Some of our tried and tested Christmas play ideas

GOLD AND SILVER STARS

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Set up a really quick play activity today. Gold and silver ribbon stars with tweezers, starry paper cups, Christmas plates and napkins and some toy weighing scales. All the girls have had a fine time making star drinks, star biscuits and dinner for Rudolph. They have played individually and together. They have been counting, sorting and making patterns. They have used their fine motor skills to operate the tweezers and move the stars around. There has been lots of storytelling and role play. Added the @usborne_books to encourage their vocabulary when describing the different materials. Shiny, sparkly, glittery, smooth. A fun festive invitation to play!

A post shared by Family Blogger UK 😊Jennie (@edspire) on Dec 2, 2018 at 1:33pm PST

THAT’S NOT MY ANGEL BOOKISH PLAY

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We are all about Christmas books, crafts and play here for the rest of December. We are setting up lots of festive play stations around the house including a cosy Christmas book corner, a wrapping station, a star kitchen, a post office and a winter woodland. This is such a magical time of year for firing up little imaginations and giving them BIG ideas! We are definitely feeling festive! Come and play! @usborne_books #countdowntochristmas #christmascountdown #advent #adventplay #christmasplay #festivefun #playideas #toddlerfun #homeeducation

A post shared by Family Blogger UK 😊Jennie (@edspire) on Dec 3, 2018 at 3:09am PST

THE FIRST CHRISTMAS STORY

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Telling the story of the nativity with a little help from Happyland! @mothercareuk @elc_uk #christmasplay #christmas🎄 #christmasstory #christmasstorytelling #bookishplay #nativity #nativityscene #toddlerplay #preschoolplay #homeeducation #festivefun #advent

A post shared by Family Blogger UK 😊Jennie (@edspire) on Dec 3, 2018 at 5:38am PST

WRAPPING PRESENTS

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Today I set up a present wrapping station. This #invitationtoplay was made up of wooden blocks in all different shapes, colours and sizes, silver foil and Christmas stickers. Also a chalk board for tally charts and making lists. All the children loved this set up, wrapping and unwrapping presents. They carefully chose their blocks and found just the right size piece of foil to wrap up their gift. It was lovely to watch them play. Edie loved opening the parcels and looked delighted with every block of wood she unwrapped. We used this activity to work on Edie’s colours and for the others we focused on properties of 3D shapes. A fun festive play idea that is super simple to set up and easy to adapt slightly over a number of days to encourage the exploration of different concepts and development of different skills including those oh so important fine motor skills. Should be played with Christmas music turned up loud!!

A post shared by Family Blogger UK 😊Jennie (@edspire) on Dec 3, 2018 at 2:24pm PST

CHRISTMAS POST OFFICE PLAY

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Today we had a little play with our Christmas post office / elf reception desk. With a phone and a post box, a camera and some keys. The children can choose how they want to play. I sometimes give some ideas like creating a naughty or nice list but mostly they follow each other’s lead. The toys in this #invitationtoplay are some of our favourites a retro @fisherprice telephone, @plantoysuk mobile phone, keys and camera and a wooden postbox from @elc_uk Simple toys with so much potential for open ended play and role play. Watch out for more about #learningthroughplay with these toys on my blog this week as we explore #fewerbettertoys and #openendedplay in the run up to Christmas. #play #playandlearn #preschoolplay #toddlerfun #play #roleplay #imaginativeplay #letthemplay #timetoplay #playtime

A post shared by Family Blogger UK 😊Jennie (@edspire) on Dec 4, 2018 at 3:49pm PST

STAR PLAY TRAY

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Set up a star play tray for Edie today. It had wooden stars of different colours and sIzes, a @grimmswoodentoys star teethed from @onehundredtoys, a rubber star ball from @babipur, two copies of Twinkle Twinkle Little Star, one a music book, one a picture book. A star finger puppet and a star tambourine. A star led tea light for reading and singing by starlight. Looking forward to lots of star stories and songs this coming weekend as we continue our #adventtoremember #adventfortilda #matildamae #twinkletwinklelittlestar #babyplay #bookishplay #nurseryrhymes #christmas🎄 #advent #sensoryplay #toddlerfun #play #timetoplay #letthemplay #invitationtoplay

A post shared by Family Blogger UK 😊Jennie (@edspire) on Dec 8, 2018 at 2:40pm PST

WINTER WONDERLAND BOOKISH PLAY

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Another day another festive small world set up. Today we have a snow land using rice as snow. Edie has great fun scooping and pouring the snow as well as playing with all her Happy Land friends. We added cinnamon sticks for an extra sensory element. Edie was busy with this all day and had play mates and helpers of all ages joining her throughout the day. We kept this #invitationtoplay really small using a baking tray covered in foil then adding rice and the toys. Playing in a winter wonderland!!

A post shared by Family Blogger UK 😊Jennie (@edspire) on Dec 11, 2018 at 9:21am PST

PEEKABOO FESTIVE PLAY TRAY

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Edie has been feeling much better today and much more able to play. She was very busy playing independently with her winter wonderland play tray but I wanted to change it up a bit so set up a peekaboo game in the snow tray with some starry paper cups and her @elc_uk Happy Land figures. She had great fun looking under each of the cups to see who was hiding there. This is a great game for learning vocabulary and can also be used for learning shapes colours and numbers. So many ways to play! Think this might become my new tag line? So many ways to play!

A post shared by Family Blogger UK 😊Jennie (@edspire) on Dec 11, 2018 at 2:55pm PST

WINTER WOODLAND PLAY TRAY

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More winter woodland play today. This time we have gone for wooden toys from @onehundredtoys Two beautiful @ostheimerwoodentoys trees, a wolf, a fox, a rabbit and a fawn. I have used some @grimmswoodentoys rainbow arches and rainbow bowls. The snow is rice and the logs are cinnamon sticks. I have also included some mini metal spoons for scooping and pouring and clearing paths through the trees for the woodland creatures. Can’t wait to see how this gets used throughout the day. #invitationtoplay #somanywaystoplay #woodentoys #smallworldplay #sensoryplay #openendedplay #toddlerfun #babyplay #toddlerplay #playandlearn #letthemplay #christmas🎄

A post shared by Family Blogger UK 😊Jennie (@edspire) on Dec 12, 2018 at 5:17am PST

STACKING CHRISTMAS CUPS

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Sometime the simplest ideas really are the best! Stacking paper cups = hours of fun for all the family! #somanywaystoplay #christmas🎄 #invitationtoplay #timetoplay #letthemplay #christmasplayideas #play #stem #playandlearn #learningthroughplay #letthemplay

A post shared by Family Blogger UK 😊Jennie (@edspire) on Dec 12, 2018 at 1:11pm PST

CHRISTMAS POST

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A post shared by Family Blogger UK 😊Jennie (@edspire) on Dec 14, 2018 at 1:10pm PST

CHRISTMAS SPROUT PLAY

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SO many ways to play with … sprouts! I have decided that I am going to share my play ideas and the books we read here on Instagram in 2019. I am going to be using the hashtag #somanywaystoplay and then showing lots of different ways of playing with particular toys and household objects. I may write some ideas up as a blog series but the main focus will be here through static posts and stories. I hope that you will join me and spread the word to others who may want new idea for play in 2019. I want to promote the ethos of #fewerbettertoys and focus very much on our #homeeducation journey and #learningthroughplay

A post shared by Family Blogger UK 😊Jennie (@edspire) on Dec 30, 2018 at 2:50pm PST

THAT’S NOT MY WINTER WORLD PLAY

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Starting some festive play today. We got out all our winter and Christmas That’s Not My books and found some characters to go with them. I set up a small winter world with polar bears and penguins, reindeer and donkeys. Edie has been playing with this super simple set up all morning. She mostly likes the penguins and asked me to make them a pool for swimming. We love these books and they make perfect Christmas gifts especially when bundled with a cuddly toy or some small world figures. We have worked with @Usborne this year but these are books we have bought ourselves over the years. We have a huge collection of #thatsnotmy books that I plan to keep for grandchildren with the matching wooden toys. @lankakade toys are perfect That’s Not My companions. This small world bookish set up will be adapted and added to over this week encouraging Christmas play and storytelling. #somanywaystoplay #welovechristmasplay #christmasplay #bookishplay #bookinspiredplay #bookbasedplay #readchatplay #readalongplayalong #thatsnotmy20 #usbornebooks #smallworldplay #sensoryplay #sensorystorytime #sensorystorytelling #imaginativeplay

A post shared by Family Blogger UK 😊Jennie (@edspire) on Nov 26, 2019 at 4:43am PST

PEPPA PIG ICE PLAY

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We had great fun this morning with our wintry @officialpeppa advent characters from last year. We froze them in muffin trays over night so that they were trapped in these icy discs. Perfect for making them race across the tuff tray. Pretending to ski, sledge, skate and ice dance. All the children had great fun. Edie kept saying the ice is melting mummy because it is getting warmer. She learned that the more she played with a character and held the ice in her hands the faster it would melt. She loved watching the ice change as it melted. #somanywaystoplay and a whole lotta learning going on! #trayfortheday #tufftrayplay #winterplay #welovewinterplay #sensoryplay #iceplay #playislearning #playfullearning #playmatters #playandlearn #learningthroughplay #learningthroughplaying

A post shared by Family Blogger UK 😊Jennie (@edspire) on Nov 29, 2019 at 6:23am PST

SENSORY SNOW PLAY

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One of the wonderful things about winter play is that it can start in daylight and continue as the evening becomes dark. There is something super magical about playing by lamplight. After our visit to Father Christmas yesterday we came home and set up this scented snow world. It is flour and desiccated coconut scented with vanilla and cinnamon. It smells SO good! The characters have been collected over the years from @elc_uk Happy Land advent calendars. The children have been acting out feeding the reindeer, meeting Father Christmas, writing and posting letters, Santa delivering presents. Such a simple wintry set up and #somanywaystoplay #welovechristmasplay #christmasplay #sensoryplay #sensoryplaytime #tufftrayideas #tufftray #trayfortheday #tuffspot #tuffspotideas #messyplay #winterplay #timetoplay #letthemplay #playmatters #siblingplay

A post shared by Family Blogger UK 😊Jennie (@edspire) on Dec 1, 2019 at 4:23am PST

POPPY AND SAM’S CHRISTMAS BOOKISH PLAY

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We have been #gifted a fun festive #poppyandsam book from @usborne_books Full of all our favourite farmyard characters, the book tells the story of snowy Christmas preparations on the farm. Every page is interactive with flaps galore. Open doors to animal homes to feed the animals, read cards and letters, open presents. We love Poppy and Sam books and this Christmas story is our new favourite. We have set up a snowy farm tuff tray for some bookish play and sensory storytelling. Esther set this up and I love that she added details and characters inside the house as well as on the farmyard. #somanywaystoplay #bookishplay #bookish_bingo #snow #welovechristmasplay #bookbasedplay #bookinspiredplay #sensoryplay #oursensorychristmas #trayfortheday #tufftrayplay #tufftrayideas #tuffspotideas #messyplay #childrensbooks #picturebooks #kidsbookadvent #christmasbooks #booksforchristmas #bookadvent

A post shared by Family Blogger UK 😊Jennie (@edspire) on Dec 1, 2019 at 11:31pm PST

POSTING STARS

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Today for advent Edie received a pocketful of stars. 20 chunky silver wooden stars. We have already used them for posting, counting practise and making wishes. We are going to be using them in some festive small world play. We are loving our advent candle for Tilda and sharing our special advent gifts and activities. I love this time of year and I love how Tilda is made such a special and central part of everyday #adventtoremember #adventfortilda #adventcalendar #adventactivities #edspireadventadventures #edspireadventactivities #welovechristmasplay #matildamae #christmascountdown

A post shared by Family Blogger UK 😊Jennie (@edspire) on Dec 6, 2019 at 3:07am PST

WE’RE GOING ON AN ELF CHASE BOOKISH PLAY

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We love paper cup play in our house. We love stacking cups and using them as skittles. We love combining paper cups and Pom Poms. Paper cups are great for filling and emptying over and over again. We also use them for playing hide and seek with small world figures such as our jolly little @lankakade elf! Inspired by this beautiful book ‘We’re Going On An Elf Chase’ we have been hiding our elf among our paper cups and taking turns trying to find him. Sometimes when Edie thinks she is going to uncover the elf instead she will find a penguin or a polar bear, a robin, a reindeer or even Father Christmas himself! This is such a festive fun #bookishplay that can be adapted and changed and played with over and over again. #somanywaystoplay #welovechristmasplay #welovechristmasbooks #bookadvent #kidsbookadvent #childrensbookadventcalendar #kidsbooks #childrensbooks #picturebooks #readchatplay #readalongplayalong #christmasbooksforkids #christmasbookstagram

A post shared by Family Blogger UK 😊Jennie (@edspire) on Dec 6, 2019 at 8:08am PST

HOW MANY QUACKS TIL CHRISTMAS BOOKISH PLAY

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We love a Christmas farm story and this weekend we are off to @kent_life_farm for their very special nativity. This weekend our small world play will focus on farm animals and remembering the story of the first Christmas. This is one of our favourite festive farms books, How Many Quacks Til Xhristmas? All the baby animals are very excited about Christmas as preparations begin for the big day. This book is great fun to read aloud and to act out with all the animal noises. It is also great for learning the names of the different animals you would find on the farm and to match baby animals to their grown ups. Edie loves this story and it is one we read together over and over again. A lovely way to countdown to Christmas with all the fun of the farm. #bookadvent #christmasonthefarm #bookishplay #welovechristmasplay #welovechristmasbooks #kidsbookadvent #booksforchristmas #bookbasedplay #readalongplayalong #readchatplay #sensorystorytime #sensorystorytelling #smallworldplay @holztiger_uk @babipur @onehundredtoys #play #playfullearning #playandlearn #learningthroughplay

A post shared by Family Blogger UK 😊Jennie (@edspire) on Dec 6, 2019 at 11:18pm PST

Lots more Christmas play coming up on my Instagram squares this week

Come follow me and join the fun!