An invitation to play

What is an invitation to play?

There are some much better explanations than I could give, both here on www.teachpreschool.org and here on The Imagination Tree.  I recommend a visit to both.

Basically, while still allowing the children to play freely and choose what they want to do, you set up some materials in an inviting way that catches their imagination, and they just come over and play with it.  You don't need to buy anything special, you just use the materials and toys you already have in your house and present them in an interesting way.

Here's an invitation to play that I set up yesterday.  I put it out while the little ones were napping, and when they came downstairs and found it, they were immediately hooked, and played alongside one another for about two hours!  I used a grow-bag tray from the garden, put some chickpeas in it (they won't be eaten now, but will be used as stuffing in some beanbags), and set out the few Duplo pieces that we have around the edge.  After about twenty minutes I also brought some pots, as they were both engaged in picking up the chickpeas with the little Duplo spades and wanted somewhere to put them.