How Cute!!!

Little Lochie's mum just sent this gorgeous photo to us, she says:  "
I would lay Lochie down like this on his tummny for his naps as he seemed to sleep really really well this way. His older brother, Mitchell, who was 2 1/2 at this time, would come and quietly surround him with his favourite toys. Anamalz remain a favourite with both of them."  I like the little zebra in the background too, and the stripy pants - what a sweet photo.

Your Stories - The Princess and the Pea

I'm often asked by parents how they can encourage their children to play more "imaginatively".  I have always found that providing children with simple open ended toys (such as coloured scarves, blocks and simple dolls) will allow them plenty of scope to create imaginary lands, if you have time to get down on the floor with them now and again and interact - even better!!  Extending a book you are reading, or an outdoor activity (such as a trip to the zoo) is another way to assist them children to "relive" the experience or story through play and allow it to work more deeply into their imagination.

Karen over at Earthly Joy Ride has kindly shared with us the wonderful and creative time her daughter Annalise had with her wooden bed and Evi doll princess from Honeybee.  I just love Karen's creativity, her blog is dedicated to children's reading and creative play!!! 

Here is Karen's and Annalise's story:

Last year for Christmas, I gave my three-year-old daughter Annalise three different versions of the story, "The Princess and the Pea". I bought her a small princess and wooden bed, and sewed ten mini quilts, and of course, made a tiny green felt pea.

Rachel Isadora's "The Princess and the Pea"  is the standard version and has beautiful illustrations of African princesses with African greetings.

“The Princess and the Packet of Frozen Peas” by Tony Wilson is about a prince called Henrik who wants to find a princess to marry. Prince Henrik’s test involves not a canopy bed with 20 mattresses and one pea, but a thin camping mattress, an old sleeping bag and a whole packet of frozen peas!

“The Princess and the Pea” by Lauren Child is an amazing piece of artwork. Lauren painted cornflake packets for the paneled rooms and set up the paper-dressed characters inside with tweezers, before Polly Borland, the photographer, took the photos. The language used is just as wonderful –

You see,” said the king, “a real princess is not only mesmerisingly beautiful and fascinatingly interesting but, most important of all –"

“She has manners,” said the queen.

“No one should ever travel without them,” said the king.

“No, never, never go anywhere without your manners,” agreed the queen, taking her elbows off the table.

Playing with the princess and her bed has really added another dimension for Annalise when reading these stories

Your stories - Immy and her Treeblocks

This morning I received the second of our new stories - families sharing their play - I know I am really going to enjoy this new series of posts - I love seeing children at play - they have such a innate sense of wonder and joy, that should be cherished, nourished and protected. Thank you to Immy's mum for sharing this with us. I love the look of concentration on Immy's face.

There is nothing nicer than opening a big orange bag and finding it filled with...
Tree Blocks!

Last night, Immy had a lovely time unpacking her brand new, big bag of blocks and stacking and re-stacking them. They were a gift from her lovely Aunty Beef. As well as building, she banged them together, drummed on them and tried using the big rounds as stepping stones!
This morning, the first thing she went to was that lovely, bright orange bag. With a very little assistance from me, she did a great job of building with them. They are so divine... they smell good and have great texture and I love their irregularities. What fun we will have!

Find Treeblocks at Honeybee here.

Liliana's play corner

A very special customer sent this photo in of her play corner and her lovely Ostheimer toys...