A playspace for Turtle {Creating a Baby Playspace}

Hi! I'm Mummy Lozz and I'm really excited to be writing my first ever blog post for Squiggles and Bubbles! This year Squiggles and Bubbles is hosting a new series about none other than baby play! From playspaces to heuristic play and even paint… we want you to feel comfortable playing with your baby. By the end of the next 12 months you will have an arsenal of baby play ideas! You will have the knowledge and understanding to continue learning and growing with your baby through play. This month, myself and several other bloggers will be sharing our baby playspaces with you!

This month in our little red house I have been focusing on creating a play space for turtle that encourages her ability to become a confident and involved learner. I feel it's important for her to have a space that is uniquely hers, that she can access on her own.

There has been a lot of change in our household within the last couple of months, with myself going back to work and learning how to juggle being a wife and mum. Working 2 days a week has been tricky and I unfortunately have not put a lot of focus on turtles' play space. I feel that our little house has become visually noisy. We have been so blessed by gifts for turtle, but it has however resulted in a very colourful toy explosion. I was concerned that it was too much stimulation for turtle and I really wanted to strip it back.

 

A new Play space: The process

I started the transition by going to my favourite shop, yes for all the people that know me, you got it and for those who don't; I may be slightly kmart obsessed! I bought an 8 cubed shelf and had my lovely (not very enthused) husband to put it together. We have a small house but I still wanted to find a space that could be special for just turtle, so I shuffled things around and created a little nook for her.

Once the shelf was set up, the next step was to sort out all the toys. From here, I purchased some baskets and divided her toys into categories (e.g., books, stacking and sorting, puzzles, soft toys and musical instruments) these were put in the top of her wardrobe and will be labelled so they can be easily accessed. That way, whenever I feel it is needed, I can rotate the toys in the shelf.

 

In the shelf:

I picked items that Turtle had been particularly been drawn to recently, but that also support her fine motor skills and sensory motor skills. I kept it simple by having one toy per cube.

(A soft toy, sensory bottles, a book, blocks, an interactive toy which she absolutely loves! And stacking cups)

The result:

So I was so excited! I felt content with what I had created and could not wait to see how turtle responded to it. The funny thing is, guess what miss turtle has played with for days now? This:

Yes, the safety gate! This makes me laugh! We have recently started baby proofing the house and have blocked off the kitchen. Turtle is extremely interested and you know what, I really don’t mind. 

I actually love how much of a confident learner she is. Turtles' gross motor skills have really developed over the past month. She is just starting to pull herself up onto things and every time she lifts herself up, she has the most amazing smile as she achieves what she set out to do. To me, that is priceless. 

As much as I want her to explore her new play space, I want her to lead her own learning, she will explore it in her own time. For now, she is making meaning with constructing her own understandings of how things work and I'm happy with that.

Have I inspired you? I'd love for you to share your baby playspace with me on Instagram or right here in the comments. We even have an amazing giveaway!

Playful Baby Giveaway

Each month as well as equipping you with some fantastic, playful baby ideas we will also be giving away one fabulous Grimm's Spiel & Holz Wooden Toy!

Grimm’s Spiel & Holz have been making unique and distinctive natural wooden toys since 1978. Inspired by the educational philosophy of Rudolf Steiner, Spiel & Holz toys leave room for independent and open-ended play, allowing for the child’s own imaginative and creative life to be developed. Spiel & Holz toys have no sharp edges or corners as all the toys are individually sanded by hand. Each toy is hand-finished with special non-toxic and water-based dyes providing distinctive colours and shades, and then treated with pure vegetable oil.

To enter: Upload your photo to Instagram using the hashtags: #playfulbabychallenge and tag @squigglesandbubbles @loving_naturally @squishelsandme @mummy_lozz @something2offer
That’s it… TOO EASY!!
Every valid entry is entered in to the prize draw!

Winners will be chosen based on adherence to the guidelines – your photo can be literal, funny, clever, or really creative! Just make sure you show us how you connect with your baby through play!

The fine print…

• Giveaway is open to Australian residents aged 18 and over.
• The winners will be announced via a blog post and on Facebook and Instagram on the 15th of each month.
• The winners need to contact Squiggles and Bubbles via Facebook within 14 days or prize will go to the runner up.
• This promotion is in no way sponsored, endorsed, authorised by or associated with Facebook or Instagram. 

You may also like our Herb Sensory Table. Just click the picture to read all about it!

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.

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