“I have a new secret (*not so secret now!) weapon against boredom up my sleeves! It’s called 100 Ways Your Child Can Learn Through Play by Georgina Durrant, and you won’t want to miss getting your hands on a copy… trust me!”
As the summer holidays loom in the distance, like a vast endless ocean (you know what I mean, right?)… I can safely say “No. I’m not scared. Not this mama!”
You see, I have a new secret weapon against moans and ALL the groans of “I’m bored”, “what can I dooo-ooooo?” And, *whispers* the most wonderful distraction against screen-time! It’s Georgina Durrant’s brand new and completely brilliant book – 100 Ways Your Child Can Learn Through Play!
100 Ways Your Child Can Learn Through Play is a beautifully illustrated collection of activities for children, with learning and fun at it’s heart.
It’s written for young children with SEN (special educational needs). However, I think that ALL primary school children will love the activities, especially as they can be easily tweaked to make them a little more challenging for older children.
My mature 8 year old is thrilled at some of her finds in this book. Dinosaur fossil sand digs, building animal dens, frozen flowers and stickasaurus skeletons – she’s super impressed and is a jumping jelly bean to get started.
This is what makes it so special…
100 Ways Your Child Can Learn Through Play is laid out just like a recipe book. A ‘play’ recipe book!
It’s simple, fuss free and easy to follow. Each play recipe uses things that you are likely to already have at home. And if not, everything used is cheap and easy to get hold of. Yass!!
It’s divided into 6 creative and well thought out themed chapters. Therefore, super-dupa easy to dip in and out of. And, it takes into account whether you need something to do on the go, or more of a quiet time activity. I like how it highlights the skills each activity will cover such as concentration, problem-solving, motor skills and working memory, just to name a few.
Here are the chapters and a little peek at what to expect inside:
Each ‘play recipe’ fits neatly onto one page – making it feel manageable, don’t you think? There’s a little description, a list of equipment needed and a how to section.
In addition to this, the recipes suggest alternatives, extras, helpful tips and a skills tick box section. How fab is that, especially if you need to be flexible with older or young siblings.
I really do love how Georgina encourages parents/carers to experiment with her play recipes. Just like how you might do when making a cake! The solid foundation is set, but because your little one is more excited by fairies, it becomes a fairy ice excavation instead of a dinosaur one. Or, instead of a toy car wash, maybe a pony hose-down would help their imaginations to soar that little bit higher.
It’s all about tailoring the recipes to suit your own little ones wants and needs.
Delightful illustrations (100 of them!), help you and your child to instantly see the activity at a glance. They are honestly just so charming and also give you that little confidence boost of ‘you can do this, it’s this easy!’.
Not all activity books are made equal, and this is a prime example of one that goes above and beyond anything that I’ve seen on the book shelves recently. Not only does this clever book make me want to support my daughter in these creative activities, but it also makes me want to give them a go myself! *For fun.
Georgina has quite literally taken away all the stresses and overwhelm attached to children’s activities and play and thrown them out the window.
It’s liberating to be able to say YES to pretty much everything in the book, because ‘I can do it’.
I would absolutely recommend 100 Ways Your Child Can Learn Through Play. My only wish would have been to have had this book sooner!
100 Ways Your Child Can Learn Through Play by Georgina Durrant is available to purchase from all good bookstores, including Amazon, Waterstones and WHSmiths.
Catch up with Georgina over at her blog The SEN Resources blog and keep up to date by following her on social media:
Twitter @senresourceblog http://www.twitter.com/
Facebook: www.facebook.com/
Instagram: www.instagram.com/
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A play recipe book!
Brilliant!
What a fantastic book! Great find! #MischiefandMemories
Sounds really good for inspiration to get ideas to play. I like the idea that it is in different sections as well x #mischiefandmemories
That sounds like a briliant book. Anything that helps give some inspiration for things to do, especially in the summer holidays, is a win here. Love the layout of each of the activities to help make them simpler to organise too. #MischiefandMemories
I love the sound of this book. I think it would be great for the summer holidays #MischiefAndMemories
This looks perfect for the school holidays – especially if the weather carries on with all this rain! Bookmarking now! #mischiefandmemories