Invitation to Play: Handkerchiefs and Ribbons

This is a little invitation to play I set out for the girls; the idea is to provide a random selection of materials/items and let the children play with them freely i.e without direction or a specific end goal. It can be hard at first to sit back and let them discover on their own but it can also be great fun seeing what they come up with from what you have provided.

On this occasion I had a bundle of 20 beautiful vintage handkerchiefs that I bought on a whim from Ebay for very cheap (I had vague plans to do something crafty with them one day), so I put them into a basket along with our ribbon collection to see what the girls would come up with (I say girls, I mean Poppet, as I can be pretty assured that Little will just try to eat anything I give her).

I had guessed that Poppet might use the ribbons in her hair and so on, and that the handkerchiefs would become bedcovers for teddies as that is what she normally does when she finds a scrap of material, but no, Poppet had other plans. As soon as she saw the basket she exclaimed "Presents!". I had not seen that coming and it was lovely seeing her put the basket to use as she set about wrapping things up from around the room. She even had a go at wrapping up her car.

She concentrated so hard on wrapping the handkerchief around an object (here she is wrapping up a saucepan lid) and then very carefully laying the bundle on top of a ribbon and trying to tie it up. She would cross the ends over and fiddle with them for ages and I don't know how but she did manage to tie a few 'knots'.

A Poppet knot

Then she very kindly set about distributing her presents, giving them to Little and to me, but she also wanted to give some to some far away family members!

Giving her little sister a present

She didn't get bored of the present wrapping all morning, it kept her occupied and engaged for ages. This activity was also great for strengthening those all-important fine motor skills.

She may have got her own way and family-members, if you are reading, a couple of these 'presents' may have been posted and could be winging their way to a letterbox near you! If you are not reading then you might be wondering who on earth has posted you a conditioner sample wrapped in a handkerchief.

A posted 'present'!

And here is a shot of Little, who didn't do anything creative or imaginative with the handkerchiefs and ribbons but looked really cute.

Poppet: 2yrs 8mos

Little: 11 mos