Taking Time to Play- Rainy Day Mum

One of the cool things about blogging is that you can meet people from all around the world. Rainy Day Mum and I have been visiting each other back and forth for months despite living on other sides of the pond from each other. I have been honored to have Cerys has co-hosted Outside Play link up with me.

I adore her blog and I know you will too. If you get a chance, please stop by and check her post called Picking Your Battles.

Thank you to JDaniel4's Mom for giving me the privilege of writing about our Time to Play. As a SAHM I take time out of my day to make sure that I actively play with my children and wanted to share how we play with 2 with 18 months between them.

   

'We spend a lot of our time playing outside at the moment enjoying the fresh air and have taken some of our indoor arts and craft play outside and colouring is one of our new favourite's. J has just turned 3 and loves to experiment on what he colours either with paints, crayons, chalks or pens. In my craft supplies I have a selection of decor pens that colour on wood, stone, glass, plastic and many more so I set up a tub of them with some pebbles from the garden and we set about colouring.

 

What ever I do with J my youngest T who is almost 18 months has to join in as well - over the last 18 months I've had to adapt our play time to let T join in as well, this means swapping substances in sensory play so that when she puts items in her mouth they are none toxic and if possible edible, so set up play for her using the same ideas but making them easily adaptable for an early toddler. The colouring started well with T colouring in one of the bigger pebbles but then she started drawing on the table - now normally I don't have a problem with this at all - but the pens are permanent. So thinking on my feet I changed her focus and gave her the pens with lids on to play with.

 

As J decorated his stones - T tried to line up the pens, put the pens into our pot, took them out again and put them back. She asked "What's this" pointing to the colours at the end of the pens and sorted them into similar colours. Each time we play, I have to think how to avoid the arguments of "I want", adapt it for both age ranges and teach them how to play alongside and soon how to play together. Often it's thinking outside of the box - I see T playing with ideas that I wouldn't have played with J at the time and have to remember to find time in the day to arrange play dedicated to her development and age which can be adapted for J to get something out of as well if he decides to join in with as well.

Cerys is from the United Kingdom and writes at Rainy Day Mum, she is a former teacher and marine biologist, now a stay at home mom to J and T.

Sharing indoor and outdoor activities for babies, toddlers and preschoolers ranging from art to zoo field trips she aims to make every day fun what ever the weather outside.

You can find Cerys on Rainy Day Mum, and can join her on facebook, follow on Twitter or see what ideas she's pinning on Pinterest.