Tag: Reggio Emilia

DIY Toy Picnic Basket | #inspiredbyCPS

curatedplayspaces

We took down our tree today and packed away Christmas, with our eyes and hearts now firmly focused on the promises a new year brings. But before it’s all done and dusted, I had to repost this photo a dear friend shared my way. It’s her niece with the Christmas gift that was inspired by the work and ideas I share here. My friend thrifted the gorgeous picnic basket and all the fun accessories for it, and then topped it off with some cute Melissa and Doug Toys wooden play food. Can you even with how perfect this gift is?! Nothing makes me happier or prouder seeing what I do trickle out into the world in such beautiful inspiring ways. Keep tagging me, sharing your stories, and making my heart so full. And thank you for believing and trusting in me! x x

Felt Pieces | #unexpectedtoys

curatedplayspaces

One of my littlest’s favorite gifts was a packet of stiff 8×12 colorful felt pieces (today’s edition of #unexpectedtoys). He loves to use them as part of his small world and block play, creating different landscapes for his characters to play on. Blue might be a swimming pool or an ocean when placed next to yellow sand. Green works well for grass and a place for the Paw Patrol to use the potty. 😉 Brown is dirt, and when he laid down all the colors it became a trampoline park.

To store when not being played with, I used a file organizer I had on hand and arranged them by color/shade to make it easy to find exactly the piece that’s needed.

Creating an art cart!

curatedplayspaces


Ladies and gentlemen – the art cart. A perfect gift idea for the kid who has everything but doesn’t know where to find it. 😜 Giving is 1000% my love language – not physical gifts per say, but just the act of doing something kind for someone else. This holiday season I offered my services to a dear friend and we decided creating an art cart for her girls would be the perfect gift for me to give them. So today I headed over with a cart, paper sorter, and wide mouth mason jars (#theessentials) and turned their jumbled art supplies into organized creativity ready to happen.

  • BEFORE + SUPPLIES
  • THE CART
  • AFTER

From little things, big things grow!

curatedplayspaces

This holiday season has been a bumper time for this little business. So many consults (yay!) and lots of installs for the new year. As things gets busier, I’m still figuring out the time juggle between working and mama-ing full time (any hot tips?). I so appreciate your patience as we figure out the best way to grow and make sure we’re giving you the best product and service, while still maintaining some resemblance of sanity at home.

My own outdoor play space has been in flux this fall as we prepare to do a major overhaul of the space. The cold wet weather definitely slows down outdoor progress, but we’ve finally got a (mostly finished, insanely huge) sandbox back in action. My playgroup crew were so happy to get back outside into it this week, and were even more excited to find that the slide now lands into the sandbox. Now onto the new mud kitchen and play structure. #cantstopwontstop

Creating magic with light!

curatedplayspaces

For today’s playgroup session I turned our indoor clubhouse (as my boys lovingly call it) into a magical light box. We hung our Sarah’s Silks over one of the openings and placed a play invitation inside using all sorts of lovely twinkle lights, flashlights, and lanterns. The addition of the play silk was the first thing the kids noticed as they arrived and it was an immediate draw to climb the ladder to see what was inside. Next followed ‘oohs and ahhs’, and lots of work figuring out how the lights worked. Fast forward to tonight, and my Pilot was even more enamored to explore the space in the dark.

And listen, you don’t need a fancy indoor fort to create this magic. Throw a couple of tablecloths over your kitchen table and place a basket of battery operated Christmas lights and some flash lights underneath (don’t forget to sweep first ;). Find a big card box box and put your basket of lights in there. Or even just enjoy the light play once the sun goes down in a dark room (one plus to it being dark by 5.30pm).

Tape Measures | #unexpectedtoys

curatedplayspaces

My little guy is very into trains at the moment and a way of extending this play is with the addition of tape measures (this week’s #unexpectedtoys). Once we’ve built his big track and long train, he loves to measure and record how big everything it (we keep clipboards with paper and markers in the playroom for this purpose). Although it mostly looks like scribbles and his knowledge of numbers stops at 5, this early numeracy and literacy activity is a great introduction to all kinds of skills. So what are you waiting for? Grab some measuring devices, create a play invitation, and see where your tiny humans take it!

Send some Thanksgiving love!

curatedplayspaces

This week’s #humpdayhangout (playgroup) was a smaller cozier affair than usual. With Thanksgiving tomorrow I wanted to do something special this week, without pushing racist or harmful stereotypes of the holiday. So we focused on being thankful for the people in our lives we love and who make us happy. I’m personally not a big fan of crafts, so instead we decorated blank postcards and wrote letters to friends and family. Stamps went on and into the mailbox they went, sending a little extra love into the universe. ♡

Create an impromptu obstacle course (outside and in!)

curatedplayspaces
702b5cab-7448-489f-afe2-83aec9ab1991

It may be #Friyay but I’m already counting down the days til next Wednesday and our weekly #humpdayhangout (aka playgroup). We spend the majority of the time outside and the littles always flock to the sandbox and mud kitchen, however right now my play area is in flux and dismantled so we had to get extra creative this week to keep bodies and minds busy. Cue – the impromptu obstacle course!

Using wooden boards of different lengths, ladders, cones, a saw horse and blanket, cushions, a soccer goal, and a tight rope, + bubbles to celebrate reaching the end, we created a play invitation that everyone wanted to try (over and over again). This is something so simple and opened-ended you could set up at home too (inside and out). Get creative and let me know what you come up with, or even better, send pics!

Scarves | #unexpectedtoys

curatedplayspaces

Processed with VSCO with nc preset
Processed with VSCO with nc preset

A lovely way to add some color to your play space is with scarves – today’s edition of #unexpectedtoys. Easy to thrift and available in allllll the colors, shapes, sizes, and fabrics, they are the perfect addition to all sorts of play. In small world/block play, they can become rivers, beaches, snow on a mountain, a roof for a building, or a blanket for a tired animal. In dramatic play they can be turned into capes, aprons, dresses, hats, tails, and long hair. Add them to your music area and they are the perfect accessory for dancing during jam sessions. We keep a basket in our play space and I always like to add one to the spaces I help curate too. Just make sure to steam/iron out the wrinkles every now and then to keep them looking inviting.

Clay | A fun first introduction (warning – its’ messy ;)

curatedplayspaces

48a885b8-b8ea-4985-a1ca-5efe5df5d1c1Wednesday’s are for #humpdayhangouts – a weekly play date I host with friends and their little ones. This morning’s session was taken up a notch with an unexpected acquisition of a lovely chunk of clay. I know your instinct might be to give each child their own little piece to work with, in the same way you would play dough, but I find that young children need a chance to fully explore the clay as a whole before they are ready or willing to create individually.

cebb105d-f836-453d-8aaa-0b4da1f40d1f
For today’s play invitation I laid out a large plastic drop cloth and put the whole piece of clay in the center of it. Around the clay I placed various tools and materials – kitchen utensils, tongs, rocks, seed pods, little branches with leaves, a large log, yard flamingoes, and a bowl of warm water with little sponges. The children watched as I set it up and naturally were interested in taking a closer look. They took their cues from each other as they played and explored, learning about how the texture changes with the addition of water, or the ways the flamingoes beaks made such a lovely little finger sized hole.

fdf75f3d-8a92-4265-aaac-15965e140e37The first part of the play was really just getting familiar with the materials, then play arcs started to take shape. More tools were gathered from the sandbox area. The clay started to be shaped into things. Games started evolving. All of this with very minimal adult direction or interaction. Just beautiful independent social play with friends. #myheartishappy

fae76732-71c2-4fd8-aaae-8b112ed77ebc