Construction Mix-up

There seems to be mess everywhere in the house today but if I take a closer look it's where Miss M's creativity has been at work. This morning during tv time I set up chalk drawing, water play with blue colouring, playdough with cutters and construction on the mat. I like to set the play area up for some of Miss M's play time . A bit of structure helps her learn to care for her toys and I get to see where the activities take her little mind. Play time is always open to change and extending activities further so it often doesn't go the way I see it in my head and that's quite ok. It just depends on how Miss M plays with what is set up but structured play time is a good place to start as it begins with a focus. Plenty of free-play happens in other parts of our day together.

Rather than set up one construction set this morning I mixed them up. There was the foam city bocks, the magnetic car bocks and to these I added the vet set (Little People animals + people in a jungle setting.) A lovely game emerged as Miss M made a car from the magnetic set and created houses from the foam blocks. What I liked though was how she thought to add the Maisy Dominoes from the puzzle box and those pieces became doors. Who would have known what creative play was going to take place on the mat today from the mix-up of construction sets.

Looking for different construction sets? Here are some ideas that don't cost much...

• Join a Toy Library and borrow the wonderful range of construction sets they have.
• Make construction sets out of wood scraps, milk cartons or boxes. eg Smarties boxes, match boxes.
• Check out your local Op Shops. We have discovered most of our construction sets this way. From my old Kindy days I know that they are worth a lot of money but I have managed to pick ours up for $2 - $5 each or fill a bag for $2. Always check what's beneath the old or dirty looking boxes. You may discover a fantastic construction set just begging to be cleaned up and played with. I have purchased lovely new boxes for ours.
• Find a mummy friend who will swap construction sets for a time.