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Little Lifelong Learners

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This FLISAT table from IKEA has been such a big pa

This FLISAT table from IKEA has been such a big part of our sensory play set ups these last few weeks. Just pop an old sheet down, put the table on top and add your sensory base and tools and you’re GOOD TO GO! All three kids are sitting around the kinetic sand and coloured chickpeas today 👏🏻

“Umm who has time to play with their kids like t

“Umm who has time to play with their kids like that?” 🙄
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Back when I was a new mama, I was left feeling a bit overwhelmed. I had an energetic toddler named Lilly and wanted to inject more play into our days at home together! I’d set up fun little sensory play activities and excitedly rotated her toys each week to keep things fun and fresh.
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But sometimes felt like I was made fun of for wanting to create playful experiences for Lilly. Sometimes I felt like others perceived me to be *trying too hard* to be a fun mum. But honestly? I just LOVED playing with her! I had spent years waiting so impatiently to marry Kurtis and have his babies 🙊
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But anyway, fast forward many years, a few more babies, lots of experimenting and I finally found my playful feet.
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I don’t stress about those that don’t *get* my passion for play. I’m totally confident in my ability to be a playful parent. My mission in life is to create play experiences and invitations that allow me to build a beautiful, playful bond with my children. I want them to look back on their childhood with so much joy and be filled with playful memories!
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And that is why I started the Little Play Club! I don’t want anyone to feel like they’re being an “IG show pony” for wanting to enjoy their time at home with their little learners!
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I am here to support you and YOUR playful journey....whether you love sensory play, creating beautiful play environments, setting up exquisite play invitations or getting playful in the great outdoors. Whether you’re a stay at home mum or work full-time. Whether you love all things Grimms or love a good Pinterest hack..
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The doors to the Little Play Club are closing at 10pm AEST TONIGHT and I’m so excited to welcome you in as a member! I can’t wait to share my passion for play with you and your little learners too ❤️ Come join me over at littleplayclub.com or you can click the link in my bio!

Last week I asked you what you’re struggling wit

Last week I asked you what you’re struggling with most right now and your answers really tugged on the old heart strings.
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I lack the motivation to play with my kids.
I have so many other things on my to do list.
I’m not creative. I don’t know HOW to play with my kids.
I’m really struggling to be present!
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Alright let’s have some real talk for a minute...
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I know my IG feed is full of beautiful pictures of playtime. So it can probably appear as though I spend my entire day thoughtfully creating small worlds, printing off pages and pages of printable games and resources and pretty much just doing loads of fun things with my children.
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Buuuuuut that’s not accurate at all. My goal here at Little Lifelong Learners is to support you and encourage you in YOUR playful journey. I love to share some of the activities we get up to (and I have 5 years of ideas up my sleeve now!!!!) but please don’t think for a moment that you need to constantly entertain your little learners.
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On a GOOD week, I might prepare one planned activity for the kids. Otherwise they almost always direct their own play. When they create their own play, they are definitely more likely to be totally engrossed in their play. Because play is the work of the child! They know what they need and so long as I have prepared the environment for them, they are good to go!
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Next time you’re scrolling the ‘gram and think “wow this mum has got her sh%# together and does so many fun and exciting things with her littles!” just remember you are seeing a split second from her day. There is probably 3 loads of washing sitting in baskets on her dining table. She probably has 3 lots of dinner dishes in her sink. She has probably had to go back and forth to her sleeping child 7 times since she put her down tonight.
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We are all just doing our very best. For some that means thoughtfully creating lots of play experiences for our littles and others just want to make it through to bedtime and want one quick idea to get through the afternoon. Just know that wherever you sit on the ‘scale of playfulness’ 🙊 that I see you and I think you’re totally kicking butt!

Did you know that I used to feel TOTALLY overwhelm

Did you know that I used to feel TOTALLY overwhelmed by all the toys and had no idea how I was supposed to play with my baby?!
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Yeah we’ve all been there before! Toys scattered from one end of the house to the other. Being a first time mum wandering the toy aisle at Target having NO idea what to buy next to try and entertain my 7 month old. Buying something new only for it to entertain her for 0.0866 of a second. Wondering what on earth I was supposed to be doing with my baby all day....and don’t even get me started on the negative self talk...was I even a good mum? 😩
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But fast forward a few years and a few more babies 😜 and I realised something pretty magical. Our little learners are actually professionals when it comes to playtime. They are drawn to exactly what they need at any given time.
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For Lilly, she is drawn to art. She loves being creative! And while she does this, she’s working on those important fine motor skills needed for learning how to write at school. Audrey loves positioning right now. She reorganises the play room all day long and moves things from place to place, lining them up and exploring how they rotate, spin and move. And Elliot? Well he’s drawn to making messes. And I don’t really know why but I’m sure there’s a developmental reason...right?! 😜
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But my point this evening is that I hear you! I understand that overwhelming feeling that you need more. You need more fancy toys. You need more organised activities. You need more play areas. But I promise you this. What you have already is all you need. So remove some of the distractions, slow down and watch the magic unfold 😍
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Got a mama friend who is doing an amazing job? Tag them below! We’re welcoming loads of new playful parents over into the Little Play Club and we’d love for you to come and join us too. We’ll welcome you with big warm *socially distant* hugs and have you feeling right at home with tonnes of resources to help you along your playful journey as a purposeful playmate for your little learners! The link is in my bio

Feed the farm animals! 🐮 🐷 🐴 🌟 I’ve

Feed the farm animals! 🐮 🐷 🐴
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I’ve never met a little learner that doesn’t love scooping and pouring! Whether it’s pouring water from cup to cup in the mud kitchen or some dried cereal or rice from spoon to bowl in a sensory tub, kids love to pour! It’s wonderful for their fine motor skills, hand-eye coordination and you can even practise counting while you play!
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I love to include a pouring or posting activity in our Play Packs over in the Little Play Club and this is one from our Farm theme! I made some little cards to work on some numeral recognition with Elliot but you could also just use a dice to work on subitising (knowing how many without counting) or even just some good old dot counting.
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This activity caught the attention of all three children aged 1, 3.5 and 5.5 years so I think we’re onto a winner 🙊 Would your little learners enjoy this one? Let me know! 👇🏻
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PS - I’d love for you to come join us in the Little Play Club so you can grab this fun little activity and sooooo many more! Doors close Tuesday evening! www.littleplayclub.com

Playful parents, if you’re ready to embrace simp

I can’t tell you how much I love these container

I can’t tell you how much I love these containers for portable small world play! 🌿
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You can grab these GLIS containers from IKEA and fill them with all sorts of magical play invitations. We love to pop some small world loose parts inside so that they’re super quick and easy to grab when we need something a little extra to get through the day!
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Before COVID, we’d also grab them when we were heading out for dinner with the kids or off on a sneaky holiday. These days we just grab them for a quick and easy play invitation!
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We’ve used them for small worlds and even for play dough invitations - just be sure to wrap the play dough in cling wrap or pop it in a ziplock bag because these GLIS containers aren’t air tight.
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What would you pop inside a GLIS container? A creepy crawly small world? Stickers and crafty loose parts? A play dough invitation? Let me know below! 👇🏻

Never under estimate the power of a simple sensory

Never under estimate the power of a simple sensory tub 🙊
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Whenever I want a quick and easy play activity for two or more children of different ages to enjoy TOGETHER….you can guarantee I’m gonna set up some sensory tubs!
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I’ve found that our little people really love to scoop and pour. They’re obsessed with the movement of the sensory bases and love to fill and empty containers. These explorations all form the basis for a pretty solid mathematical understanding of capacity and volume #LearningThroughPlay
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So what are my favourite sensory bases? Pasta, rice, sand, water, corn kernels, chickpeas, split peas, bird seed, dirt, aquarium pebbles, white beans, black beans, cloud dough, kinetic sand, polenta, pom poms....the list goes on! If you can scoop it, you can add it to a tub!
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So tell me, what’s your favourite sensory base? Let’s see if we can create an epic list of ideas for everyone that wants to start experimenting with sensory tubs!

How do you make time for play? 💫 🌟 I cannot

How do you make time for play? 💫
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I cannot WAIT to welcome some playful parents into the Little Play Club next week! We’re about to kick off some maintenance on the website and then we’ll be opening the doors to some beautiful new members. Will you be joining us? 🙊

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