away. Prices: £4–£10.

Wonderful WoodlandCombine natural reindeer moss, plasticplants and a set of woodland creaturesto build a rich habitat full of textureand colour, ideal for exploringdescriptive language. Prices: £5–£10.

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favourite toy farm animals, in a large tray.Use real materials to add a sensory playelement to the scene, for example, driedbeans and pulses, cut (or planted) grass anda tub of wet soil for the pigs to roll aroundin, and a little tub filled with water for apond. Adding fresh cut herbs such asrosemary and basil will enrich the sensoryelements even further, and helps to aid theuse of new vocabulary – such as “squelchy”and “squishy” – as children play. Try addinga CD player nearby with animal noises andfarm songs to play in the background.

Sports arena Use toy figures to make up crowds andplayers in team sports events. This type ofsmall world really appeals to those littlefootball fanatics, and can be so simple to setup, using a piece of green carpet or a smallsection of fake grass from the gardencentre. Add on the markings for whateversport it represents and let them play!

To create an Olympic stadium you canadd sand for a long jump and a tub of waterto create a swimming pool too, for enrichingsensory exploration and fun. For addedliteracy encouragement, provide small labelsand pens, and get children to design flags,signs and banners to be hung around the

stadium. Small rectangles of card could alsobe used for making entrance tickets with asingle hole puncher for snipping them onentry – perfect for promoting fine motordevelopment through play.

City in a cardboard boxTry changing the small world backdrop bypresenting the scene within a large, shallow-sided cardboard box (a large appliance orfurniture box works best). Inside the box,start to draw a roadway system with pensand write a few simple labels, e.g. “road”,“shops”, “station”. Encourage the children tofinish the roadway and add more of theirown labels and signs using pens andstickers. Add cars, trains, figures and woodenblocks for constructing a city around theroads. The children can even climb inside toplay, turning it into a full body, interactivesmall world experience!

Try adding a box of recycled cartons,tubes and boxes with some sellotape andscissors to encourage further designing andconstruction. Make some challenge cards,which the children can select for an adult toread to them, for example, “Can you make astation for the trains?” or “Can you design apark and playground, then make it?”

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