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The Curious Little Explorer
Welcome to The Curious Explorer
The home of child led developmental play &
The Curious Explorer Treasure kits.
Why have I created The Curious Explorer Treasure kits
I have always had a great love of wooden toys and with my own children where possible used a more heuristic approach to play and learning through play.
Even though they are now 10 and 7 years old they still love loose parts play and using little scoops and bowls to fill and pour and role play together, which I absolutely adore.
This has led me down the path to create my own developmental play kits, so you can provide your little one with resources which will support their development and give them opportunities to explore open ended play.
CLICK BELOW TO VIEW KITS
One of my greatest passions is child development, which starts from within the womb, but how can you foster and nurture that natural curiosity in your child while keeping them safe and aiding with their development. Here I will tell you a bit of what I have learnt as a Early Years specialist and developmental play practitioner
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I have always been a huge fan of free flow play and exploring natural toys since working in nurseries, free flow play in a nursery and pre school setting is when a child has the choice to independently choose the activities that interest them at that moment in time, we always had a open door policy, which meant that when children came in to nursery they could run straight outside no matter what the weather. My favourite place to be with the children was outside, in particularly the mud kitchen.
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It is so important for children to have independent play, it helps with their imagination, curiosity and creativity, of course structed activities are most important too, as this has huge benefits for your child such as learning communication and language skills, but don't feel under pressure to be constantly entertaining your little one with lots of different activities, throughout the day. It is all about having the right balance of structured and unstructured play.
"It is all about having the right balance of structured and unstructured play"
You are your child's first teacher and their most favourite toy, by playing and interacting with your child you are helping to grow and develop their brain.
Risky Play and the power of your language
Have you ever taken your little one out for a walk and warned them to 'Be careful!' before they had taken the step or the jump or touched a stick? It is definitely a natural thing to say, as you are your little ones protector, but have you ever paused before saying it? and asked yourself could they learn something from taking that leap or climbing a tree. By telling a child to be careful before they have even done anything you are giving them a reason to be cautious and careful and second guess themselves. You may be robbing them of a brilliant learning opportunity.
I am a big lover of risky play and if we are out in the forest, I let them freely explore, investigate and climb as many trees until their hearts are content.
(My children are now 10 and 7 years old and are still entertained with climbing trees, I hope this continues for a couple more years) While they are busy climbing I have never said to them to be careful, they take the element of risk and know what is to high up and if they are in any way in danger. (When my mum comes with us she is always telling them to be careful, but I think this maybe a grandparent reaction to say)
'I am a big lover of risky play'
