zigzag Posted July 5, 2018 Share Posted July 5, 2018 I would like to know is it just us? Whenever we set a den up inside the following happens, children turn into wild savages inside it they then also deposit lots of toys into it which then do not get played with and end up being mistreated. I tried again this week and it sent the already very hyper girls into orbit! I read so much about the value of the communication friendly spaces and have tried many different types of den to encourage this but have never succeeded. My thought now are that the dens are too big and there is space for too many children. Wondering about looking at trying to create smaller snug spaces. Please can you share your den triumphs and disasters with me. 🙂 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
sunnyday Posted July 5, 2018 Share Posted July 5, 2018 2 hours ago, zigzag said: I would like to know is it just us? Whenever we set a den up inside the following happens, children turn into wild savages inside it they then also deposit lots of toys into it which then do not get played with and end up being mistreated. I tried again this week and it sent the already very hyper girls into orbit! I read so much about the value of the communication friendly spaces and have tried many different types of den to encourage this but have never succeeded. My thought now are that the dens are too big and there is space for too many children. Wondering about looking at trying to create smaller snug spaces. Please can you share your den triumphs and disasters with me. 🙂 Have experienced similar! Would gently suggest that this might not be the right time of year for 'den building' (end of school year and all that) 2 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Panders Posted July 5, 2018 Share Posted July 5, 2018 Maybe its the primitive need to be hunter gatherers September may be a good time, then you can "train" them how to do it properly. Even when we used the pop up type playhouses indoors they did very similar things, it must be a deep seated need to fill their home and nest. 2 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
louby loo Posted July 5, 2018 Share Posted July 5, 2018 Den's on the whole are not too bad with us, I think that's down to my primitive need to build dens We build them a lot. We have them under tables, under trees, anywhere we can build them. 'Pop-up anything do not make it through our door...... and if someone donates one it goes straight back out the door to the charity shop. I think they must contain some kind of 'hyper gas' once they pop-up! Our problem is the conventional 'playhouse' we've never had one before, and this year someone donated one as we now have a very small outside area. I hate the thing- they climb in/out the windows, chuck everything in it, try and fix 20 children a 1metre square ...... I'm secretly hoping someone will come along one night and steal the thing. 1 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
zigzag Posted July 5, 2018 Author Share Posted July 5, 2018 Glad it’s not just us then! Weirdly this behaviour does not happen outside! We have a lovely folding wooden den from TTS which is just covered on the roof, yesterday I was watching them and realised that they wanted to be completely covered, so I used the parachute and they loved it for about five minutes then the hyper girls just pulled it all off and then got miffed because we took the parachute away! Honest to god these girls are going to kill me by the end of term and I have never said that about girls before, boys, yes! 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Stargrower Posted July 5, 2018 Share Posted July 5, 2018 (edited) Does anyone know where I can get some of the 'hyper gas'? Really needed as I make very last minute preparations for tonight's staff meeting! Edited July 5, 2018 by Stargrower 1 2 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
sunnyday Posted July 5, 2018 Share Posted July 5, 2018 32 minutes ago, Stargrower said: Does anyone know where I can get some of the 'hyper gas'? Really needed as I make very last minute preparations for tonight's staff meeting! Have you got any form of 'pop up' - if so just put your head in and breathe deeply 2 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
HoneyPancakes Posted July 5, 2018 Share Posted July 5, 2018 I had two pop ups and a tunnel set up yesterday and Little Miss Hyper gathered up the dropped baby apples and mixed them with sand and set up a proper shop. It as really lovely and everything cost 'two'. It was great. I think it's important to have enough available to make them not too valuable. I've got kids who will compete for a piece of string if they think someone else wants it. 1 2 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
lynned55 Posted July 6, 2018 Share Posted July 6, 2018 Hmm.... we have exactly the same problem- absolute mayhem- it may start as a good idea with just a couple playing 'properly and nicely' and then within minutes disintegrates and ends up with someone in tears and staff taking it away. We have tried indoors, outdoors- anytime of year. Pop ups always end up wrecked and tilting to one side, within just a couple of uses. Even our sensory tent ended up broken- if someone has a magic formula for this I'd love to hear it. We currently have a den set up outside with no cover as just this year alone we have had two covers wrecked and as the third one was used (despite being pegged on) to attempt to roll up a child in we had to take it down. We have an extremely boy heavy group this year, very young boys- at least 12/15 with June/July/Aug birthdays and all they want to do is be policemen and arrest everyone, whether they want to or not. 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
twinthinguk Posted July 7, 2018 Share Posted July 7, 2018 children in our setting seem to be pushing every available piece of furniture, cushion, chair into make shift dens and hiding in them which in itself is not the issue, they then locate all manor of small parts from every area of the setting and empty boxes, buggies, bags, you name it, onto the floor and sit on them like dragons sitting on a hoard of gold! this happens in all areas of the setting and makes tidy up time very tedious as although the children help to gather all this stuff together, it takes an age to sort and then locate its proper place! the behavior is contagious, if it happens in one room with a group, a rival group will go and do it in another area and so on lol makes for interesting show rounds for new parents, I wonder if they think we just like to pile stuff up in corners, usually you cannot see the children inside until one emerges to fetch more stuff! 1 3 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
louby loo Posted July 7, 2018 Share Posted July 7, 2018 The ground on our outside area is so bad we have to put rugs/carpets down out there (massive hall- so all running gross motor skills can be done indoors) It was so hot out there last week we brought the carpets in early and just laid them all on the hall floor- the children loved it.... however by the end of the session they had built a huge 'bonfire' with the rugs and were happily adding all sorts of our resources to it! 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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