An Invitation to Dig

I’ve been creating invitations to play for Bubbles since before I ever heard the words “invitation to play.” I’m no expert, just a simple mother of two, studying early childhood, so I don’t feel qualified to explain to you just what an invitation to play is, instead I invite you to pop over to The Imagination Tree, where one of my all time favourite bloggers, mother of three and ex-early childhood educator will explain all about it. 

I invite you to do this as I’ve been going through the many activities I want to share with you when I get the opportunity to write about them; and several of them, like today’s, are simply invitations to play.

 

Since we harvested our potatoes Squiggles and Bubbles have been enjoying digging and playing in the bare planter box. After seeing their interest in the dirt I decided to keep it empty rather than plant it out, giving the girls their very own digging patch.

I decided to invite the girls to explore their new digging patch with this simple invitation to dig.

What I used:
A planter box full of dirt
4 spades (Why 4? Because what I had on hand.)
A rake (Why only 1? Because that’s all I had.)
2 watering cans

2 pinwheels (Don’t you just love the massive yellow one? I love the colour it brings to the whole space.)

How to play:
As with all the invitations to play I set up for the girls, I gave them no directions. Rather I simply allowed them to find the space and play with the materials in their own way. 

 

I had barely set up the space when the girls discovered it and I was delighted to see them begin digging straight away. I did have to quickly add in a few boundaries-such as no digging up Mummy's other planter box and keeping the dirt in the planter box. That said, seven months later this is still Squiggles favourite area-as soon as we go outside she makes a beeline for the box.

Have you created a space for your little one to dig in your backyard? Tell me about it in the comments. :)

Please always supervise your infant/child at play.  Please stay within arms reach and never leave infants/children unattended.  You know you're infant/child best, use your own judgement-considering your infant/child's temperament, habits, behaviour and development before you play with a new play medium.