Wild Rumpus Report: Week 4

 

This week, we added inflatable swim rings and blue paint, both of which were a big hit!  My favorite question this week came from a parent, new to the Wild Rumpus, who saw the pile of inflated pool toys and asked, "What are the kids supposed to do with those?" I assured her that they were free to do whatever they chose to do with them, but she asked again, "yes, but what are they SUPPOSED to do?" and she looked quite skeptical when I assured her that the kids would figure out a way to play with them and that I wouldn't dream of predicting what they'd come up with.  And boy, did they come up with some fun ideas!

 Immediately after this photo was taken, the stack was joyfully kicked down!

 Hopping in this "tube dress" was a lot of fun!

Even tiny babies had fun in the tubes!

 

(more after the break)

These sisters had a ton of fun with the blue paint (but their mom had to find some online examples of Smurfs later to explain the comments they got...)

 

 She was also trying to use the tightrope without hands this time, but I didn't quite catch that on film.

 Even the clean-up was fun!

Here's a play story from one of them today.
 

 "I caught a grasshopper in this leaf!"

 "You can see its leg sticking out."

 Several kids tried the (sadly, mostly dried up this week) creek bed with bare feet.  It was a bit of a balance challenge!

And I loved seeing this rock get the chalk treatment!

 If the creek is dried up, find other water to play with!

Exploring what happens when the spigot itself is turned sideways (and later upside down).

Here's some more tight-rope fun:

 I liked this carrying contraption.

Even the babies got into the play!

There was some excellent rolling action going on this week.  Rolling like this (seated), but also pushing the spools and straddling the spools.... No one's tried standing on them yet!

 

I have no idea why this video is showing up upside down, but I can't seem to flip it.  You can still enjoy her story!

These guys were just having SO much fun telling their play story!

This was the first week that I felt like I had the shelves set up in a useful way.  Interestingly though, not many things off of these shelves were used today.  Hmm....

Here are a few more Play Stories:

Some parent observations from this week:

Why do you believe your child was attracted to these particular materials?
"Building towers to knock down because kids were doing it last time."


In what ways do you notice your child being inventive and/or solving problems?
"When the top, smaller spool dropped, he used it and another one as "stabilizers" and steps to get back on the large one and rolled it while sitting on top."
"Making 'rules' of how to play and how to 'win' the game."
"I think interacting with other kids is problem solving in itself :)"

Are there differences you notice between how your child is playing today versus how he or she typically interacts with materials and/or other children?
"Outdoor play makes them feel more comfortable making a mess."
"Held back a little -- would have covered body with paint at home."
"He has started exploring newer ways to play by attending these sessions."