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When I first started researching preschool activities to do at home with Squeaks, this whole new world was opened up to me. Along with that world came a whole new vocabulary of terms, thought processes, and teaching styles. Terms like sensory play, loose parts play, and invitation to play all sparked my interest right away. Why? Because they’re all play based! And as Albert Einstein said “Play is the highest form of research.”

I recently saw a meme (and we all know memes are the ultimate source of wisdom) that stated that, in order to learn a new skill you’d have to repeat the task approximately 400 times before you’d have it down. Unless you incorporated play into the learning process, then it takes closer to 10 repetitions. I believe it! While my color and counting activities are perfect introductions, listening to my kids count to ten as they play hide-and-seek or recognizing colors as they put together a puzzle, that’s where new skills are sharpened.

So what is an invitation to play?

It’s exactly what it sounds like, and it’s as simple as can be to set up. Plus I love that all three kids, from five years old down to 22 months, can participate. It involves gathering a good selection of different textures, variety of colors, and assorted shapes from pretty much anywhere you can find them, and presenting them to your children in a way that’s inviting. Then you simply allow them to explore the materials. Touch, smell, manipulate, and even taste (depending on the items obviously).

Why would you want to create an invitation to play?

1. To encourage creativity.

Imagine being five and having a beautifully presented, colorful, and inviting tray of manipulatives set in front of you. It must look like treasure! Then you’re told you can play with it and create anything you want. Play dough becomes soil or water, pipe cleaners become stems or insect legs, you can stack buttons, make interesting impressions in the dough, create a popsicle stick bird’s nest, and pouch caps become wheels on a clothespin car. And those are just a few things that I remember my kiddos doing! The possibilities are endless.

2. To encourage individualism and independence.

Open ended crafts are my favorite. There are no instructions, no plans, and no end. The child is completely in charge of what they create and how they create it. Each child can look at a tray of supplies and come up with something completely unique. I’ve also seen an added benefit, in that my children like to encourage each other’s progress. Since there are no set instructions they can cheer each other on as they create. No one is falling behind or finishing faster. They can enjoy each other’s individual creations and learn from one another by watching how the others come up with fun ways to use the materials.

3. To create a calm learning environment (and a little mom-time).

Since there are no instructions, there’s also no pressure to “do it right”. There’s no time limit so the atmosphere remains relaxed. Everyone is simply focused on what’s in front of them. Little minds are at work and little hands are busy. Have you ever seen three small children working intently, creating quietly? I have! It’s a beautiful thing to behold. Sometimes I enjoy playing some music while they work, and I’ve even been known to finish an entire load of dishes while they create at the kitchen counter.

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4. To explore new textures and materials.

The squish of play dough, fluffy pompoms, and smooth glass beads, the selection of textures and materials are nearly endless. I recently did a nature themed tray for Earth Day with flowers to smell, smooth stones, and rough sticks. You can do a rainbow theme tray and appeal to sight, a food themed tray to appeal to taste, use scented play dough for smell, and small jingle bells for sound. Every sense can be involved!

5. To introduce and/or solidify new topics.

I love doing themed trays to go with a specific topic. I did a Spring themed tray with wood eggs, spring colored buttons, flower shaped cookie cutters for pastel colored play dough, popsicle sticks to build trees or bird nests, and blue glass beads to represent water. You should have seen the sweet little gardens they created. I also did a habitat themed tray with small animal figures, rocks, feathers, toy trees, more glass beads (as water) and reused the wooden eggs. While they created we talked about the animals they chose, where the animal lived, what they ate, and they learned while they played!

You could do an ocean theme, a theme for different cultures or continents, a theme for the seasons, a birthday tray, whatever you can imagine! I’ve even done a tray of just construction paper cut into shapes, provide glue and more paper, and the kids created shape pictures. Creativity and learning, hand in hand.

For more fun ideas, follow my “Invitation To Play” Pinterest board!

Watching my kids dive into an invitation to play is like watching them on Christmas morning. Their excitement and enthusiasm about the process of learning is contagious! Conversation flows easily as their hands are busy and their minds are active. Since we can use this method for play and learning combined, I see us utilizing invitations to play for many years to come.

Have you tried creating an invitation to play? What materials did you include? Did your children enjoy it? I’d love to hear about it!