See-saw Play

[Panders]

The children have been very interested in making their own see-saws from planks etc. outside- any suggestions about extending this type of play? Could do weighing etc. but they have explored that quite a bit in the past.

 

Also one child has found he likes to launch articles down a piece of string which is attached to the wall at one end and he holds the other while sitting on top of the climbing frame, today, the children began adding metal saucepans from the home corner etc. to this and loved the noise that it made, so we will be introducing something similar in the garden for them to create music with, but, any other suggestions, we will be visiting the local park on Wednesday which has a "zip wire", so I am hoping they will enjoy that now very much too.

Edited July 9, 2010 by Panders

[Cait]

Could you use the planks etc to make elevated walkways and ramps and 'stepping stones' and make it a bit challenging? I was going to suggest weighing, could you take that slightly differently and sit a child on one side of the see saw and see how many bricks or whatever you have to hand it will take to balance them.

[Panders]

Oh, yes I think we could Cait, - one of the first things they did when they were experimenting with the planks to make a see saw was to put off cuts from one of the trees we had cut down under the planks, however, they put the same amount of off cuts under each end! One child did then walked from one end to the other, it did get a little saggy in the middle, so they will have to work out how to stop that - there are quite a few planks for them to use, and they have had a great time with them lately - excellent idea thanks Cait.

[HappyMaz]

it did get a little saggy in the middle, so they will have to work out how to stop that

"saggy in the middle" will also give them lots of opportunities to assess and manage their own risks, Panders - wonder whether they'll just go with it or want to make it feel safer for themselves?

 

Maz

[finleysmaid]

have you seen this? might give you some inspiration

http://www.playbasedlearning.com.au/2010/05/03/

p.s.they have lots of other links on this site

[Panders]

Thank you finleysmaid, I have looked at the site quite a few times since you first recommended it - if only, if only - don't think we could aspire to this model - we have beautifully manicured garden/lawn by our landlords!!! However, we have sneaked in a few planks of wood which can be hidden out of sight when not in use and a few crates etc. I would love to see their faces if we popped in a few tractor tyres though! On a small scale however, we have plenty of mats we can take outside to "break a fall" and maybe we could do that next week and encourage some leaping off onto them, this is something I try to discourage inside off the climbing frame and we can easily transport outside some equipment to do an obstacle course of sorts.

[finleysmaid]

forgot i'd passed this on before!!! i just like to have something to aspire to - our play areas not attached to the building and due to vandalism we have to take everything down with us but i can dream

[emmajess]

Thanks finleysmaid - I'd missed you pointing this site out before and it's lovely! Glad you mentioned it a second time!

[Panders]

Well today they built their obstacle course with the planks, made a roadway with the planks, used them as horse jumping fences, with the children being the horses and the small ones as if they were a skateboard tipping them down over the kerb!!