I was enjoying my breakfast this morning. Nice and warm inside. We currently have a snow storm hitting us so schools have been closed today. I don't think I will ever get fed up of snow days! It's so exciting getting that notification to stay indoors and keep safe, school is closed. The alarms go off, heating gets turned up a few notches and you get to enjoy an unexpected snow day! Yipeeee.
It was when I was eating my breakfast I thought about this post I am sharing with you today. It was an activity we enjoyed a couple of weeks back but I suddenly remembered I hadn't shared it on the blog! Woops! If you follow me on Instagram you will have seen this already. Today I am sharing a Sensory Small World inspired by the children's book Owl Babies.
Owl Babies was published in 1992. Written by Martin Waddell and illustrated by Patrick Benson. It tells the story of three owlets perched high in a tree, deep in the woods. They wake to find the forest in darkess and their Mother is nowhere to be seen. They are overjoyed when she returns after a night flight of hunting. It's a timeless story that even the youngest of children enjoy. If it isn't part of your book collection - now is time to change that -
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We have enjoyed the story in our household since my daughter was around 18 months old. I was out with my Mom visiting a garden centre. It was just after Christmas and the sales were on. We were heading to the cafe when I looked across the shop to see 3 owlets sitting together on the shop shelf. No others to be seen. It was a sign for me to buy them and make a story small world for this story! They were perfect!
I set it up for Neve to return home to after a busy day at school. She loved it!
I wanted this set up to have a real nature feel to it. I wanted lots of different textures to come together to offer lots of stimulating play. I had a brilliant set from TTS full of logs and unusual nature items.
It is perfect for Tinker Trays but I often use them in our activity set ups too!
I added some scrabble letters around the tray. Neve loved finding them. She tried to find as many things as she could beginning with that letter in the tray. All of the nature items you see in the tray came with the TTS set. The only extras I added were the acorns, seeds, feathers and conkers.
I added some smaller wooden discs, pumpkin seeds, acorns and conkers. This would give an opportunity to create trails, make concoctions, patterns or something else. I was looking forward to observing what Neve would choose to do.
The worms and bugs were kindly sent to me by Sue Baxter after I posted the tray into our Facebook Group asking if I should add anything else. Sue kindly offered to pop them in the post for me! Thank you Sue! The feathers were another suggestion from Stacey Ingram. I made the purchase and they came the following day.
Fabric makes a really good liner for set ups like this. I got this brown fabric from ebay delivered for less than £3. I also added a patch of artificial grass. You can buy them for around £1 from B&Q or contact suppliers and request the samples. I paid for mine and got them in A4 size. I find this size works very well. It's a fabulous textures and is a great addition to lots of sensory trays.
Lets take a took at this activity in action:
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