Under the table ocean

Following along with Nurture Store's Simple play:: complex learning series, I'm sharing our under the table ocean today-it's not exactly a 'den' but is still lots of fun.

The idea for our ocean came about because I was thinking about making another table like the first cubby I made for Bubbles (pictured above) but I couldn't find any ribbon in the house, so instead I looked in my fabric box and found the leftover fabrics from our wedding. Our wedding had a bit of an ocean themed colour, and as I cut some very rough strips from the material my eyes fell on the paper fish in my kids ministry box which happened to be opened next to the fabric box. Thus, the idea for an ocean was born.


I removed the glass top from our table and tied the fabric to the frame and then used a hole punch to punch some holes in the fish, attached some wool and tied them to the table also. I popped the glass back on and waited for the girls to wake from their nap.

It didn't take long for the girls to find the table when they woke up and they both had lots of fun crawling under the table and through the 'seaweed.' Bubbles declared that one of the fish was a shark and we had lots of fun crawling quickly away and through the 'seaweed', with Bubbles excitedly and very loudly calling to Squiggles to run too. Squiggles was in fits of laughter the whole time.

They played in their ocean all afternoon and even after dinner, during which time Bubbles grabbed her nightlight bunny and popped him under the table which opened up a whole new play. Bunny shines musical notes and stars, Bubbles and I spent a fair bit of time under the table looking up at the stars when Squiggles discovered a black light torch that had been left on the floor. I turned off the lights and Squiggles and Bubbles played under the table with their torches and bunny until bedtime.

I left the ocean up for 2 weeks during which time the girls spent many hours playing with it. All in all a simple, cheap activity with countless play opportunities-totally worth the set up in my opinion.

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.