Open Ended Play Ideas

In our recent blog, we shared information about open ended play; what it is and how it benefits children.

One of our favourite things about open-ended play is that it can be so simple. In this post we share some ideas from the team at Flourish for simple ideas for open ended play that you can try at home.

Go on a nature walk

We regularly use the outdoor spaces around us, such as Esher Common and opportunities for open ended play are endless! No matter the time of year, we can guarantee that the children will want to bring some treasures back to nursery to keep exploring.

Take a bag with you for your little one to collect items that interest them. Let them make patterns in the mud, or build an imaginary camp fire. Once you’re back home, lay out their treasures and see what they want to do with them; follow their lead and let them create, imagine and explore.

You could add a little inspiration perhaps by adding in some animal toys or cars.

Get crafty

Often we think of arts and crafts as having a fixed end point; a design or a finished product decided by an adult. Events and celebrations throughout the year highlight this; a daffodil handprint for mother’s day or a templated snowman for Christmas.

As adults we may focus more on the final product, whereas our little ones are so curious and find joy in the doing. It’s the spending time with you, having the freedom to try out different art materials and be immersed in the activity that often is more enjoyable to the child than the final masterpiece itself.

As mentioned in our previous post (insert link) open ended play can boost children’s self-esteem and without a ‘correct’ way of completing their artwork they can gain so much from the process.

 

Try laying out some arts and crafts materials, different tools, paper, things to stick…whatever you have available! Ask your little one “what shall we do with these?”. You may have an idea of how things should be stuck, or what paint colours to use, but let this be a child-led process; let them make the choice and let the outcome be entirely their own work.

 

The world needs artists more than it needs imitators or copycats

 

Playdough

Shop bought, or home-made, playdough is so versatile. It’s timeless and for good reason; its open-ended possibilities spark children’s natural curiosity and allow them to express themselves without there being any “right or wrong” outcome.

Put any pre-made plastic sets to one side. Place the playdough out where your child can access it and see where they take their play. You could add in some interesting extras such as a pine cone for creating patterns, or cookie cutters and some plastic plates to inspire role play (but if your idea of kitchen role play takes a different turn…let it happen, don’t redirect!) Do you have anything left from your nature walk that you could lay out as well?

If you’re feeling particularly creative, you could try out some of these ideas that introduce a theme to the playdough play.

10+ Open-ended Play Dough Tinker Box Ideas (miraculove.com)

A cardboard box

It’s a classic! And for good reason…it provides endless opportunities for open-ended play. For extra inspiration, add in different objects such as a blanket and a torch, colouring resources or small world toys.

The random selection 

Select a few different items that don’t typically “go” together…it might be some small world toys, with some building blocks, some pen and paper, a cuddly toy, conkers and some playdough. By laying things out that children don’t typically see together, you’ll get a fascinating insight into how they want to play.

We hope you have found this useful; please do share your photos of open-ended play at home with us!