If you’ve visited one of my shelfie pages you’ll know that shelfie pages are turning into blog posts. This is due to lots of requests as you can get notifications about posts, but not page updates. So, the old pages will gradually be turned into posts with quite a few updates too. Floss, our little one, was 19 months old when this sheflie was in our home.Â
The Shelf
We have a few different spaces in our home, in different rooms, where we set up play invitations for Floss. We like her to feel like she’s not restricted to one room and that she has the freedom to explore, just as we do in our home. Floss has recently become more confident in walking, The top shelf has been utilised more as she’s enjoying going up on tip toes to collect resources. Having resources at different heights is a really simple way to introduce gross motor activities.
Top Shelf
Grimms and Grapat are two brands that go together so well. The Grimms Rainbow brightens up any space in your home and has so many uses. Just do an internet search for Grimms Rainbow and you’ll keep yourself entertained for hours once the kids are in bed!
Grapat Nins and Rings have been very loved since we bought them for Floss on her first birthday. Their size is perfect for little ones to grasp and explore. Tickle Tickle by Helen Oxenbury is one of Floss’s favourite books and she loves joining in with the actions we do.
The Boxes
Black and white objects and books are great for little ones. As newborns their vision is not the same as an adult and high contrasts such as black and white are preferential for them. Floss still enjoys this contrast and so we’ve done a black and white collection in the first box along with a beautiful book by Emma Dodd called ‘Me…’. The animals are Lanka Kade and are suitable from 10 months old making them a great first animal collection. They’re made from rubber wood, so light and chunky allowing little hands to be ale to grasp them easily.
Grapat Bowls, Grimms Dwarfs and Grimms Blocks are all well used. The Grimms Dwarfs are housed in a little basket. Having containers allows children to collect, sort and transport their resources to where they want them. The basket has been on Floss’s arm all week with all sorts of things in. Grimms Dwarfs have been in and out of those bowls so many times they must be travel sick!
The balls have been a huge hit. The different materials and textures offer her a sensory experience and the various sizes and colours offer a good opportunity to acquire and use new language. We have Infantino Balls and Grapat Balls.
Grapat Coins are great for slotting into a hole in the top of the original box. See more about this activity in this post. Yes there are coins missing!! As this is an update we can now let you know that all coins were found and accounted for – stashed in a little bag. As for rocks – why not? Floss loves them!
