When I first came across the term Invitation to Play via one of my favorite blogger. Anna from Imagination Tree has beautiful Invitations to Play set up for her children to learn and play with the most basic stuff you can get around the house.
What is Invitation to Play?
Simply put, Invitation to Play is organising or arranging an area of the home or room that would “invite” the child to come an explore and be engaged in an activity in a fun way thus promoting independent play as well. The child should be able to touch, feel, explore and most importantly ask questions and ignite their curiosity.
The Lil’ Tiger is at a stage where she asks Why and What all the time. I spoke to a friend of mine who is a teacher, and he said, it’s good that young children ask Why, it means that they are Constantly thinking about things and wanting to learn about things around them. This is the most crucial time to engage them in what ever they are interested in.
Why is the sky blue? Why the chicken has red bits on it’s head? Why is Pixel wagging his tail so fast? These are some of the questions I get asked from time to time.
Invitations to Play at my home
I am a firm believer that all children need to play and they learn better through play as well. So I have decided to do the same and create several “Invitations to Play” for the Lil’ Tiger. If you follow me on Instagram, you would know that I do this frequently and I rotate her toys from time to time and only leave out 4-6 choices of toys for her so she will not get overwhelm by it.
When I notice that the Lil’ Tiger has not touched a certain toy or has not been engaged by something laid out for her in a while, it goes back in a box and I lay out something new for her. I will observe her for the week or the day to see what she is interested in or what she has been asking. This week, the Lil’ Tiger has been very interested in picture puzzles. She will be engaged for hours just putting them together and then taking them apart again and again and each time she finishes the puzzles, she yells “I did it!”. Cute.
Pictured below are just some of the types of Invitations to Play I have set up around my house. I
will be posting and sharing more on Instagram and on the Facebook page in the near future.
You can read more about Invitations to Play from some of my favorite Early Childhood Educator/Bloggers.
Anna from The Imagination Tree.
Debroah from Teach Preschool.
Christie from Childhood 101.
Pauline*** from Lesson Learnt Journal.
***If you noticed, my previous post about Surviving Child Care, has a video featuring Pauline. She was the mom with the Manny.
