Nature Themed Play: Indoor Beach Day

I've been really into themed play lately. Or should I say, I've been really interested and excited by the way that my children have been taking to it, both on their own and by my invitation.

They love to set up pillows and pretend to be on a ship! The loose pillows they scatter about the floor become islands. The blue blanket is water, the play food is their emergency stash while at sea, the play silks turn into rescue lines, and on it goes. These games that they make up from simple household materials are the best because they stay engaged for a long time as the imaginary play evolves and changes, new adventures and challenges constantly being invented.

Based on what they had been already doing, I began gathering loose parts to further their play. One day while home alone with my toddler she kept mentioning that she wanted a beach day, complete with sun, swimming, and other summer fun. Well, it was winter so that wasn't going to happen quite the way she had imagined in her head. But...then I started thinking. What if we collected some stuff from around the house to turn the playroom into our beach for the afternoon. Would it help her have the beach day she was pining after?

Here's what we gathered for the best beach day ever...

- Shells and Starfish

- Rocks and pebbles of various sizes

- An old wooden frame

- Beach hat

- Sunglasses

- Shovel and Sand Rake

- Small Net

- Ice Cream from the Play Kitchen

- Blue Blanket for "Water"

- Orange Blanket and Tan rug for the "Beach"

- Go Fish Card Game for the "Fish"

This was so much fun!

After we set the materials up to resemble the beach and kind of create little beach play stations I waited to see how she was going to interact. She "dove" right into playing!

Here are some of the ways the play unfolded.

SHELL SHOP

SHELL COLLECTING

CATCHING SOME RAYS

SHOVELING AND RAKING ROCKS

ZONES

There was also plenty of fishing and swimming that day as well! Some of the things that really worked well were creating "zones" with the box, blankets and rugs. This helped make every space special and created interest. It also helped keep the loose parts from getting all mixed together. They did mix and mingle but initially setting things up in the "water" or "sand" or whatever was a great invitation to play.

BOX of ROCKS

Another highlight was the BOX of ROCKS. This was a huge hit because she eventually sat right in the box and really immersed herself in the environment. If you don't have a wooden frame a shallow plastic storage container or the right sized cardboard box would work great too! When my preschooler came home from school that day he was a little big to fit in the box but had fun raking and scooping right from the side too.

SOUNDSCAPE

To top of the experience, I turned on some ocean wave sounds too so we could really get the feeling of being at the beach! It was quite the relaxing day.

I love taking trips to the beach and running around in the field and woods near our home. But at the same time, we also have so much fun bringing nature in.

Hope this sparks a beach day at your house soon! And if it does we'd love to hear how it went and see some pics!

You can follow along and post your play on https://www.facebook.com/groups/collectmakeexplore/